The Process of College Adjustment: Weekly Changes and Racial Differences

This paper provides new insights into the process of college adjustment by examining week-by-week trends in college belonging and well-being within a sample of 12,529 responses from 882 students at a private, selective university. These adjustment outcomes generally improve throughout the first semester, but the patterns are certainly not linear, and they coincide with specific notable challenges and events that students face. Overall differences and trends over time also vary by race/ethnicity.