Adjustment to College and Perceptions of Faculty Incivility

This study assessed the relationships between adjustment and maladjustment to college life and faculty incivility (FI). Two FI constructs were used: Active FI and passive FI. The first includes serious incivilities, such as personal comments or verbal attacks against students; the second pertains to more subtle incivilities, such as inadequate communications and avoidance. Two scales were administered to 744 undergraduate college students: The College Adjustment Test (CAT), and the Perceived Faculty Incivility Scale (PFIS). A paired-samples t-test result showed a significantly higher mean result for the passive FI compared with active FI. In addition path model results showed that those who reported higher levels of uncivil encounters in the classroom have also reported an increase in their negative emotional level of adjustment to college life; whereas decreased levels of FI incivility encounters were associated with increased perceptions of adjustment to college. An additional path analysis result has associated maladjustment with passive FI only. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.