Revision of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) for use with Italian Students

Authors

  • Francesca Liga Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina
  • Sonia Ingoglia Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo
  • Maria Grazia Lo Cricchio <span lang="EN-GB">Department of Human Sciences</span>, University of Basilicata
  • Alida Lo Coco Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13129/2612-4033/0110-3413

Abstract

Background: This multistudy report was aimed at examining the psychometric properties in the Italian context of the Student Adaptation College Questionnaire (SACQ) that represents the most important self-report measure for assessing how students adjust to university.
Methods: Three studies were conducted in order to revise and improve the instrument for being more efficient in measuring adjustment to university.
Results: The final result was the SACQ-SF consisting in 12 item assessing three dimensions: a) student’s perception of one’s study skills (Studying); b) student’s sense of satisfaction with courses and programs (Satisfaction with curriculum); c) student’s evaluation of the degree to which he has social skills and is making new friends (Social adjustment).
Conclusions: Convergent and construct validity may be considered also adequate. In sum, the SACQ-SF can be considered a promising valuable and efficient instrument in measuring adjustment to university in the Italian context, and probably in the European one too. Further, as a brief instrument, it can be easily administered and used as a quick screening tool.

Author Biographies

  • Francesca Liga, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina
    Full Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (DIMED) of the University of Messina (Italy). My research areas focus on different aspects of developmental psychology, particularly regarding risk and protective factors in adolescence and the process of adolescents’ individuation.
  • Sonia Ingoglia, Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo
    She is Associate Professor in Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology at the University of Palermo (Italy), Dipartimento di Scienze Psicologiche, Pedagogiche, dell’Esercizio Fisico e della Formazione. Her research interests include the study of parent-child relations and the psychosocial adjustment in adolescence and emerging adulthood
  • Maria Grazia Lo Cricchio, <span lang="EN-GB">Department of Human Sciences</span>, University of Basilicata
    Her research interests include the study of psychological and social adaptation of adolescents and emerging adults in several settings.
  • Alida Lo Coco, Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo
    Her research interests focus on parent-child relations, empathy and the psychosocial adjustment in adolescence and emerging adulthood

References

Baker, R. W., & Siryk, B. (1984). Measuring adjustment to college. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.31.2.179

Baker, R. W., & Siryk, B. (1986). Exploratory intervention with a scale measuring adjustment to college. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33(1), 31-38. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.33.1.31

Baker, R. W., & Siryk, B. (1999). SACQ: Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

Baker, R.W., & Siryk, B. (1989). The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire: AWPS Test Report. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services. http://portal.wpspublish.com/pdf/sacq.pdf

Beyers, W., & Goossens, L. (2002). Concurrent and predictive validity of the student adaptation to college questionnaire in a sample of European freshman students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62(3), 527-538. https://doi.org/10.1177/00164402062003009

Carayon, S., & Gilles, P.-Y. (2005). Développement du Questionnaire d'Adaptation des Étudiants à l'Université (Q.A.E.U.) [A French equivalent of the "Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire" (S.A.C.Q.)]. Orientation Scolaire et Professionnelle, 34(2), 165–189. https://doi.org/10.4000/osp.463

Cattell, R. B. (1966). The scree test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1(2), 245–276. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr0102_10

Credé, M., & Niehorster, S. (2012). Adjustment to college as measured by the student adaptation to college questionnaire: a quantitative review of its structure and relationships with correlates and consequences. Educational Psychology Review, 24(1), 133-165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9184-5

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.

Feldt, R. C., Graham, M., & Dew, D. (2011). Measuring Adjustment to College: Construct Validity of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. Measurement and Evalutation in Counseling and Development, 44(2), 92-104. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748175611400291

Hambleton, R. K., Merenda, P. F., & Spielberger, C. D. (2005). Issues, designs, and technical guidelines for adapting tests into multiple languages and cultures. Adapting educational and psychological tests for cross-cultural assessment, 1, 3-38.

