Individual differences and cheating behavior: Guilt and cheating in competitive situations

To examine whether guilt would inhibit immoral behavior, subjects were differentiated on their feelings of anticipatory (AG) and posttransgressional (PTG) guilt and subsequently placed in an anagram task shown to induce a high level of cheating. Results indicated that neither pre- nor post-test AG was related to cheating behavior, and test-retest administration indicated that the AG scale was unreliable. The PTG scale, however, was found to be a temporally reliable measure of guilt. In order to assess the relative contributions of pre-test posttransgressional guilt, the ability to persist, and gender to cheating behavior, a saturated multiple regression model of centered predictor effects and interaction terms was constructed. Results revealed a significant gender × persistence interaction. The cheating behavior of males was not significantly influenced by the ability to persist. On the other hand, females who exhibited a strong ability to persist rarely cheated, while those who were unable to persist cheated a great deal. Finally, subjects who felt the most posttransgressional guilt cheated more frequently. These findings provide additional evidence that guilt may be positively related to cheating behavior.     

Type A behaviour and psychological androgyny among Greek college students

Research conducted primarily in the United States suggests that the combination of Type A behaviour, high instrumentality, and low expressiveness may place individuals at relatively high risk for coronary-artery and heart disease. The present research investigates the trans-societal generalizability of the structure, reliability, relationships among, and distributional characteristics of these measures for 117 college students in Athens, Greece. As hypothesized, the Greek students were significantly less instrumental and less expressive than the American students, and scored significantly higher on the measure of Type A. Although there were significant mean differences between these samples, the results suggest that many of the interscale relationships are comparable, supporting an etic (universal) interpretation of the findings. Nevertheless, the results suggested several emic (unique) characteristics of these measures and their interrelationships.     

Cognitive appraisal of daily hassles in college students showing Type A or Type B behavior patterns

To test the hypothesized role of cognitive appraisal in Lazarus' model of life stress, 312 male and female undergraduate students completed the Hassles Scale and the Jenkins Activity Survey, Form C. Based upon their scores on the Type A scale of the Jenkins Activity Survey, subjects showing Type A behavior pattern differed significantly from subjects showing Type B behavior pattern on both reported frequencies of hassles (higher for Type A scoring subjects) and hassles content pattern. This is interpreted primarily as supportive of the cognitive appraisal variable in Lazarus' life stress model.     

Mother-blaming among college students

The purpose of this study was to examine the tendency for mother-blaming among college students to determine if such a bias existed outside the clinical profession. The subjects were 49 men and 50 women at a small private university, who were asked to attribute responsibility for 45 behavioral and personal-psychological problems to one of the following targets: Father, Individual, Mother, and Society. Analysis showed Individual receiving most attributions, followed by Society, Mother, and Father, in that order. Relatively more problems are blamed on Mother than on Father, with a tendency to blame mothers for emotional problems such as dependency and shyness and fathers for behavioral-physiological problems such as child abuse and alcoholism. Intercorrelations of the number of attributions made to different targets clearly suggest that there are parent-blamers, society-blamers, and individual-blamers. Implications of blame attribution for mental health are acknowledged.     

Prevalence and predictors of transitions in smoking behavior among college students.

The prevalence of smoking among college students is surprisingly high and represents a significant public health issue. However, there are few longitudinal studies of smoking in this population. This study examined the prevalence and predictors of transitions in smoking behavior among a cohort of 548 college students. Over the course of 4 years, 87% of daily smokers and almost 50% of occasional smokers continued to smoke. Among nonsmokers, 11.5% began smoking occasionally and none became daily smokers. In general, predictors of smoking behavior change were significant only among baseline occasional smokers and included gender, smoking outcome expectancies, and affect regulation expectations. Peer and parental smoking, demographics, affect, stress, and alcohol use were generally not predictive of change. Tobacco control interventions targeted at college students are clearly warranted.     

