The mediating role of parental expectations in culture and well-being

In two studies, we examined the role of perceived fulfillment of parental expectations in the subjective well-being of college students. In Study 1, we found that American college students reported having higher levels of life satisfaction and self-esteem than did Japanese college students. American college students also reported having fulfilled parental expectations to a greater degree than did Japanese college students. Most importantly, the cultural difference in well-being was mediated by perceived fulfillment of parental expectations. In Study 2, we replicated the mediational finding with Asian American and European American college students. Asian American participants also perceived their parents' expectations about their academic performance to be more specific than did European Americans, which was associated with the cultural difference in perceived fulfillment of parental expectations. In short, perceived parental expectations play an important role in the cultural difference in the well-being of Asians and European Americans.     

We've come a long way,maybe: College students' plans for work and family

Young men and women today face considerable choices as they plan for family and work. We explore college students' educational preparations, as well as their attitudes, orientations, and expectations for work and family. Although we find some changes toward a more gender-equal society, we also find potential conflicts which these individuals will have to face as they attempt to combine work and family roles. Women and men are doing equally well in college, both men and women have equal commitments to work roles, and both value family. However, both men and women expect that women will play a more prominent role in the family and men a stronger role in the workplace. The orientation and plans of these college students do not anticipate symmetrical relationships in which both men and women share household and work responsibilities.We are grateful to Brenda K. Hawks, Sue Curry Jansen, and Judith Lasker for their careful readings of earlier drafts of this paper. Special thanks go to the students in SR377/477 for their major contribution in collecting the data which are analyzed herein.     

The effect of age and role information on expectations for big five personality traits

In four studies, the authors investigated the extent to which expectations for personality traits in age-graded roles correspond to patterns of personality trait change across the life course. In Studies 1 (N = 43) and 2 (N = 126), the authors examined the age-graded roles of high school student, college student, parent, and grandparent and found that expectations for how people behave in these age-graded roles showed strong parallels to the documented pattern of personality trait development and that this pattern of expectations was largely shared by younger and older participants. In Studies 3 (N = 252) and 4 (N = 123), the authors separated age and role information (e.g., marital, parental, and employment status) and found that people use both sources of information independently in forming expectations of others. The implications for understanding the interplay of expectations and personality trait development are discussed.     

The relationship of mathematics self-efficacy expectations to the selection of science-based college majors

The major purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship of mathematics self-efficacy expectations to the selection of science-based majors in college males and females. Based on results obtained from a pilot sample of college students, an instrument assessing mathematics self-efficacy expectations was developed. The items used in the mathematics self-efficacy scale included everyday math tasks, math problems, and math-based college courses. Subjects, 153 female and 109 male undergraduates, completed the mathematics self-efficacy scale, the Bem Sex Role Inventory, an adapted version of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales, and a questionnaire concerning their college major choices. Results indicated that mathematics self-efficacy expectations were significantly related to the extent to which students selected science-based college majors, thus supporting the postulated role of cognitive mediational factors in educational and career choice behavior. In addition, the math-related self-efficacy expectations of college males were significantly stronger than were those of college females. Implications of the findings for the process of educational and career decision-making are discussed.     

Efficacy Expectations and Vocational Interests as Mediators between Sex and Choice of Math/Science College Majors: A Longitudinal Study

A longitudinal study was conducted to test the mediational role of efficacy expectations in relation to sex differences in the choice of a math/science college major. Data on 101 students were gathered prior to their entering college and then again after they had declared a major 3 years later. Path analytic results support the importance of both math self-efficacy beliefs and vocational interest in mathematics in predicting entry into math/science majors and mediating sex differences in these decisions. Also, students who described themselves as more extroverted were less likely to take additional math classes in high school. Students with stronger artistic vocational interests chose majors less related to math and science. School personnel are strongly encouraged to develop programs that challenge the crystallization of efficacy beliefs and vocational interest patterns before students enter college.     

Black students/white university: different expectations

This article identifies the kinds of problems that are experienced by black students who attend a predominantly white university. There are explicit and implicit assumptions and expectations that the students and the university staff have about each other, but these assumptions and expectations are often incompatible. The black students have many problems of adjustment in academic, social, and personal areas. The author proposes some suggestions on how to minimize the adjustment process and foster improved communication between the black students and the university officials. Also examined is the role of high school counselors in aiding black students in making the transition from high school to college.     

Evaluative expectations and the gender schema: Is failed inconsistency better?

