Digital Commons Network^™

College Students’ Perceptions Of Class Year-Specific Drinking Norms, Eric R. Pedersen, Clayton Neighbors, Joseph W. Labrie

Heads Up!

The current study documents and examines college students’ perceptions of the drinking behavior of peers from varying class years (i.e., freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior). A sample of 522 college students estimated the drinking behavior of peers within their own specific class year, as well as across the three other class years. Participants in each class year overestimated the drinking of students in their own class year as well as the drinking of students in the three other class years. These within class year-specific perceived norms associated with drinking for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Poisson regression analyses revealed freshmen and …

Disparity Between The Perceived Alcohol-Related Attitudes Of Parents And Peers Increases Alcohol Risk In College Students, Jessica Cail, Joseph W. Labrie

Heads Up!

Although peer norms have been found to be a particularly strong correlate of alcohol consumption by college students, research suggests that parents also have a significant impact on the behaviors of their children, even after their child has departed for college. The current study investigated the effect of disparity between the perceived approval of alcohol (injunctive norms) of parents and closest friends on college student drinking and consequences, and explored gender differences in this effect. It found that injunctive disparity was significantly correlated with individual drinking and related consequences over and above the strongest known predictor variables of gender, same-sex …

Exploring The Complexities Of Learning Motivation In Pre-Service Teacher Education Students: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kristin K. Grosskopf

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative, grounded-theory study investigated learning motivation differences among three achievement groupings of undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nine students participated in in-depth interviews that explored their reasons for pursuing their degree, their learning experiences in a university setting, their perceptions about meaningful learning experiences, and the nature of factors that both enhance and challenge their learning motivation. Participant responses conveyed strategies and conditions that were coded and analyzed, and a theoretical model was developed describing causal conditions that underlie students’ motivation to learn, phenomena that arose from those …

What Men Want: The Role Of Reflective Opposite-Sex Normative Preferences In Alcohol Use Among College Women, Joseph W. Labrie, Jessica Cail, Justin F. Hummer, Andrew Lac, Clayton Neighbors

Heads Up!

Misperceptions of peer drinking norms have been found to be strongly associated with individual drinking behavior, especially for proximal reference groups such as same-sex friends. Less studied are the effects of perceived preferences from the opposite sex on alcohol use; that is, the behaviors an individual believe the opposite sex prefers from them. Research suggests that these perceived “reflective” normative preferences may be particularly salient among college women, who may drink in pursuit of intimate relationships and positive attention from male peers. Heterosexual undergraduate students from two universities participated in this project. Females answered questions regarding the amount of alcohol …

College Students' Attitude Towards The Utilization Of The Sport Recreation Center (Src), Mohd Sofian Omar-Fauzee, Aminuddin Yusof, Sam Zizzi

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The primary aim of this paper is to examine the reasons for using or not using the student recreational center (SRC) among a frequent users and non-users. The second purpose is to use the research findings in order to make same recommendations for attracting stronger patronage amongst student users. Two groups of college students that were identified by user and non-user were invited to attend a separate focus group discussion. A user group consisted of six students (5 male, 1 female) with a mean age of 20.33 (Sd=.82), and the non-user group consisted of eight students (6 male, 2 female) …

A Night To Remember: A Harm-Reduction Birthday Card Intervention Reduces High-Risk Drinking During 21st Birthday Celebrations, Joseph W. Labrie, Savannah Migliuri, Jessica Cail

Heads Up!

Objective

In collaboration with Residence Life, the Heads UP research team developed a 21st birthday card program to help reduce the risky drinking often associated with these celebrations.

Participants

81 students (28 males, 53 females) completed a post-21st birthday survey. Of these, 74 reported drinking during their 21st birthday and were included in the analyses.

Methods

During the 2005–2006 school year, the authors assigned students celebrating 21st birthdays to either receive an alcohol risk-reduction birthday card or to a no-card condition. The students completed a survey after their birthday.

Results

Students who received the card consumed fewer drinks and reached …

Self-Consciousness Moderates The Relationship Between Perceived Norms And Drinking In College Students, Joseph W. Labrie, Justin F. Hummer, Clayton Neighbors

Heads Up!