Food behavior of college students

Two hundred twelve undergraduate college students were surveyed near the completion of an introductory nutrition course to identify their patterns of food usage, changes in food habits, and previous nutrition background. Fifty percent increased their use of milk and milk products and 40% their use of vegetables; 50% decreased fat and sugar and one-third decreased salt and calories. About half the class used nutrient supplements before the course started as well as at the time of the survey. Although about half of the students had received some preocollege nutrition information, this factor had no relationship to eating habits. Cluster analysis indicated that students cannot be stereotyped extensively on the basis of dietary behaviors.     

Type A behavior and reminiscence in college undergraduates

This study represents the first empirical test of Friedman and Ulmer's (1984. Treating Type A behavior and your heart. New York: Fawcett) clinical observation that deficits in the capacity to reminisce about pleasant past events are among the most pervasive and dysfunctional correlates of Type A behavior. Type A (N = 79) and B (N = 109) college undergraduates completed a questionnaire assessing the frequency, content, style, and consequences of their reminiscence about positive past experiences. Findings supported two hypotheses: relative to Type Bs, Type As were less likely to report that they consciously look back on positive events after these events are over in order to store details for later recall, and were more likely to report that they typically reminisce about past achievements. Contradicting Friedman and Ulmer's observations, however, there were no significant A/B differences in the reported frequency, style, or consequences of recalling positive memories. The findings are discussed in terms of components of Type A behavior, such as competitive achievement-striving and self-esteem enhancement, that may make Type As (a) less likely to store, but not to recall, positive memories and (b) particularly likely to reminisce about personal accomplishments. Plausible reasons for the relative lack of support for Friedman and Ulmer's hypotheses are discussed in the context of directions for future research.     

Motives, involvements, and leadership among black college students

Thematic Apperceptive measures of achievement, affiliation, and power motives, together with consensual judges’ ratings for several clusters of attitudes, beliefs, and actions, and objective data on office-holding were obtained from thirty-eight Black undergraduate university students Overall, need for Power was related to holding office, being rated as influential, and participating in the Black Repertory Theatre. Among Northern-reared Blacks, need for Power related to ratings of activity in the extramural Black community and distrust of the System, among Southern-reared Blacks, need for Power and need for Achievement related to ratings of Pragmatism.     

Success and motivation among college students

The present research explores college students’ explanations of their success and failure in challenging activities and how it relates to students’ efficacy, value, and engagement. The results suggest most students hold one primary reason for success during the challenging activity, including grade/extrinsic, mastery/intrinsic, amotivation/working, social, and performance. These task reasons for success, if assumed to be goals, were more numerous than those suggested by goal theory. Task reason for success was important for engagement, intrinsic value, difficulty compared to others, and effort. As expected, engagement and intrinsic value were highest for those with mastery reasons but lowest for those in amotivation or those who succeeded because they made the grade. Unexpectedly, success was more important for motivation and experience of the activity. These results suggest that it is important to examine not only student goals, but also whether or not students reach their goals.     

Dating jealousy among college students

In a study of dating jealousy, questionnaires were administered to 147 male and 189 female college students. Subjects were asked to rate how they would feel about their dating partner's behavior in five hypothetical situations designed to measure jealousy. Results indicate that females are more jealous than males over situations involving the partner spending time on a hobby or with family members, but other situations evoke no sex differences. Sex-role orientation is the variable most consistently related to dating jealousy, with sex-role traditional subjects being the most jealous. A significant proportion of subjects expect dating partners to give up close personal friendships with others of the opposite sex, and most subjects begin to expect sexual exclusiveness from the earliest stages of their relationships.     

