Trailblazing: Exploring First-Generation College Students' Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Academic Adjustment

This study explored the relationship between academic self-efficacy beliefs and the academic adjustment of first-generation and non-first-generation students. Findings supported the presence of a differential relationship that was generally weaker for first-generation students. However, findings also suggested first-generation students experienced incongruence between perceptions and college performance. Understanding the role first-generation students' self-efficacy beliefs play in their adjustment to college may help counselors, administrators, and faculty develop interventions that ease the transition to college and improve educational outcomes of this at-risk population.