PROPOSED RESEARCH TITLE:

Adjustment Problems, Help Seeking

Tendencies, and Coping Strategies
of First Year College Students:
The CSUan Experience


PROPONENT:
CSU-CARIG Guidance and Counseling
Center

RATIONALE:
Pursuing a college education is inherently stressful and demanding.
College students are at risk of experiencing adjustment difficulties which are
intensified by various factors such as overwhelming academic demands, increased
pressure due to new responsibilities, social challenges like moving away from
primary support systems (i.e. their parents), increased competition, decreased or
inadequate resources, and the like.
Though adjustment exists in every part of our life and is experienced
almost by everybody, it seems to peak during college years. The transition from
adolescence to adulthood is a difficult journey filled with various risk, rapid
changes, and seemingly endless choices. Consequently, college students face
social, emotional, and physical and family problems which may affect their
learning ability and academic performance.
The freshman year of college is usually acknowledged as a stressful time
for social and academic adjustment. During this period, first-year students face
many social challenges (i.e. moving away from their primary support systems) and
intellectual challenges (i.e., more demanding course work or heavy work load).

Furthermore, first-year transition can be filled with emotional
stressors such as loneliness, home sickness, grief, confusion and
uncertainty (Tuna, 2009; Moore, 2006; Dennis, Phinney, & Chuateco, 2005
) all related to break from their primary attachment figures (parents and or
other loved ones).
Data on the initial interview conducted first semester of the current
school year among the First Year students of CSU at Carig reveals that
most of the freshmen expect that their college life will be challenging,
difficult, and stressful. Moreover, as reflected from the exit interview
conducted by the Guidance Center, the number of first year students who
drop and/or transfer to other schools is remarkable. Aside from financial
difficulties, the nature of their reasons of dropping and/or transferring is
adjustment-related (homesickness, desire to be with parents/family, the
University is too far from their home).
Relating with social, academic and personal challenges that students
are supposed to adjust to, it would be worthy to assess the students
alternative coping strategies. Help seeking, a form of coping strategy that
relies on other people, is defined as communicating with other people to
obtain help in terms of understanding, advice, information, treatment, and
general support in response to a problem or distressing experiences
(Deane, Wilson, Rickwood, & Ciarrochi, 2002; Biddle, Gunnel, Sharp, &
Donavan, 2004; Wilson & Deane, 2007).



Normally, there are numerous ways of coping with adversity and help
seeking is only one. With regard to the urges of help seeking, Sarson &
Sarson (2002) wrote that some people seek professional help when they are
dissatisfied with themselves, or because of concern expressed by family
members, friends or co-workers. Nevertheless, evidences indicate that help
seeking behavior might be different from culture to culture or from place to
place (Tien, 1997). Many freshmen and even senior students devise their
own coping strategies, be it functional or dysfunctional, with stressful
encounters instead of self-disclosure to an advisor or counselor.
As manifested by the initial interview conducted by the Guidance
Center, most of the college freshmen at CSU-Carig are likely to seek advice or
run for help to their parents and relatives whenever they have concerns or
problems.
The occurrences of help-seeking behaviors intensified by the apparent
presence of adjustment difficulties among the freshmen students in the
University prompted the researchers to embark on a study which will
determine their adjustment problems, help-seeking tendencies, and coping
strategies.




SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:
This study endeavors to investigate the major adjustment problems that
may hinder first year college students academic endeavors. It further intends
to assess their help-seeking tendencies and coping strategies. This research
was designed to benefit the following:
1. ADMINISTRATORS establishing data on adjustment problems would give
them significant information on how to minimize if not totally eradicate
college academic attrition.
2. FACULTY being aware of the students adjustment problems will make
them more student-centered rather than being content-centered on their
teaching strategies.
3. GUIDANCE COUNSELORS data on this research will surely guide school
counselors in designing guidance activities to help college freshmen of the
University cope with the demands of college life.
4. STUDENTS this study will help them realize their adjustment concerns
and by doing so would motivate them to devise healthy strategies in coping.
The end goal of which is to make them become more adjusted and be able to
finish their degrees in the University with the expected time frame.


RESEARCH PROBLEM:

The purpose of this paper is to determine the adjustment problems,
status of help seeking behaviors and coping strategies of first year
students at Cagayan State University, Carig Campus.
Specifically, it aims to address the following questions:

1. What is the student profile in terms of age, sex, demographic
location , and college of origin?

2. What are the major adjustment problems encountered by the First
Year students of CSU at Carig?

3. How likely do the respondents manifest help-seeking tendencies
and who usually are their source of help?

4. What are the coping strategies employed by the respondents?

5. Are there differences in the adjustment problems, help-seeking
behaviors, and coping strategies of the respondents as a function of
their age, sex, demographic location, and college of origin?

6. Is there a significant relationship between the respondents
adjustment problems, help-seeking behaviors, coping strategies,
and their demographic profile?





RESEARCH HYPOTHESES:

1. There are no significant differences in the respondents
adjustment problems, help-seeking behaviors, and coping strategies when
grouped according to their age, sex, demographic location, and college of
origin.
2. There is no significant relationship between the respondents
adjustment problems, help-seeking behaviors, coping strategies and
demographic profile.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

The study will utilize the descriptive-quantitative research design. It
endeavors to establish baseline data regarding the adjustment problems,
help-seeking tendencies, and coping strategies of the College Freshmen at
Cagayan State University, Carig Campus.

RESEARCH LOCALE:

This study will be piloted at Cagayan State University, Carig Campus
with the College Freshmen for the School Year 2013-2014 as target
respondents.

RESEARCH SAMPLES AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
The population of this study includes the First Year students from the
different colleges of CSU at Carig for the School Year 2013-2014, as
officially classified by the Campus Registrar. The Slovins Formula will be
used to determine the sample size and the stratified random sampling
technique will be employed to select the respondents. This study is
inclusive of the first year international students of the University.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
1. College Adjustment Scale (CAS) - this 108-item rating scale is
designed to identify psychological and adjustment problems experienced
by college students. The CAS includes nine scales: Anxiety, Depression,
Suicidal Ideation, Substance Abuse, Self-Esteem Problems, Interpersonal
Problems, Family Problems, Academic Problems, and Career Problems.

2. Vignette Version of the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire
(GHSQ-v) used to assess intentions to seek help from different sources
and for different problems. Through vignettes, respondents are asked how
likely they will respond to each problem-type by rating their help-seeking
intentions on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (extremely unlikely)to 7
(extremely likely) for each help source option including no one.






3. Coping Strategies Inventory - Short Form (CSI-S) which consist of 32-
items, and with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (very
much).The CSI-S measures the hierarchical structure of coping via two higher
order factors (engagement and disengagement) that subsume four
secondary coping factors (problem focused engagement, emotion focused
engagement, problem focused disengagement, and emotion focused
disengagement) and eight primary coping factors. The primary coping factors
in the engagement categories are problem-solving, cognitive restructuring,
social support, and express emotions, and the primary coping factors in the
disengagement categories are problem avoidance, wishful thinking, social
withdrawal, and self-criticism.

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURES
Upon approval of the Campus Research Committee, the researcher will
route a communication directed to the College Deans vis-a-vis the conduct
of the study. Schedules will be set for the administration of the research
questionnaires particularly the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire-vignette
(GHSQ-v) and the Coping Strategies Inventory Short-Form (CSI-S). Data for
the adjustment problems will come from the result of the College
Adjustment Scale (CAS) which is already available at the Guidance and
Counseling Center. The said test was already administered to all First Year
students of CSU-Carig last First Semester of the current school year.





STATISTICAL TREATMENT???