Abstract:

Given the fact that in modern society young people who do not complete upper secondary education face more disadvantages than in the past, academic adjustment and dropout have received increased attention in the last decades. The diversity of students’ motives for attending university studies is considered an important factor of commitment and, as a result, of successful academic adjustment (Hyytinen, Tuononen, Nevgi, & Toom, 2022).

The main aim of the present study was to investigate first-year students' motives for attending university in relation to their academic adjustment. The design of the study is cross-sectional, the participants being first-year students from two universities covering all fundamental domains, engineering, sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, medicine, physical education, and sports. The Students’ Motivations for Attending University Questionnaire (Cote & Levine, 1997, 2000), and The Academic Adjustment Inventory (Clinciu & Cazan, 2014) were used in data collection. A factual questionnaire was also used to collect data about the educational background: profile of the high school, baccalaureate mean grade, previous degrees or diplomas, the elapsed time from high school graduation, range of admission to the study program applied (first choice, second choice, etc), and previous university enrolments.

The results showed that students' motives for attending university and the academic adjustment dimensions were related, with personal-intellectual and careerism materialism motives being the most significant predictors of adjustment. Baccalaureate mean grade as an indicator of previous academic performance and the match between the study domain in high school and in university seemed to be significant moderators in the relationship between entry motives and academic adjustment. Factors such as gender, place of living, and distance in km from the place of living to the university city were also taken into consideration.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge on the importance of the first study year, providing new insights into the relationship between motives for attending university studies and academic adjustment. Our results support previous studies showing that motives for attending university and educational background are input factors predicting students' academic adjustment.

The findings showing that students' motives for attending university have a key role in their university studies is one of the main implications of this study. Students’ motivations for attending university could be included both in the university admission procedure and in the strategies implemented for students by the career counseling university centers to prevent academic dropout. Given the high relevance of personal-intellectual motives, future intervention programs for students could be implemented during their studies to increase students' well-being, self-growth, and learning autonomy.

Keywords:

Academic adjustment, motivation for attending university, first-year students, dropout.