Ethnic‐Related Curricula and Intergroup Attitudes in College: Movement Toward and Away From the In‐Group1

Using a 5‐year longitudinal study, we investigated the long‐term effects of courses with ethnic studies content and courses with Latino or Black professors on university students' intergroup attitudes. We found that these curricular variables significantly affected the intergroup attitudes of students beyond pre‐existing differences in attitudes and beyond other curriculum variables. As expected, we found differences between ethnic groups: White students showed movement toward other groups as a result of these curricular factors, whereas Latino and African American students showed both increased tolerance toward other groups and movement toward the in‐group. The results are discussed in terms of group status differences between the dominant White majority and the stigmatized Latino and Black minority groups.     

United States and Japanese college students' attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help

The purpose of the study was to find how nationality, sex, and past experience of seeking professional psychological services are related to attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Three hundred Japanese college students and 300 US college students responded to the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help (ATSPPH) questionnaire. The ATSPPH consists of four subscales: Need (recognition of need), Stigma Tolerance (the degree of tolerance against stigma associated with help‐seeking action), Openness (interpersonal openness), and Confidence (confidence in mental health professionals). As predicted, past experience of seeking professional psychological service and sex were important predictor variables of performance on the ATSPPH scales. Those who had past experience of seeking professional psychological help had more favourable attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help than those who never consulted psychological professionals. Similarly, in testing the past experience separately with the two nation groups, past experience with seeking professional psychological services was found to be a predictor of the overall attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among Japanese and US participants. Furthermore, Japanese participants with past experience also showed greater recognition of need for professional psychological help and confidence in psychological health professions than Japanese without past experience. The degree of stigma tolerance associated with help‐seeking behaviour and the tendency of interpersonal openness, however, did not differ between Japanese participants with and without the past experience of seeking professional psychological services. The same results were also found among the US participants. In terms of sex as a predictor variable, females tended to have more positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help than males. There was a significant nationality by sex interaction effect. US females had significantly more favourable attitudes than the other three groups, indicating that there was sex difference in help‐seeking attitudes in the US group, but not in the Japanese group. If the sex variable is ignored, Japanese students have less favourable overall attitudes toward seeking professional psychological services than US students. Other results and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Asymmetrical effects of contact between minority groups: Asian and Black students in a small college

Recent meta-analyses of intergroup contact research revealed that majority members' attitudes toward minorities are improved to a greater degree by contact compared to those of minority members (Tropp & Pettigrew, 2005). While previous research focused on contact between majority and minority groups, this study explored effects of intergroup contact between two minority groups that differ in status: Black and Asian college students. Because of different stereotypes and social status, the college experiences of the two groups were expected to differ in the extent to which they felt their group was respected by others (public regard). A survey conducted with 104 Black and Asian American students in a small, Midwestern liberal arts college demonstrated that the two groups differed in public regard, which led to differences in attitudes toward the majority Whites, contact with Whites, experiences of discrimination, and trust in college authorities. Further, while contact with Black students was positively associated with more favorable attitudes toward Blacks for Asians (higher status minority), contact with Asian students was not related to attitudes toward Asians for Blacks (lower status minority). The role of public regard and attitudes toward the majority as potential moderators of the relationship between contact with Asians and Blacks' attitudes toward Asians were explored. Implications for multicultural solidarity between targeted groups were discussed.     

Sports ideology,attitudes toward women,and anti-homosexual attitudes

The present work tests the associations of sports ideology with sexist and anti-homosexual attitudes in a sample of 304 college students. It was found that sports ideology is positively associated with sexist and anti-homosexual attitudes, but only among males. Among females only sexist attitudes were associated with negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians. Among males, the link of sports ideology to anti-homosexual attitudes was independent of sexist beliefs. Reciprocal causal influences between sexist attitudes and sports ideology are discussed.     

Military and Civilian Undergraduates: Attitudes Toward Women,Masculinity, and Authoritarianism

The influence of civilian and military college environments and undergraduates' sex on gender role attitudes and authoritarianism was investigated. Three hundred thirteen male and 69 female, primarily white middle-class students at the United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps, and a civilian university participated. Approximately 7% were Hispanic, 6% African-American, and 5% Asian-American. Military students had the most traditional authoritarian beliefs and gender role attitudes. When men only were analyzed, USNA males were the most traditional in their attitudes toward women and in antifemininity attitudes. ROTC men were the most traditional in authoritarianism and in status beliefs. All military-affiliated men held more traditional toughness attitudes than did civilian men. USNA men had the most traditional attitudes toward women as compared to the USNA females and civilian females and males.     

Social support and psychosocial competence: Explaining the adaptation to college of ethnically diverse students

Examined relationships among social support, psychosocial competence, and adaptation to college in a sample of 357 African American, Asian American, Latino, and white college students. Social support and active coping were significant predictors of adaptation to college, whereas locus of control was not. However, there was an interaction between ethnicity and locus of control indicating that although internal African American, Latino, and white students had higher adaptation-to-college scores than external students, the opposite was true for Asian Americans. The relationships among social support, internality, and active coping were also explored. Satisfaction with social support and internality were positively related to active coping, but locus of control and social support were unrelated. Active coping and internality were significantly related to each other for all groups except for African Americans. Although most relationships were the same across groups, these findings call attention to the role of ethnicity as a moderator of college adjustment processes.     

Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help for an Eating Disorder: The Role of Stigma and Anticipated Outcomes

This study examined the relationship between self‐stigma, anticipated risks and benefits associated with seeking counseling, and attitudes toward seeking counseling among college students with disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. The results of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that self‐stigma and the anticipated risks and benefits significantly predicted attitudes toward counseling for people with disordered eating. In addition, self‐stigma had a stronger relationship with men's attitudes toward counseling than with women's, and anticipated benefits had a stronger relationship with women's attitudes toward counseling than with men's.     

Students’ Attitudes Toward College Drinking: A Moral Intuitionist Approach

ABSTRACT

This study uses Moral Foundations Theory to examine the association between moral intuitions and college students’ attitudes toward drinking. The data consist of 1,447 college students sampled in 2017 at a large public university. Results show that students’ attitudes toward drinking are associated with their moral intuitions. Specifically, students whose moral intuitions emphasize purity are less favorable toward drinking, while students whose moral intuitions emphasize group loyalty are more favorable. Results also show that these moral intuitions are mediated by religiosity and (to a lesser extent) involvement in Greek life, respectively. The study suggests the importance of extending the conception of morality beyond individual-oriented concerns with harm and fairness to include group-oriented concerns with purity and loyalty.     

Gender and opinions about mental illness as predictors of attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help

Help-seeking attitudes have been an important part of research into the kinds of college students who do and do not seek psychotherapy. The current study investigated the relationship between students' opinions about mental illness and their attitudes toward seeking professional help. By also using gender as a predictor of help-seeking attitudes, the researchers examined the effects of opinions about mental illness on help-seeking attitudes above and beyond well-known gender effects. This is important because opinions about mental illness are the kind of attitudinal variables that should be more modifiable than gender identity. The results indicate that females had more positive attitudes toward seeking help than males, and that people's opinions about mental illness, especially more benevolent, less authoritarian, less socially restrictive and higher mental hygiene ideology perspectives, accounted for a significant percentage of positive help-seeking attitudes beyond the percentage accounted for by gender.     

Acculturation, enculturation, and Asian American college students' mental health and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help

In the present study, we tested a theoretically and empirically derived partially indirect effects acculturation and enculturation model of Asian American college students' mental health and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Latent variable path analysis with 296 self-identified Asian American college students supported the partially indirect effects model and demonstrated the ways in which behavioral acculturation, behavioral enculturation, values acculturation, values enculturation, and acculturation gap family conflict related to mental health and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help directly and indirectly through acculturative stress. We also tested a generational status moderator hypothesis to determine whether differences in model-implied relationships emerged across U.S.- (n = 185) and foreign-born (n = 107) participants. Consistent with this hypothesis, statistically significant differences in structural coefficients emerged across generational status. Limitations, future directions for research, and counseling implications are discussed.     

Relationships among optimism, coping styles, psychopathology, and counseling outcome

This study had two objectives. The first objective was to evaluate the discriminant validity of optimism by examining the relationships between optimism and coping styles, while controlling for psychopathology. The second objective was to evaluate how well optimism, coping styles, and psychopathology predicted counseling outcome. Participants consisted of 96 college students involved in individual counseling at a university counseling center located in the southeastern United States. Consistent with previous studies, optimism was positively correlated with task-oriented coping and social diversion (social support), and it was negatively correlated with emotion-oriented coping and avoidance (distraction) coping. However, after partially out psychopathology, only the relationship between optimism and task-oriented coping remained statistically different from zero. Both optimism and psychopathology predicted two measures of counseling outcome. In contrast, coping styles were not useful for predicting any of the outcome measures. Results provide limited support for the discriminant validity of optimism in general and the Life Orientation Test in particular.     

Religiousness,religious coping methods,and cognitive test anxiety among African-American college students

This study explored the roles of religiousness and religious coping methods in predicting cognitive test anxiety. A convenience sample of 121 African-American students (97 females and 24 males) ranging in age from 18 to 39 (M_age?=?20.16), attending a historically Black university completed an online questionnaire assessing demographic information, religiousness, religious coping methods, and cognitive test anxiety. Results showed that negative religious coping methods were significant factors in predicting cognitive test anxiety. These relationships may be pertinent for understanding salient factors that influence cognitive test anxiety in African-American college students.     

Turkish College Students' Attitudes Toward Women Managers: The Effects of Patriarchy,Sexism, and Gender Differences

The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.     

Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers: the effects of patriarchy,sexism, and gender differences

The authors examined how patriarchy, sexism, and gender influence Turkish college students' attitudes toward women managers. Turkish undergraduate students (N = 183) from Middle East Technical University completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward women managers as well as attitudes toward the concepts of hostile and benevolent sexism and support for patriarchy. Participants were of upper- or middle-class Turkish backgrounds. The results showed that male participants exhibited less positive attitudes toward women managers than did female participants. In addition, participants who held more favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored high on hostile sexism also held less positive attitudes toward women managers than those who held less favorable attitudes toward patriarchy and who scored low on hostile sexism. A regression analysis showed that support for patriarchy and hostile sexism was more important for explaining less favorable attitudes toward women managers than was benevolent sexism.     

Relations Among Racial Identity Attitudes,Perceived Stressors,and Coping Styles in African American College Students

This study expanded on previous research with African American college students at predominantly White institutions by examining the theoretically relevant but unexplored relations among racial identity attitudes and (a) both general and culture-specific stressors and (b) problem-focused coping styles. Ninety African American college students at a predominantly White university completed the Black Racial Identity Attitudes Scale, Black Student Stress Inventory, Problem Solving Inventory, and Problem-Focused Style of Coping Scale. A series of multivariate regression analyses revealed that specific racial identity attitudes were statistically significant predictors of both general and culture-specific stressors. In addition, one racial identity attitude status (immersion/emersion) was a unique predictor of general perceived stressors and problem solving. Results suggest the importance of racial identity schemata as a critical factor in predicting stress and coping responses of African American students at predominantly White institutions. The findings also underscore the utility in distinguishing between general and culture-specific stressors, which traditionally have been ignored in the psychological literature.     

Relationship quality influences attitudes toward and perceptions of infidelity

Do attitudes toward and perceptions of infidelity depend on perceived relationship quality? A prediction was made that there should be a positive correlation between perceived relationship quality and negative attitudes and perceptions of infidelity, and that these correlations should be stronger for males than for females. These predictions were confirmed. More specifically, strongly negative evaluations of infidelity were reported by females regardless of relationship quality, and for males with high relationship quality. Negative attitudes toward infidelity increased for both males and females in high‐quality committed relationships, but males who reported lower relationship quality had the most favorable attitudes toward infidelity. These results are consistent with an evolutionary rationale, which suggests that males' attitudes and perceptions of infidelity depend on their perceived risk of cuckoldry.     

Feminism: Definitions,support, and correlates of support among female and male college students

The purpose of our research was to examine definitions of feminism, support for feminism, and gender attitude and personality trait correlates of support. Using a sample of predominately White college students, findings indicated quite favorable definitions of feminism, and more support than opposition to it, especially among female respondents. Support for feminism was related to 5 of 6 gender attitude dimensions for females, but unrelated to their gender personality traits. For males, support was related to only one gender attitude dimension, and to femininity; more feminine males were more supportive. Implications for the distinction between feminism and feminist and for the status of feminism among college students are discussed.     

Minority stress and college persistence attitudes among African American, Asian American, and Latino students: perception of university environment as a mediator

We examined whether perception of university environment mediated the association between minority status stress and college persistence attitudes after controlling for perceived general stress. Participants were 160 Asian American, African American, and Latino students who attended a predominantly White university. Results of a path model analysis showed that university environment was a significant mediator for the association between minority status stress and college persistence attitudes. Additionally, minority status stress was distinct from perceived general stress. Finally, the results from a multiple-group comparison indicated that the magnitude of the mediation effect was invariant across Asian American, African American, and Latino college students, thus supporting the generalizability of the mediation model.     

The relationship of daily hassles, social support, and coping to depression in black and white students

Black and White American college students were compared to determine how daily hassles, coping strategies, and social support related to depression. Although the mean intensity of hassles did not differ, Black students reported a higher frequency of hassles. Cumulative severity of hassles, defined in terms of both intensity and frequency was therefore higher for Black students. White students perceived more support from friends than from family, but the opposite held for Black students. Mean scores on type of coping (active problem solving, seeking social support, or avoidance) were similar, as were the reported levels of depression. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that the severity of hassles was directly related to depression for both groups. Race did not interact with any index of social support, except perceived family support, which was related to lower depression among Black students. There was no support for the notion that social support serves as a buffer against depression.     

Gender and Ethnic Differences in Obesity-Related Behaviors and Attitudes In a College Sample

This study looked at gender and Black/White differences for a number of variables related to attitudes toward obesity in a sample of 650 college students. The overall stereotypes of overweight persons were both negative and unrelated to subjects' own degree of obesity, although individuals reported that their personal views were less negative than those of others.
Women indicated greater concern with obesity than men in several ways, and the societal stereotype of an overweight woman was seen as more negative than that of an overweight man. Men were more concerned about a date's weight than women, and White women's weight (unlike that of other subgroups) was negatively related to their likelihood and frequency of dating. Although Blacks, particularly Black females, were heavier than Whites, they were more satisfied with their body shape. Black males were less likely than White males to have refused to date someone because of her weight, and Blacks personally considered overweight women to be more attractive, sexier, less ugly, and less sloppy than did Whites. The findings suggest that both gender and ethnicity should be considered when discussing people's attitudes towards obesity and the consequences of such attitudes.