Abstract
The freshmen in universities continue to face adjustment issues to new environments. Thus, transition to the university is characterized by expected independent decisions as compared to the previous secondary school teacher controlled learning environment.When the transition challenges are not well managed by the university administration, then it could lead to the emergence of psychopathology, as pre-existing mental health problems are exacerbated or new symptoms emerge in response to novel environmental stressors.The present study examined the relationship between social comparison and overall adjustment among the freshmen in one selected public university in Kenya. The study was informed by Social Comparison Theory (SCT) and Student Integration Theory.This study was anchored in the positivist research paradigm. The study was guided by the cross-sectional survey research design. The sample size comprised 213 freshmen in one public university in Western Kenya. The Social Comparison Scale and Adjustment Questionnaire were used to collect data. The validity results indicated that the Keiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was 0.753. The Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity at 95% level of confidence was significant (p-value of .000 < 0.05). The finding shows that there was a low negative (r = -.142, n =213, p<.05) relationship between social comparison and overall adjustment among the first year university students. The study concludes that the social comparison regression model was adequate to predict overall adjustment among first year university students [F (1, 211) = 4.366, p< .05)].The study recommends that the university counseling center should develop holistic counseling therapies, which would enhance coping skills, seeking support, and counseling seeking behaviours among first year students