Are evaluative assessments a part of the information that constitutes the gender stereotype? Two studies tested this question by presenting participants (50 female and 43 male college students, for whom English was their native language) with information that manipulated both the knowledge of gender roles and the evaluative assessments of performance in those roles. Participants tried to learn statements like “Jane is a good nurse” or “John is a bad nurse.” Memory for these relationships was then tested. Results indicated that when the person's name and the role were consistent with the gender stereotype, a positive evaluative connection made the statement easier to recall than a negative evaluative connection. However, an inconsistent name—role pairing was easier to recall when the evaluative connection was negative rather than positive. The results are interpreted as support for an evaluative bias that is part of the knowledge associated with gender differences.     

自我厌恶与大学生同伴关系：抑郁和社会支持的链式中介作用

为考察自我厌恶对大学生同伴关系的影响机制以及抑郁和社会支持在其中的作用,采用中文版自我厌恶量表、同伴关系量表、抑郁自评量表和青少年社会支持评定量表对443名大学生进行调查。结果发现：(1)自我厌恶与大学生同伴关系呈显著负相关;(2)抑郁和社会支持在自我厌恶对大学生同伴关系的影响过程中起链式中介作用。结果表明,通过降低大学生的自我厌恶和抑郁水平,同时充分发挥社会支持的作用,有助于提升大学生的同伴关系。     

The Relation of College Internships,College Performance,and Subsequent Job Opportunity

This study examined the relationship of business college internships to college performance and to subsequent job opportunities. Whites were more apt to have had an internship than African Americans; there was no difference by gender. Students with internships had a significantly higher overall grade point average, were somewhat younger upon graduation, and were more apt to be employed upon graduation than students without internships. Internships were thus related to both better college performance and to receiving a job offer upon graduation. Discussion centered on the role of internship in realistic job expectations and recommendations for improving internships.     

First and Third Person Pronouns in Sex Role Questionnaires

First and third person wording of items on a sex role attitude questionnaire were examined. No correlation was found between women's scores on two versions of the Wellesley Role Orientation Scale (WROS) which were identical except for the pronouns. These results suggest that despite similar content, items worded in the first person are not equivalent to third person items as measures of sex roles. Third person scores of women were much higher than first person scores and were similar to third person scores of men. This was interpreted as indicating that normative expectations regarding women's roles are far more traditional than stated preferences of college women in the sample studied.     

Evidence of more immanent justice responding in adults than children: A challenge to traditional developmental theories

Three studies investigated developmental changes in immanent justice responding by asking participants to respond to vignettes in which a person's bad behaviour was followed by a negative consequence. Study 1 consisted of 152 sixth graders and 128 college students and presented participants with a vignette that examined the notion of bad people deserving to get ill. Study 2 consisted of 185 sixth graders and 154 college students and examined whether children and adults reasoned that that bad behaviour would actually cause the illness. Study 3 consisted of 96 third graders, 115 fifth graders, and 114 college students, and presented participants with vignettes that examined negative behaviours and consequences. Contrary to expectations based on traditional and contemporary developmental theories, all three studies demonstrated more evidence of immanent justice responding among adults than among elementary school children. These results call into question the comprehensiveness of traditional and contemporary developmental theories, and suggest the need to examine cognitive reasoning in adulthood when constructing developmental theories.     

Resources,Masculinities, and Gender Differences Among Pro-life Activists

Abortion politics are often about “pro-choice” and “pro-life” countermovements trying to gain power by winning the support of political bystanders. While more is known about the reasons people become pro-choice activists, far less research has examined the motives for pro-life men and women. To address the factors that mobilize abortion activism, this study examined the role of education, religious contexts, and gendered expectations in predicting pro-life activism. After surveying 820 college students, our data highlights the importance of activist networks in inspiring activism among pro-life advocates. In gender subsamples, being a biblical literalist, being married, and endorsing patriarchal family structures were linked to more pro-life activism among women, while embracing authoritarian outlooks, having less education, being poorer, and attending religious services did so for men. Implications for gender differences in pro-life activism and the complex ways in which pro-life attitudes intersect with traditional gender roles were explored.     