The current research examines whether self-consciousness subscales have prognostic value in the relationship between perceived norms and drinking and if that differs among college men and women. Results indicate that self-consciousness moderates gender differences in the relationship between perceived social norms and drinking. A strong positive relationship was found between perceived norms (descriptive and injunctive) and drinking for men relative to women and this was more pronounced among individuals who were lower in public self-consciousness. Similarly, the relationship between perceived injunctive norms and drinking was significantly stronger among men than women and this was more pronounced among individuals who were …

The Role Of Self-Consciousness In The Experience Of Alcohol-Related Consequences Among College Students, Joseph W. Labrie, Eric R. Pedersen, Clayton Neighbors, Justin F. Hummer

Heads Up!

Heavy drinking among college students is a well-established national concern. An in-depth look at the characteristics and traits of heavy drinking students is an essential precursor to the development of successful targeted interventions with at-risk students. The current study examines the role self-consciousness (private, public, social anxiety) plays in the experience of alcohol-related consequences among a sample of 1,168 student members of campus organizations. Male gender predicted drinking in the sample, while both private self-consciousness and social anxiety predicted less drinking. Public self-consciousness predicted alcohol-related consequences over and above the variance explained by drinking for both males and females. Additionally, …

A Brief Decisional Balance Intervention Increases Motivation And Behavior Regarding Condom Use In High-Risk Heterosexual College Men, Joseph W. Labrie, Eric R. Pedersen, Alysha D. Thompson, Mitch Earleywine

Heads Up!

Male college students constitute one of a number of at-risk populations susceptible to receiving and transferring sexually transmitted infections. Interventions designed to increase condom use have produced mixed results, but increasing motivation to use condoms may decrease risky sexual behavior. The current study examined the decisional balance, a component of Motivational Interviewing (MI), as an intervention to promote condom use. A total of 41 college men at-risk for negative outcomes from both unsafe sex and drinking participated. They reported both infrequent condom use and heavy drinking. Immediately following a decisional balance on condom use, three separate measures of motivation to …

The Role Of Drinking Motives In Social Anxiety And Alcohol Use, Lindsay S. Ham, Michel Bonin, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although social anxiety and problem drinking commonly co-occur, the relationship between social anxiety and drinking among college students is not well understood. The current study examined the relationship between drinking motives, or reasons for drinking, and social anxiety in 239 volunteers. Contrary to hypotheses, high (n = 83), moderate (n = 90), and low (n = 66) social anxiety groups did not differ in endorsement of coping and conformity drinking motives. Further, social anxiety was negatively related to weekly alcohol use and unrelated to alcohol-related problems. Post hoc hierarchical multiple regression analyses conducted for each social anxiety …

Partying Before The Party: Examining Prepartying Behavior Among College Students, Eric R. Pedersen, Joseph W. Labrie

Heads Up!

Objective:

The authors examined the phenomenon known to college students as prepartying, which is the consumption of alcohol prior to attending an event or activity (eg, party, bar, concert) at which more alcohol may be consumed.

Participants:

To explore the extent of this behavior, the authors surveyed 227 college students about each drinking event over a 1-month period.

Results:

Principal results revealed that 64% of participants engaged in prepartying (75% of drinkers) and that prepartying is involved in approximately 45% of all drinking events. Prepartying was predictive of more drinking throughout the day of the drinking event and alcohol-related …

Drinking Game Participation Among College Students: Gender And Ethnic Implications, Eric R. Pedersen, Joseph W. Labrie

Heads Up!

Participation in drinking games by college students has recently sparked research attention. While previous research indicates that women play drinking games at lower frequencies than men, the current study reveals that college women may be playing games at rates similar to college men. In a sample of 105 coed college students, participants completed a 3-month Timeline Followback recording every drinking event and quantity consumed. They then were prompted to identify which drinking events involved drinking games and how much alcohol was consumed during game playing. Both men and women engaged in drinking games at similar rates and consumed more drinks …

Comparing Electronic-Keypad Responses To Paper-And-Pencil Questionnaires In Group Assessments Of Alcohol Consumption And Related Attitudes, Joseph W. Labrie, Mitch Earleywine, Toby Lamb, Kristin Shelesky

Heads Up!

