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For this study, we examined the relationship between counseling experience and college students' academic performance and retention in a sample of 10,009 college freshmen and transfer students. The results indicated that counseling experience is significantly associated with student retention: students receiving counseling services were more likely to stay enrolled in school. However, counseling experience was not related to academic performance when controlling for precollege academic performance (i.e., high school GPA, and verbal and math SAT scores). In addition, students seeking both individual and group counseling showed better academic performance than the students who received other service types.
Adjustment difficulties of college students have been an emerging issue among college administrators, faculty, and mental health service providers since the Virginia Tech massacre (Flynn & Heitzmann, 2008). In particular, the recent increase in the number of distressed college students shows the importance of offering college students preventive and effective interventions. Cornish, Riva, Henderson, Kominars, and Mcintosh (2000) showed that the number of distressed college students has gradually increased, and Pledge, Lapan, Heppner, Kivlighan, and Roehlke (1998) found that the level of problem severity remained higher than in previous decades. According to a national survey of college counseling center directors (Gallagher, 2003), an increase in the level of psychopathology has been observed among college students. Specifically, Mowbray et al. (2006) reported that 12% to 18% of college students suffer from a diagnosable mental illness.
COLLEGE FRESHMEN, TRANSFER STUDENTS, AND ADJUSTMENT DIFFICULTIES
The adjustment difficulties that college students experience are most evident in freshmen and transfer students. Kashani and Priesmeyer (1983) posited that freshmen suffer from more adjustment difficulties, such as appetite disturbances, feelings of wordilessness, concentration problems, depression, and suicidal dioughts, compared to odier academic classes. In addition, freshmen are more likely to experience loneliness (Beck, Taylor, & Robbins, 2003), low self-esteem, and higher frequencies of life changes than seniors (Marron & Kayson, 1984). Henton, Lamke, Murphy, and Haynes (1980) explained this phenomenon as follows: students frequently question their identity, relationships, direction in life, and self-worth during the transition to college, which often results in inner turmoil and personal crisis. Previous empirical studies also have shown that the stress of relocation, separation from family and friends, meeting new people, new academic challenges, and the discrepancy between expectations...