The impact of college experience on political and social attitudes

In the last two decades a considerable volume of research has focused on how the college experience affects students. The purpose of the research reported here was to investigate to what extent students (predominantly Caucasian) at a highly selective university on the East coast changed their political and social attitudes during college. In particular, the influences of religious background, gender, membership in a fraternity or sorority, and time in college on attitudes were examined. Results indicated that students as seniors scored higher on measures of liberalism, social conscience, homosexuality tolerance and feminist attitudes and lower on male-dominant attitudes than they did as first year students. Given the lack of previous studies of change in attitudes toward homosexuality in college and the current political debate about issues relating to sexual orientation, an important finding was the substantial increase in tolerance of homosexuality by all subgroups. Results are discussed with respect to the special characteristics and potential influence of Ivy League students.Research for this paper was funded in part by grants from the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation and the National Institute of Justice (Grant NIJ 89-IJ-CX-0048, Assessment and Evaluation of SMART and Related Programs, Robert Boruch, PI). Opinions expressed in it are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent official views of the University of Pennsylvania or NIJ.     

The relation of gender-role orientation to sexual experience among college students

This study examined the relations of gender and three aspects of gender roles — self concept, behavior, and sexual attitudes — to three aspects of sexual behavior — sexual experience, reasons for intercourse, and contraceptive use. Gender was strongly related to all three aspects of sexual behavior. For both men and women, sex role behaviors were related to sexual experience and to reasons for intercourse, but not to contraceptive use, and sex role self-concept was unrelated to any of the aspects of sexual behavior. The results indicate that sexual behavior is influenced both by societal gender role norms and by individual differences in the acceptance of those norms.     

The influence of a career group experience on the vocational maturity of college students

The effects of a career group experience on the vocational maturity of theoretically grouped college freshmen and sophomores were investigated using Super's Career Development Inventory as the dependent measure. The dimensions of consistency/inconsistency and differentiation/nondifferentiation, as identified utilizing Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory, were investigated along with the dimensions of treatment/nontreatment and interaction effects. Predictions related to change in vocational maturity as a result of treatment were made for each dimension. The analysis sample was a group of 68 volunteer freshman and sophomore college students. Results indicated that students did significantly increase their vocational maturity as a result of the group experience. Furthermore, it was found, as predicted, that within experimental groups inconsistent and nondifferentiated students improved significantly more on some vocational maturity measures than consistent or differentiated students. Students who were both inconsistent and nondifferentiated showed consistently greater increases on virtually all vocational maturity measures than all other theoretical groups.     

The impact of perceived racial discrimination on the mental health of Asian American and Latino college students

The authors examined the impact of perceived racial discrimination on various mental health outcomes for Asian American and Latino college students within an emic and etic framework. Results indicate that Asian American and Latino college students experienced similar exposure and reactions to various kinds of discrimination. However, Latino students were more likely than Asian American students to have been accused of doing something wrong, such as cheating and breaking the law, and more likely to appraise these experiences as stressful. Asian Americans evidenced higher risk for trait anxiety. Regardless of ethnicity, perceived racial discrimination was associated with several negative mental health outcomes, including higher psychological distress, suicidal ideation, state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression. Findings highlight the need to address discrimination across multiple social and professional settings and to understand the broad array of mental health outcomes.     

Examining the impact of acculturative stress on body image disturbance among Hispanic college students

This study investigated the impact of acculturative stress on psychological well-being and body image disturbance in a sample of female and male Hispanic individuals. The unique protective effects of differing social support sources, including family and peer support, were examined against acculturative stress and body image disturbance. A total of 399 participants of Hispanic origin were recruited from Texas Tech University in West Texas. Students completed a battery of measures of acculturative stress and internalization of the thin ideal, as well as perceived social support. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that acculturative stress is a significant positive predictor of body image disturbance among Hispanic college students. Thin ideal internalization was found to mediate this relationship such that acculturative stress was associated with heightened body image disturbance through its impact on thin ideal internalization. Social support significantly reduced acculturative stress as well as body image disturbance but did not moderate the relation between these 2 factors. Results highlight the importance of considering acculturative stress as a strong predictor of body image disturbance among college students of Hispanic origin. The mechanisms of influence of acculturative stress on body image disturbance are discussed in relation to thin ideal internalization. The protective role of social support on these negative psychological outcomes is also clarified. This study is the first to examine these issues in a sample of female and male Hispanic college students and provides avenues for clinical interventions and future trials with diverse populations.     

Requencies and relations of body piercing and sexual experience in college students

This research examined the relation between having a body piercing and having engaged in premarital sexual intercourse. Data were gathered from a convenience sample of 450 college students. 72% were women; 85% were ages 18 to 22 years (M=20.9, SD=4.5), 80% were Euro-American. Women with piercings reported substantively and significantly greater frequency of sexual activity than college students without piercings. There were no significant differences in sexual experience between men with piercings and those without. These findings differ from previous research comparing the sexual activity of college students with and without tattoos.     

The effects of a career course on undecided college students

The effects of a career course taught by 11 instructors (two sections each) for college students, who were undecided about a major field or career, were evaluated in a pre-post design using the Vocational Identity, Occupational Information, and Barrier scales of the My Vocational Situation (J. A. Holland, D. C. Daiger, & P. G. Power, Palo Alto, Calif.: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1980). Large main effects were observed for the Identity and Occupational Information scales, but not for the Barriers scale. No interactions by instructor or student characteristics were found by using a simple ANOVA procedure or by using a split plot factorial design. The implications for new research and career instructors were discussed.     