Electronic versions of questionnaires have the potential to improve research and interventions in the addictions. Administering questionnaires electronically to groups, however, has proven difficult without a multitude of computers, but gathering data electronically from a group could make for easy assessment and quick feedback. Using a sample of 107 college students, we examined the validity of wireless keypad survey responses by comparing them to traditional paper-and-pencil questionnaires. The two formats led to almost identical responses that did not differ significantly from each other (all effect sizes less than g =.15) and high correlations between formats. The wireless, handheld keypad procedure …

Reducing Heavy Drinking In College Males With The Decisional Balance: Analyzing An Element Of Motivational Interviewing, Joseph W. Labrie, Eric R. Pedersen, Mitch Earleywine, Hutson Olsen

Heads Up!

The decisional balance, a brief detailing of the advantages and disadvantages of behavior change, serves as a key component to interventions in Motivational Interviewing. The impact of this component alone is not well understood. Forty-seven men completed a Timeline Followback interview assessing alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual practices. They then completed a decisional balance, listing the Pros and Cons of decreasing their drinking, but not one for safer sex. One-month follow-up data showed that they had statistically significant and clinically meaningful increases in their motivation to alter drinking and decreases in the number of drinks that they intended to drink, …

Conscientiousness Is Key: Incentives For Attendance Make Little Difference., Maureen A. Conard

SHU Faculty Publications

"This study examined differences in class attendance at different levels of conscientiousness and incentives (3.5% vs. 6% of course points). Results of a 2 × 2 (Level of Incentives × Level of Conscientiousness) ANOVA indicated a significant main effect for conscientiousness. Conscientiousness accounted for 14% of the variance in attendance, compared to 1% for incentives. Attendance appears to be influenced more by conscientiousness than by incentives."

College Students And Problematic Drinking: A Review Of The Literature, Lindsay S. Ham, Debra A. Hope

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Problem drinking during the college years is a significant public health concern. The goal of the current review was to examine the primary psychosocial factors that predict problem drinking in college students. Variables examined included demographic variables, personality, drinking history, alcohol expectancies, drinking motives, stress and coping, activity involvement, and peer and family influence. Evidence from studies of college drinking indicated that the variables associated with college drinking seem to vary at levels dealing with one’s personality and coping mechanisms, one’s thought processes about drinking, and the environment. It seems that expectancies and drinking motives may serve as explanations for …

Attachment Styles, View Of Self And Negative Affect, Amy Van Buren, Eileen L. Cooley

Psychology Faculty Publications

We investigated the relationship between attachment styles and negative affect using Bartholomew and Horowitz’s (1991) model of attachment. Attachment styles with a negative self view (i.e., preoccupied and fearful) were expected to be associated with more distress, especially the fearful style which involves negative views of both self and others. Measures of attachment, depression, depression proneness, and social anxiety were administered to 293 undergraduates. As predicted, participants with “negative self” attachment styles reported more symptoms of depression, proneness to depression, and social anxiety, but, contrary to prediction, those with a fearful style did not report more symptoms of depression and …

Item Selection Counts: A Comparison Of Empirical Key And Rational Scale Validities In Theory-Based And Non-Theory-Based Item Pools, Roni Reiter-Palmon, American Institutes For Research

Psychology Faculty Publications

Little explicit attention has been given to the impact of item pools on the validities and cross-validities of different background data scoring approaches. This study tests the idea that pools of items theoretically related to the performance of interest will outperform pools of items with no hypothesized relationship with the criterion. Validities and cross-validities of rational scales and empirical keys created from theory- and non-theory-based item pools were compared for 3 criteria. When size of the item pools was held constant, theory-based empirical keys (correlational and vertical percent) and rational scales showed larger validities and cross-validities than non-theory-based empirical keys …

Decisional And Behavioral Procrastination: How They Relate To Self-Discrepancies, Lucia E. Orellana-Damacela, R Scott Tindale, Yolanda Suárez-Balcázar

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A self-discrepancy is a gap between the perceived real self and other standards like the ideal self. One hundred and eighty-one college students completed a self-report measure of self-discrepancies and decisional and behavioral procrastination. Regression analysis showed that overall dysfunctional procrastination (the composite measure of both kinds of procrastination) significantly varied as a function of self-discrepancies. The amount of variance explained was small. Those scoring high in self-discrepancies were more likely to be dysfunctional procrastinators than those scoring low. The discrepancy between the actual-self and the ought-to self was the strongest predictor of dysfunctional procrastination. When decisional and behavioral procrastination …

Comparison Of Several Substance Use Assessment Instruments And The Clinical Interview In The Diagnosis Of Substance Use Disorders, Mark Christians

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The purpose of the study was to explore a currently existing diagnostic structure at a university counseling center located in the midwest to determine the most effective protocol for diagnosing substance use disorders in a college student population.

