Analysis of the Lived Experience of Maladjusted Students from the Dimensions of Maladjustment in University: Qualitative Phenomenological Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Student of Educational Psychology, Department of Educational Science, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Tabriz University, Tabriz,, Iran

2 Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.

3 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Aim: According to the research, many students consider the first year of university as one of the challenging and stressful periods of life and they can’t properly adjust to it. The goal of this research was to study the lived experiences of students with low adjustment in the first year of university to determine problems and challenges of adjustment to university. Method: The research method was qualitative phenomenological. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi's 7-step method. The study’s population was the Bachelor’s students with low adjustment in Bandar Abbas Islamic Azad University, in the 1399-1400 academic year. The Purposeful sampling method was conducted on 18 students with low adjustment until reaching data saturation. Results: Qualitative phenomenological analysis led to the extraction of seven main themes and thirty-three sub-themes. Social and communication problems, emotional problems, irrational beliefs, learning problems, motivational problems, family and university environment problems were determined as the main themes. Conclusion: The results indicated that maladjusted students experience numerous intrapersonal and environmental problems in adjusting to university. However, the intrapersonal factors share was higher than environmental factors. Thus, due to the multi-dimensional nature of students' problems, it is essential to conduct multilateral interventions to increase students' adjustment to university.

Keywords

References

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