Personality or Role? Comparisons of Turkish Leaders Across Different Institutional Positions

Personality approaches to politics are often criticized for not examining the effect that institutional role constraints have on individual beliefs and preferences. When leaders appear to change their stance when they change roles, it is assumed that roles have a determining influence. Modern personality theory and contemporary sociological role theory, however, view the effects of roles as interacting with agents’ personalities. In this article, we investigate this question by comparing personality profiles of three Turkish leaders (Özal, Demirel, and Gül) during their tenure as prime minister and during their subsequent time as president. For Gül, we perform an additional comparison during his time as foreign minister. The personality profiles are in the form of quantitative scores generated from machine‐coded content analysis of leaders’ words using the Leadership Trait Analysis method. We hypothesize that different leaders will be more susceptible to changing role contexts, depending on core personality traits, and that different traits are more likely to change with new roles. Overall, our results suggest that leaders’ traits are fairly resistant to changes across roles and that task orientation is the most likely trait to change as leaders adapt to different role demands and expectations. This study makes a contribution to our understanding of the interaction between personality and political contexts by offering specific theoretically derived hypotheses and by empirically and statistically examining a preliminary set of expectations that could be applied more broadly to other leaders.     

社会支持对大学生社会幸福感的影响—希望的中介作用

基于积极心理学,采用问卷调查法,对1098名大学生进行调查,探讨社会支持对社会幸福感的影响,并基于希望进行中介效应检验,借此构建三个变量之间的关系模型,探索促进大学生心理健康发展的内在机制。结果表明:社会支持、希望与社会幸福感之间两两相关显著; 社会支持和希望及其各维度,显著正向影响大学生的社会幸福感; 社会支持通过希望影响大学生社会幸福感水平。研究结果证实了希望在社会支持影响社会幸福感中起部分中介作用的心理机制,为大学生心理健康教育提供了参考建议。     

Friendsickness in the Transition to College: Precollege Predictors and College Adjustment Correlates

In this study friendsickness (preoccupation with and concern for the loss of or change in precollege friendships) is seen as a significant source of distress for college students, affecting college adjustment. A short‐term longitudinal study of college students (N = 70) examined associations between friendsickness, precollege predictors, and dimensions of college adjustment 10 weeks into the first semester. As hypothesized, friendsickness was associated with precollege social concerns, discrepancy between precollege expectations and college experiences, more precollege friends in the college social network, and loneliness and poor self‐esteem in college. Implications for precollege prevention of and college intervention efforts for friendsickness are discussed.     

Asian American college students' suicide ideation: a mixed-methods study

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the phenomenon of suicide ideation among 293 Asian American college students. Guided by T. Joiner's (2005) interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior, the authors examined the relationships among perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, self-construals, and suicide ideation. Compared with thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness was a more robust predictor of suicide ideation. However, thwarted belongingness moderated the positive association between perceived burdensomeness and suicide ideation. Furthermore, interdependent self-construal and independent self-construal both weakened the link between perceived burdensomeness and suicide ideation and between thwarted belongingness and suicide ideation. The authors also conducted a qualitative analysis of participants' open-ended responses about their perceptions of why Asian American college students might consider suicide. The authors identified a core phenomenon of unfulfilled expectations as well as 2 broad themes related to this core phenomenon: unfulfilled intrapersonal expectations and unfulfilled interpersonal expectations, comprising the subthemes of (a) family, (b) relationship, (c) cultural differences, and (d) racism. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for suicide-related clinical interventions and primary prevention efforts among Asian American college students.     

The Effect of Self‐Consciousness on the Expression of Gender Views1

This study examines the effect of public self‐consciousness on the expression of gender‐role attitudes. It was hypothesized that high publics were more likely to alter their gender‐view expressions to meet situational expectations than were high privates and that, under an activated state of public self‐attention, people were more likely to alter their gender views. Tested in 156 college students in a quasi‐experiment conducted in classrooms, these hypotheses were supported only in work‐related gender‐role attitude expressions, but not in domestic gender‐view expressions The experimental manipulation of public self‐consciousness in a classroom setting might have made work‐related identities more salient. Correspondingly, participants were more responsive to regulating work but not domestic gender views.     

Construction and validation of a multidimensional model of students' adjustment to college context

This article presents a model of interaction of personal and contextual variables in the prediction of academic performance and psychosocial development of Portuguese college students. The sample consists of 560 first-year college students of the University of Minho. The path analysis results suggest that initial expectations of the students' involvement in academic life constituted an effective predictor of their involvement during their first year; as well as the social climate of the classroom influenced their involvement, well-being and levels of satisfaction obtained. However, these relationships were not strong enough to influence the criterion variables integrated in the model (academic performance and psychosocial development). Academic performance was predicted by the high school grades and college entrance examination scores, and the level of psychosocial development was determined by the level of development showed at the time they entered college. Though more research is needed, these results point to the importance of students' pre-college characteristics when we are considering the quality of their college adjustment process.