One hundred eighty-six client files from a state-accredited alcohol and drug counseling agency at a small university in the midwest were included in the study. A file consisted of a clinical interview and completed scores on the Addiction Acknowledgment Scale (AAS), Addiction Potential Scale (APS) , Modified-Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (M-MAST), at least one of the three Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory …

Enhancing Undergraduate Achievement In Educational Psychology With Instructional Objectives, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Rasmussen, Rosemary Nieto, Cheryl Sims

Publications and Research

Two quasi-experiments were conducted to assess the effects of exposure to instructional objectives on the achievement of undergraduates enrolled in an educational psychology course. Students enrolled in morning and afternoon course sections during the fall semester did not receive objects. Comparable students enrolled in morning and afternoon sections of the course during the subsequent spring semester did. Regression analyses that controlled for age and past achievement indicated that among afternoon classes, exposure to objectives improved performance on the midterm and final exams by at least 7 points. No significant effects were found for the morning classes. It was argued that …

Violence In College Students' Dating Relationships, Carol K. Sigelman, Carol E. Jordan-Berry, Katharine A. Wiles

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

In a survey of 504 college students examining predictors of violence in heterosexual relationships, over half of both men and women had committed at least one physically violent act. Modest associations between physical violence and sexual aggression were uncovered. In a series of discriminant analyses, men who abused their partners were not readily distinguished from men who did not, but tended to by young, low in family income, traditional in attitudes toward women, abused as children, currently living with a women, and from Appalachian areas.

Remembering Reactions And Facts: The Influence Of Subsequent Information, Paula T. Hertel

Psychology Faculty Research

Memory for reactions and judgments about a biographical passage was examined following the presentation of subsequent information relevant to the passage. Experiment 1 demonstrated that reaction memory shifted as a function of the type of subsequent information when 3 weeks separated it from the memory test, but not when testing was immediate or when the information was delivered just prior to the delayed test. These results were obtained again in Experiment 2 and contrasted to shifts in memory for· passage facts. Misleading factual information influenced memory for passage facts most when it was delivered just before the delayed recognition test. …

Passage Recall: Schema Change And Cognitive Flexibility, Paula T. Hertel, M. Codsen, P. J. Johnson

Psychology Faculty Research

Investigated the effects of subsequent related information and individual differences in cognitive flexibility on prose recall. 70 undergraduates read a passage and then were given either consistent or contradictory incidental information. Errors in cued recall, reflecting the nature of the subsequent information, were more frequently produced after a 3-wk delay than after 2 days. These results were consistent with R. J. Spiro's (1975) findings with free recall. In addition, 3-wk Ss were more confident about correct recall than errors, indicating that errors resulted, in part, from retrieval processes. The negative relationship of spontaneous flexibility and the positive relationship of adaptive …

Cognitive Effort And Memory, S. W. Tyler, Paula T. Hertel, M. C. Mccallum, H. C. Ellis

Psychology Faculty Research

We propose that the concept of cognitive effort in memory is both useful and important. Cognitive effort is defined as the engaged proportion of limited-capacity central processing. It·was hypothesized that this variable might have important memorial consequences and might also be a potential confounding factor in levels-of-processing paradigms. The first experiment tested this possibility using two types of incidental-learning tasks factorially combined with two degrees of effort. It was found that high effort led to better recall than low effort, but that level-of-processing effects were nonsignificant. A second experiment clearly demonstrated the feasibility of using performance on a secondary task …

Constructive Memory For Bizarre And Sensible Sentences, Paula T. Hertel, H. C. Ellis

Psychology Faculty Research

Sensible, interrelated sentences were presented with or without bizarre sentences that could be transformed to fit the context of the sensible sentences. Two experiments examined subjects' ability to recognize or recall both types of sentences, either immediately or after 2 weeks. Bizarre sentences were frequently recognized at immediate testing; they were generally unavailable at delayed recognition and were never recalled verbatim. In addition, results indicated that transformations of bizarre sentences were stored in memory but were not well incorporated within the structure for the sensible material. These findings are consistent with a constructive approach to memory. Finally, the results suggest …