Association of solitary binge drinking and suicidal behavior among emerging adult college students

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 26(3) of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (see record 2012-13892-001). In the article, there is an error in the introductory paragraph. The number of students who had seriously considered attempting suicide in the Barrios, Everett, Simon, & Brener (2000) study should have been reported as 11.4%, not 1.4%. Additionally, in the Participants section, data for the study were collected from March 2009 to September 2010, not March 2009 to January 2010 as reported.] Emerging adult college students who binge drink in solitary contexts (i.e., while alone) experience greater depression and suicidal ideation than do students who only binge drink in social contexts, suggesting that they may be at greater risk for suicidal behavior. This study examined the association of a previous suicide attempt, one of the best predictors of future suicide attempts and suicide, and severity of recent suicidal ideation with drinking in solitary and social contexts. Participants were binge drinking, emerging adult (18- to 25-year-old) college students (N = 182) drawn from two studies of college drinkers. A logistic regression analysis revealed that both suicide attempt history and severity of suicidal ideation were significantly associated with a greater likelihood of being a solitary binge drinker as opposed to only a social binge drinker. Students with a previous suicide attempt were nearly four times more likely to be solitary binge drinkers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that suicide attempt history was significantly associated with greater frequency and quantity of drinking in solitary, but not social contexts. Suicidal ideation was significantly associated with drinks per solitary drinking day, but not frequency of solitary drinking once suicide attempt history was accounted for. Given the associations found between solitary binge drinking and a history of suicide attempts, as well as greater severity of recent suicidal ideation, it appears that these students are in need of suicide prevention efforts, including treatment efforts aimed at reducing binge drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Sociocultural predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes and behavior among Mexican American college students

Sociocultural variables of acculturation, enculturation, cultural congruity, and perceived social support were used as predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes and behaviors among 162 Mexican American college students. Multivariate multiple regression analyses indicated that higher cultural congruity, lower perceived social support from family, and higher perceived social support from significant others were significant predictors of positive help-seeking attitudes. In addition, higher acculturation into the dominant society, lower perceived social support from family, and lower perceived social support from friends were significantly predictive of greater help-seeking behavior. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

An examination of premarital sexual behavior among college students in hong kong

Abstract

This study examined the determinants of Hong Kong Chinese college students' intentions to engage in premarital sexual behavior. Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action (TOFA) and Ajzen's (1985) perceived behavioral control were used as the theoretical framework for our investigation. Two hundred and thirty eight students completed a questionnaire designed to measure constructs of the two theories. Results from the regression analysis: (a) support the applicability of TORA in predicting these students' intentions to engage in premarital sex; (b) suggest that while attitudes toward engaging in premarital sex were more important in predicting male students' intentions, subjective norms were more important for female students; (c) reveal that the additional prediction contributed by the behavioral control components was relatively weak. Other findings were basically consistent with premarital sex research conducted in Western societies. Given the fact that promoting abstinence is one way to stop the transmission of the AIDS virus, both the theoretical and applied implications of our results for health intervention are discussed.     

Environmental attitudes, knowledge, intentions and behaviors among college students

College students (N = 90) reported their pro-environment behaviors as well as their pro-environment intentions, their explicit and implicit attitudes about the environment, and their knowledge about environmental issues. Intentions and knowledge significantly and independently predicted behavior. Environmental knowledge was not significantly related to attitudes. Implicit and explicit attitudes were significantly but only moderately related. Only explicit attitudes, however, were strongly related to intentions, and intentions completely mediated the influence of explicit attitudes on behavior. Men were found to be more knowledgeable than women about environmental issues; older students had more favorable implicit and explicit environmental attitudes. This research suggests that knowledge about the environment and explicit attitudes influence behavior through different pathways, which may have implications for interventions seeking to increase environmentally friendly behavior.     

Self-efficacy and depression among Iranian college students

The present study examined the correlations of depression and self-efficacy among college students. Responses of 200 college students to the Self-efficacy Scale and Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire showed that there is a negative correlation between the two sets of scores.     

Marriage and stress-coping among female college students

By an independent t test, mean scores on the social domain of the Coping Resources Inventory for 18 single and for 18 married female students were not significantly different, suggesting similar involvement in social networks supportive during stress.     

Loneliness among Japanese and American college students

Both Japanese and American college students (ns = 100), away from home at their first year in college, showed high scores in the Differential Loneliness Scale, with Japanese students scoring higher on all subscales.