CORRELATES OF ADJUSTMENT TO THE UNIVERSIT Y AMONGST FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

Two investigations were carried out an a sample of students atttending the Faculty of Philosophy in Zadar: one at the beginning of the study period and the other after the freshman year. The purpose of the inve stigation was to establish whether the styles of coping measured by En dler's and Parker's CISS questionnaire are stable dispositions and to see how they connect with indicators of positive and negative adjustme nt to being a student and with priorly identified individual and envir onmental predictors of adjustment. Results confirm the stability of th ree styles of coping: problem-focused coping strategies, emotion-focus ed and avoidance coping strategies. Amongst these the most stable stra tegy is the emotion-focused one. It was shown that none of the styles of coping was connected with the indicator of positive adjustment to s tudy, that is, with satisfaction regarding educational success during the freshman year. The indicator of negative adjustment, that is, the evaluation of stress during the freshman year is negatively connected with problem-focused coping strategies and positively with emotion-foc used strategies. Self-esteem is connected both with positive and negat ive adjustment to being a student and with the styles of problem-focus ed and emotion-focused coping strategies. The nature of this connectio n indicates the moderating role played by self-esteem.