University Belonging, Friendship Quality, and Psychological Adjustment During the Transition to College
Abstract
The authors collected questionnaire data from college students (N = 79) at 2 time points during their freshman year to examine how changes in a sense of university belonging, quality of friendships, and psychological adjustment were associated. Students who had positive changes in university belonging had corresponding positive changes in self-perceptions (e.g., scholastic competence, self-worth) and decreases in their internalizing problem behaviors. Although the results did not link improvements over time in friendship quality to changes in self-perceptions, the authors linked them to decreasing levels of problem behaviors. The authors discuss the importance of educators' fostering university belonging and positive friendships among students as they transition to college.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Cites
The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.117.3.497 · Cited by 23,245 · see citing works
Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties.
Arnett, J. J. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.5.469 · Cited by 16,843 · see citing works
Finn, J. D. (1989) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.2307/1170412 · Cited by 2,702 · see citing works
Rose, A. J., & Rudolph, K. D. (2006) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.98 · Cited by 2,517 · see citing works
Students' Need for Belonging in the School Community
Osterman, K. F. (2000) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543070003323 · Cited by 2,498 · see citing works
Investigating “sense of belonging” in first-year college students
Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J., & Salomone, K. (2002) · Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice · doi:10.2190/dryc-cxq9-jq8v-ht4v · Cited by 673 · see citing works
Anderman, L. H. (2003) · The Journal of Experimental Education · doi:10.1080/00220970309600877 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
School Bonding in Children and Adolescents: Conceptualization, Assessment, and Associated Variables
Maddox, S. J., & Prinz, R. J. (2003) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1023/a:1022214022478 · Cited by 364 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Williams, W. C., Morelli, S. A., Ong, D. C., & Zaki, J. (2018) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspi0000132 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Support, belonging, motivation, and engagement in the college classroom: A mixed method study
Zumbrunn, S., McKim, C., Buhs, E., & Hawley, L. R. (2014) · Instructional Science · doi:10.1007/s11251-014-9310-0 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Homesickness and adjustment in university students
Thurber, C. A., & Walton, E. A. (2012) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2012.673520 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Murphy, M. C., & Zirkel, S. (2015) · Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education · doi:10.1177/016146811511701204 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Conley, C. S., Shapiro, J. B., Huguenel, B. M., & Kirsch, A. C. (2020) · Emerging Adulthood · doi:10.1177/2167696818791603 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Terry, M. L., Leary, M. R., & Mehta, S. (2013) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2012.667913 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Stress, self-compassion, and well-being during the transition to college
Kroshus, E., Hawrilenko, M., & Browning, A. (2021) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113514 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Holt, L. J., Mattanah, J. F., & Long, M. W. (2018) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407517697856 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Elphinstone, B., Whitehead, R., Tinker, S. P., & Bates, G. (2019) · Educational Psychology · doi:10.1080/01443410.2019.1588228 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Sense of Belonging in the Time of COVID-19: Examining the Role of Friendships
Mignone, P. O. (2025) · The Journal of College and University Student Housing · doi:10.71348/001c.142695
Hill, K. C., & Metz, A. J. (2023) · Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition · doi:10.65005/154230723837777310
- Authors
- Pittman, L. D., & Richmond, A.
- Affiliations
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Experimental Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2008-07
- Volume
- 76
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 343-362
- ISSN
- 0022-0973 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-0683
- OpenAlex
- W1983089934
- Cited by
- 636
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 77 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 46 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 50.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Experimental Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- university belonging, friendship quality, psychological adjustment, transition to college, university students, self-perception, scholastic competence, self-worth, internalizing problems, freshman year
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
