Factors Affecting Direct and Transfer Entrants’ Active Coping and Satisfaction with the University

Abstract

Psychological wellbeing is vital to public health. University students are the future backbone of the society. Direct and transfer entrants might encounter different adjustment issues in their transition from secondary school or community college to university studies. However, worldwide, the factors affecting their active coping and satisfaction with the university are currently unknown. The purpose of this study was to address this gap. Nine-hundred-and-seventy-eight direct entrants and 841 transfer entrants, recruited by convenience sampling, completed a cross-sectional survey study in 2018. A valid and reliable Hong Kong modified Laanan-Transfer Student Questionnaire (HKML-TSQ) was used to collect data. Multiple methods of quantitative data analysis were employed, including factor analyses, test of model fit, t-tests, correlations, and linear regression. The results showed that the transfer entrants had relatively less desirable experiences in their adjusting processes than did the direct entrants. There was evidence of both common and different factors affecting the two groups’ active coping and satisfaction with the university. Different stakeholders from community colleges, universities, and student bodies should work collaboratively to improve students’ transitional experiences before, during and after admission to the university.

A Qualitative Exploration on the Challenges of Transfer Students in an Asian Educational Context

“…In this study, transferring from two-year CCs to four-year universities brought about both academic and social challenges to CC TS. This corroborates previous quantitative studies of TS’ experiences in both Western [ 11 , 17 ] and Asian educational contexts [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Nonetheless, the TS in this study were still inclined to interact only with other TS. On one hand, these qualitative findings further explain our quantitative results [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]—their self-stigmatizing sense of incompetence and inferiority already prevented them from reaching out to other students whom they deemed “stronger” but were in fact not necessarily so. This implies that more educational and psychological supports are needed to inform TS about the empirical evidence on how the academic performances of the two student subpopulations have been shown to be statistically similar [ 66 , 67 ].…”

“…Due to the growing aspirations of CC graduates to pursue bachelor’s degrees in university (also known as “four-year institutions” in the literature), the size of the CC transfer student (TS) population has been booming over the past decade [ 1 , 3 ]. This calls for more attention to CC TS through identifying their characteristics and needs [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Although there is no shortage of quantitative studies on this subpopulation of university students, particularly in the West, few qualitative studies have been conducted worldwide to understand their transfer experiences.…”

“…The highly complex transition processes brought about by transfer can bring about a “turbulent pathway” (p. 600) [ 11 ] to TS, challenging their psychological, academic, and environmental adjustment [ 4 , 5 , 7 , 11 , 12 ]. Driving a host of studies on CC TS [ 13 ], Astin’s theory of student involvement [ 14 ] and Tinto’s model of student integration [ 15 ] posit that both academic and social involvement and integration into the university contribute to students’ persistence in learning and their degree attainment.…”

“…Furthermore, in Hong Kong CC are largely perceived as the stepping stone for entering university [ 39 , 40 ], as opposed to CC in other parts of the world that primarily aim at democratizing and improving the affordability of higher education [ 41 , 42 ]. Pioneering quantitative research on TS in the Asian educational context, the authors [ 5 , 6 , 7 ] have conducted an institution-wide questionnaire survey in the university with the largest number of TS in Hong Kong, yielding that TS tend to experience obstacles with credit transfer, to experience transfer shock, to have heavier study loads and mental health issues, to be less active in participating in social and extra-curricular activities, and to show self-stigmatization. However, not much is known about the current learning experiences and challenges of TS across various disciplines.…”