Horn, J. L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30(2), 179-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02289447

ISTAT (2017). Annuario Statistico Italiano. https://www.istat.it/it/files/2016/12/Asi-2016.pdf

Kaiser, H. F. (1961). A note on Guttman’s lower bound for the number of common factors. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 14(1), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1961.tb00061.x

Krueger, R.A. (1994). Focus Groups: a Practical Guide for Applied Research. Sage publications.

Larson, R. E. K. & Bell, A. A. (2013). Newcomer Adjustment Among Recent College Graduates: An Integrative Literature Review. Human Resource Development Review, 12(3), 284-307. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484313475869

Meriac, J. P., Woehr, D. J., Gorman, C. A., & Thomas, A. L. E. (2013). Development and validation of a short form for the multidimensional work ethic profile. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82(3), 155-164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2013.01.007

Muthén, B., & Kaplan, D. (1985). A comparison of methodologies for the factor analysis of non-normal Likert variables. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 38(2), 171-189. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1985.tb00832.x

Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998). Mplus User’s Guide (7° ed.). Muthén & Muthén.

Nassar-McMillan, S. C. Borders, D. (2002). Use of Focus Groups in Survey Item Development. The Qualitative Report, 7 (1), 1-12. http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR7-1/nassar.html

O’Connor, B. P. (2000). SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer’s MAP test. Behavior Research, Instruments, & Computers, 32(3), 396-402. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200807

Páramo Fernández, M. F., Araújo, A. M., Tinajero-Vacas, C., Almeida, L. S., & Rodríguez-González, M. S. (2017). Predictors of students’ adjustment during the transition to university in Spain. Psicothema, 29(1), 67-72. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2016.40

Rocha, M., & Motos, P. M. (2008). Adaptação do Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) a uma amostra adolescentes de escolas regulares profissionais e pólos de aprendizagem [Adaptation of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) to an adolescent sample coming from regular schools, professional schools and learning poles]. Psicologia Educação e Cultura, 12(1), 171–196.

Rodríguez González, M. S., Tinajero Vacas, C., Guisande Couñago, M. A., & Páramo Fernández, M. F. (2012). The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) for use with Spanish students. Psychological Reports, 111(2), 624-640. https://doi.org/10.2466/08.10.20.PR0.111.5.624-640

Russell, D. W., Peplau, L. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (1980). The revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(3), 472-480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.472

Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069-1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069

Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719-727. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719

Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (1994). Corrections to test statistics and standard errors in covariance structure analysis. In A. von Eye & C. C. Clogg (Eds.), Latent variables analysis: Applications for developmental research, 285–305. Sage Publications, Inc.

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized self-efficacy scale. J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs, 35, 37.

Sica L. S., Aleni Sestito, L., & Ragozini, G. (2014). Identity Coping in the First Years of University: Identity Diffusion, Adjustment and Identity Distress. Journal of Adult Development, 21(3), 159-172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-014-9188-8

Stewart, D. W., & Shamdasani, P. N. (2015). Focus groups: Theory and practice, 20. Sage publications.

Taylor, M. A., & Pastor, D. A. (2007). A confirmatory factor analysis of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 67(6), 1002-1018. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164406299125

Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L. G., Blais, M. R., Briere, N. M., Senecal, C., & Vallieres, E. F. (1992). The Academic Motivation Scale: A measure of intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation in education. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52(4), 1003–1017. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164492052004025

Van Rooij, E., Jansen, E. P., & van de Grift, W. J. (2017). First-year university students’ academic success: the importance of academic adjustment. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-017-0347-8

Winter, M. G. & Yaffe, M. (2000). First year student adjustment to university life as a function of relationship with parents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558400151002

Downloads

Additional Files

Published

2022-04-28

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License Articles and conference papers published in Journal of Clinical and Development Psychology are distributed under the terms and conditions of a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Correspondingly, authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).