Relationship between Students’ Perceptions of University Community Quality and Their Adjustment to University: The Mediating Role of Academic Engagement

The aim of this study was to investigate the structural relationship between students’ perceptions of university community quality and their adjustment to university through academic engagement. The participants were 390 (208 women, 182 men) undergraduate university students selected by random cluster sampling method from Shiraz University. The participants completed McDonald’s College and University Community Inventory, Reeve’s Academic Engagement Questionnaire, and Baker & Siryk’s Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. The findings indicated that the model had good fit indices, and students’ perceptions of university community quality had direct effect on academic engagement and adjustment to university. The students’ perceptions of university community quality had an indirect effect on their adjustment to university through academic engagement. According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that in order to increase the likelihood of students’ adjustment to university, it should be paying attention to the quality of the university community quality and their academic engagement.