Concurrent and Predictive Validity of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire in a Sample of European Freshman Students

Abstract

This study represents the first attempt to examine the validity of scores on the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) in a sample of European university students. Concurrent validity was established through significant correlations in the expected direction with alternative measures of student adjustment (academic motivation, loneliness, depression, and general adjustment to university). Further concurrent validity evidence for selected subscales was provided through moderate associations with students’engagement in social activities and their self-reported use of psychological services provided on campus. Findings regarding predictive validity, as assessed through correlations with student attrition and academic results, went in the expected direction but were somewhat less convincing. The latter results are explained in terms of differences between European and North American systems of higher education. With some reservations regarding the Academic Adjustment subscale, then, the SACQ seems to be a useful tool for research on university life among college students in Europe.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Educational Research Association , American Psychological Association , & National Council on Measurementin Education . (1999). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Baker, R. W. , & Siryk, B. (1984). Measuring adjustment to college. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 179-189.

Baker, R. W. , & Siryk, B. (1989). Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ): Manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

Chartrand, J. M. (1992). An empirical test of a model of nontraditional student development. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 39, 193-202.

Coeck, A. (1998). Uitstelgedrag en uitstelmotieven bij studenten: Constructie van vragenlijsten en onderzoek naar de samenhang tussen diverse variabelen [Procrastination behavior and procrastination motives in students: Scale construction and intercorrelations]. Unpublished master’s thesis, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium.

Crombag, H.F.M. (1968). Studiemotivatie en studieattitude: Een onderzoek naar de invloed van verenigingslidmaatschap op studiemotivatie en studieattitude, en de rol die deze factoren spelen in de studie van eerstejaarsstudenten [Study motivation and study attitude: Membership of various organizations and its effect on study motivation and study attitude in freshman students]. Groningen, the Netherlands: Wolters.

Dahmus, S. , Bernardin, H. J. , & Bernardin, K. (1992). Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire [Testreview]. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 25, 139-142.

Depreeuw, E., & Lens, W. (1998). Vragenlijst aangaande Studie-Organisatie-Vaardigheden— VaSOV [Study management skills: A questionnaire]. Unpublished manuscript, Center for Research in Motivation and Time Perspective, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium.

Horn, J. L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30, 179-185.

10.

Jou, Y. H. , & Fukada, H. (1995). Effects of social support on adjustment of Chinese students in Japan. Journal of Social Psychology, 135, 39-47.

11.

Montgomery, R. L. , & Haemmerlie, F. M. (1993). Undergraduate adjustment to college, drinking behavior, and fraternity membership. Psychological Reports, 73, 801-802.

12.

Napoli, A. R. , & Wortman, P. M. (1998). Psychosocial factors related to retention and early departure of two-year community college students. Research in Higher Education, 39, 419-455.

13.

Radloff, L. S. (1977). The Center for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401.

14.

Russell, D. W. (1982). The measurementof loneliness. In L. A. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds.), Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research, and therapy (pp. 81-104). New York: John Wiley.

15.

Russell, D. W. , Peplau, L. A. , & Cutrona, C. E. (1980). The revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrentand discriminantvalidity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 472-480.

16.

Tao, S. , Dong, Q. , Pratt, M. W. , Hunsberger, B. , & Pancer, S. M. (2000). Social support: Relations to coping and adjustment during the transition to university in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15, 123-144.

17.

Thompson, B. , & Daniel, L. G. (1996). Factor analytic evidence for the construct validity of scores: A historical overview and some guidelines. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 56, 197-208.

18.

Vlaander, G.P.J., & van Rooijen, L. (1981). Nieuwe gegevens over de Aanpassingsvragenlijst [New data about the Adjustment Questionnaire]. Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 6, 33-37.

19.

Wintre, M. G. , & Yaffe, M. (2000). First-year students’adjustment to university life as a function of relationships with parents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15, 9-37.