The prevalence of suicidal ideation among college students

A total of 737 university students were surveyed using a psychometrically sound self-report measure of suicidal ideation. Over 43% of those participating were found to have experienced some level of suicidal ideation during the previous year. Of those found to have had suicidal thoughts, 14.9% in some way acted on those thoughts without actually making suicide attempts. An additional 5.5% were found to have made attempts on their lives. Serious suicidal ideation and actual attempts were related to several demographic traits, and implications of the results are discussed. In general, findings indicate that the problem of youth suicide may involve a greater percentage of young people than previously thought. Moreover, findings provide indirect support for the hypothesis that the difference in male-female completed suicide rates is primarily a function of the lethality of the attempts.     

The social class worldviews of first-generation college students

The social class worldviews (social class beliefs, attitudes, and values) of 14 first-generation college students were investigated with qualitative interviews. Consensual qualitative research analysis revealed first-generation students’ perspectives on the development of their social class worldviews, the effect of these worldviews on their transitions to college, and vice versa. The students’ pre-college beliefs and values promoted hard work and college attendance as a means of financial success. The transition to college created disequilibrium in the social class worldviews of the students interviewed, who in turn responded by attempting to adapt to the new culture, emphasizing their social class background, or downplaying the role of social class in their lives altogether. College professionals working with first-generation students are encouraged to facilitate dialogues with first-generation students about their social class worldview and its impact on students’ engagement with the college community.     

The persistent impact of incidental experience

As we perform daily activities—driving to work, unlocking the office door, or grabbing a coffee cup—our actions seem automatic and preprogrammed. Nonetheless, routine, well-practiced behavior is continually modulated by incidental experience: In repetitive experimental tasks, recent (~4) trials reliably influence performance and action choice. Psychological theories downplay the significance of sequential effects, explaining them as rapidly decaying perturbations of behavior, with no long-term consequences. We challenged this traditional perspective in two experiments designed to probe the impact of more distant experience, finding evidence for effects spanning up to a thousand intermediate trials. We present a normative theory in which these persistent effects reflect optimal adaptation to a dynamic environment exhibiting varying rates of change. The theory predicts a heavy-tailed decaying influence of past experience, consistent with our data, and suggests that individual incidental experiences are catalogued in a temporally extended memory utilized in order to optimize subsequent behavior.     

Aggression levels in college students after exposure or non-exposure to an aggressive life experience

Through a secondary analysis of existing data, the authors researched the question of what types of aggressive behaviors are learned from an individual's social environment. The findings included data on three student groups: 1) students who had never been in military service; 2) students who had been in military service and had been to Viet Nam; and 3) students who had been in military service, but who had not been to Viet Nam. The results indicated that assault is clearly one aggressive behavior that appears to increase with exposure to an aggressive life experience.     

The impact of a near-death experience on family relationships

This study explores the influence that a near-death experience (NDE) had on the family relationships of eleven NDErs, based on in-depth interviews. I detail the changes in relationships with extensive quotes providing data on family interactions. Analysis of the adjustments of NDErs within their family relationships reveals that while some families cope well and are positively influenced by an NDE, others may encounter difficulty and cease to function as they previously did. The transformation that NDErs themselves undergo, as well as the attitudes of others toward the NDE and the NDEr, are instrumental in altering NDErs' family relationships.This paper was excerpted and adapted from his seniors honors thesis.     

大学生的社会网络

在系统回顾大学生社会网络的内涵、维度与测量的基础上, 从家庭与个体方面厘清大学生社会网络的影响因素, 其中个体因素可进一步划分为人口统计学特征、内隐特质以及外显行为方式等因素; 同时, 基于影响效果的时空特点, 从近端与远端两个视角概括了大学生社会网络对其校内态度、行为以及毕业后就业、创业影响的过程机制。未来可以从大学生社会网络维护策略、网络动态性演变等方面进行探索性研究。     

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.     

The conception of depression in Chinese American college students

The conception of depression in Chinese American college students was examined with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies--Depression Scale (CES-D). It was hypothesized that, because of their significant engagement with mainstream American culture, these students' conception of depression would better approximate White Americans' differentiated view (L. Radloff, 1977) than the general Chinese American community's integrated view (Y. Ying, 1988). A total of 353 bicultural Chinese American college students participated in the study. Consistent with the hypothesis, principal-components factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed a factor structure and loading similar to that found in White American adults. Confirmatory factor analysis also showed Chinese American college students to better approximate Radloff's differentiated model based on her White American samples than Ying's integrated model based on her Chinese American community sample. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Personality caracteristics of college students on academic probation

In two separate studies underclassmen on academic probation (N = 27, N = 22) were individually matched for aptitude with academically satisfactory students to investigate (a) nonaptitudinal factors differentiating probation students from matched students and (b) how probation students who eventually have to withdraw differ from those who improve. Results based on interviews, questionnaires, and self-report measures indicate that probation students have unrealistically optimistic expectations concerning grades, attribute their difficulties to academic factors rather than personal concerns, and tend to be defensive, lacking in positive motivation for academic work, and relatively dependent on their parents. Students most likely to get off probation estimated their grades most accurately and had lowest test anxiety