Psychological Orientation, Perceptions of Institutional Climate, and Their Relationship to the Social and Academic Adjustment of African American Community College Students

When examined more thoroughly, the complexities created by the discrepancies between admission and graduation of African American students point to the impact of their psychological orientation to community college. It simultaneously highlights the degree of their mainstream orientation experience and its impact on their perceptions of institutional climate as it relates to social and academic adjustment. Numerous variables have the potential to impact the performance of African American community college students. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the purpose of the study was to examine psychological orientation and perceptions of institutional climate as variables to address the relationship between the social and academic adjustment of African American community college students. The study population sampled consisted of 85 African American students from two community colleges in the North Carolina Community Colleges System utilizing the Mainstream Orientation Questionnaire, the Perceptions of Institutional Climate Questionnaire, the Social Adjustment Questionnaire, and the Academic Adjustment Questionnaire. The study results suggest there is a statistically significant relationship between mainstream orientation and perceptions of the institutional climate of African American community college students. However, neither was there a statistically significant relationship between the perceptions of institutional climate and the social adjustment of African American community college students, nor was there a statistically significant relationship between perceptions of institutional climate and the academic adjustment of African American community college students. The results are indicative of a need for further study to identify and understand the reason for low numbers of African American students attending community colleges.