Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire – SACQ
Measures how well a student is adapting to the academic, social, personal-emotional, and institutional demands of college life.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire – SACQ was developed by Robert W. Baker & Bohdan Siryk (1989). It is designed to measure College Adjustment. The scale is intended for use with College students.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 67 items organized into 4 factors/subscales: Academic Adjustment, Social Adjustment, Personal-Emotional Adjustment, Institutional Attachment.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Academic Adjustment | 3,5,6,10,13,17,19,21,23,25,27,29,32,36,39,41,43,44,50,52,54,58,62,66 | 24 |
| Social Adjustment | 1,4,8,14,18,26,30,33,37,42,46,48,51,56,63,65 | 16 |
| Personal-Emotional Adjustment | 2,7,11,12,20,22,24,28,31,35,38,40,45,49,53,55,64 | 17 |
| Institutional Attachment | 9,15,16,34,47,57,59,60,61,67 | 10 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Doesn't apply to me at all, 2 = , 3 = , 4 = , 5 = Halfway, 6 = , 7 = , 8 = , 9 = Applies very closely to me.
The scale includes 34 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 67 to 603. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low Adjustment: 67 – 245
- Moderate Adjustment: 246 – 424
- High Adjustment: 425 – 603
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Cronbach's alpha ranges from .81 to .90 for subscales, and .92 to .95 for the full scale.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.