Understanding College Student Psychological Adaptation in China: Exploring Dimensions and Influential Factors

Abstract

College students are widely recognized as a vulnerable group. Due to the institutional, academic, social, and emotional factors they must face, staying in the higher education system has become a challenge for young people. The college years coincide with a critical developmental period, a time when many common mental disorders emerge. what is noticeable is that psychological adaptation was found to be significantly related to mental health, with individuals who exhibited good psychological adaptation reporting better mental health and a sense of empowerment. Psychological adaptation can help individuals transform negative emotions into more positive ones, enabling students to better understand their own and others' mental states and feelings, thus minimizing trauma. Although the mental health of students and their adaptation to college life has been the subject of some studies. However, the literature still shows a considerable gap. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of college students' psychological adaptation, this study will use literature analysis to classify and sort out the dimensions and influencing factors of their psychological adaptation. The analysis results found that psychological adaptation includes five common dimensions, academic adaptation, environmental (life) adaptation, interpersonal adaptation, self-adaptation and emotional adaptation. In addition, the analysis of the influencing factors of psychological adaptation shows that many of the psychological challenges faced by college freshmen are linked to the diverse micro-ecological environments in which they were raised and their current psychological adaptation. Furthermore, the majority of influencing factors affecting psychological adaptation operate at the micro-level. which also provides the direction and reference for the subsequent research on college psychological adaptation and mental health work.