Adjustment to First Year of College – Relations among Self-perception, Trust, Mastery and Alienation

The present research investigates the relation among self-perception, beliefs about control over events (feeling of mastery), belief about human nature, trust in people and the feeling of alienation. Eighty seven first year students were assessed with five questionnaires and the results showed those students with a positive self-perception and who feel they have control upon events have low alienation feeling. Also those who trust other people don’t feel alienated, but the perception over human nature (cynics vs. trusting) didn’t present significant results. All together, the significant variables can explain 50 percent of the variance of alienation scores. The implications on possible preventing measures are discussed.