A systematic review of 32 longitudinal studies identified 96 personal risk and protective factors for psychosocial transition success, consolidated into 16 salient elements across five higher-order domains¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The review retained 32 longitudinal studies (over 15,000 participants, 7 countries) identifying 96 factors with 480 extracted coefficients, thematically consolidated to 16 elements in five domains. → Ball 2025 q2 i? The consolidation was achieved through an iterative, interpretive consensus process among the authors rather than statistical aggregation. → Ball 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Ball 2025¶

Ball, I., Banerjee, M., Holliman, A., & Tyndall, I. (2025). Investigating Success in the Transition to University: A Systematic Review of Personal Risk and Protective Factors Influencing Psychosocial Success. https://osf.io/vxu5q?view_only=ee23e20f57c54891b842c92b7a4858de

q2 · i? · review · r2

PRISMA-guided search of PsycInfo, Web of Science, and ERIC screened "9050 abstracts", reviewed 147 full texts, and retained 55 studies, "of which 32 focused on psychosocial outcomes". Retained studies covered N = 15,110 participants across 7 countries, all survey-based and longitudinal.

"After searching three databases, 14,879 records were identified. Automated filters and removing duplicates resulted in screening 9050 abstracts"

Ball 2025 (2)¶

Ball, I., Banerjee, M., Holliman, A., & Tyndall, I. (2025). Investigating Success in the Transition to University: A Systematic Review of Personal Risk and Protective Factors Influencing Psychosocial Success. https://osf.io/vxu5q?view_only=ee23e20f57c54891b842c92b7a4858de

q2 · i? · review · r2

Narrative synthesis following SWiM guidance; the author team used "an iterative, interpretive process" with collaborative discussion and consensus to group 96 factors with 480 extracted coefficients into 16 elements and five domains.

"This consolidation of factors results in moving from 96 individual factors down to just 16 salient elements, grouped into five higher order domains"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Social support in all forms is a key protective factor for psychosocial success in the transition to university — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Positive coping styles show larger coefficients than negative coping styles, suggesting improving positive coping strategies may be more beneficial than minimising negative ones — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Adjustment variables show the largest coefficients of any factor domain but are typically measured after arrival, limiting their use for designing pre-transition interventions — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Most retained studies lack pre-university baselines, with only five of 32 taking a baseline before students started university, limiting understanding of pre-transition processes — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Most extracted associations are small: 219 of nearly 500 coefficients fall below a medium effect size, with conscientiousness–academic adjustment (.64) the largest — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Background demographic factors show mixed and outcome-dependent associations: age and gender relate differently to wellbeing versus depression and stress outcomes — a narrower finding that bears on this claim