Digital Commons Network^™

College Students' Perceptions And Opinions Of Their Physical Activity Instructor Being Caring In Class, David C. Barney, Kamora Shelton, Katelyn Rogers, Teresa Leavitt Dr.

Faculty Publications

College can be a very impressionable time for a student, both positively and negatively. One way the college experience can be positive is the interactions the student has with their professors/instructors (hereafter the term instructor will be used). One behavior the instructors can exhibit including in physical activity (PA) classes is being caring or showing caring behaviors toward students. The purpose of this study was to investigate college students’ perceptions of the impact of PA instructor caring behaviors toward the student. For this study 69 college students (45 males and 24 females) were surveyed with one open-ended survey question. It …

Financial Behaviors, Financial Satisfaction, And Goal Attainment Among College-Educated Young Adults: A Mediating Analysis With Latent Change Scores, Xiaomin Li, Melissa Curran, Joyce Serido, Ashley B. Lebaron, Soyeon Shim, Nan Zhou

Faculty Publications

The aim of the study is to investigate how 2,084 U.S. college-educated young adults (61.9% female, and 69.5% non-Hispanic White) navigated the goal attainment process during the transition to adulthood. Using four-wave data collected across eight years, we examined how financial behaviors (self-regulating behaviors) predicted both depressive symptoms (affective goal attainment evaluations) and financial obstacles to goal attainment (cognitive goal attainment evaluations) via financial satisfaction (resources). Given the variability in developmental trajectories (i.e., initial levels and rates of over-time changes) among young adults, we conducted an exploratory mediational analysis with Latent Change Scores. The results revealed indirect-only mediation patterns, and …

Religiousness And Levels Of Hazardous Alcohol Use: A Latent Profile Analysis, Peter J. Jankowski, Sam A. Hardy, Byron L. Zamboanga, Lindsay S. Ham, Seth J. Schwartz, Su Yeong Kim, Larry F. Forthun, Melina M. Bersamin, Roxanne A. Donovan, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Erica A. Hurley, Miguel Ángel Cano

Faculty Publications

Prior person-centered research has consistently identified a subgroup of highly religious participants that uses significantly less alcohol when compared to the other subgroups. The construct of religious motivation is absent from existing examinations of the nuanced combinations of religiousness dimensions within persons, and alcohol expectancy valuations have yet to be included as outcome variables. Variable-centered approaches have found religious motivation and alcohol expectancy valuations to play a protective role against individuals’ hazardous alcohol use. The current study examined latent religiousness profiles and hazardous alcohol use in a large, multisite sample of ethnically diverse college students. The sample consisted of 7412 …

Identity Dimensions And Related Processes In Emerging Adulthood: Helpful Or Harmful?, Rachel A. Ritchie, Alan Meca, Vanessa L. Madrazo, Seth J. Schwartz, Sam A. Hardy, Byron L. Zamboanga, Robert S. Weisskirch, Su Yeong Kim, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Lindsay S. Ham, Richard M. Lee

Faculty Publications

Objectives: The current study evaluated the mediational role of well-being in the relationship between identity development and psychosocial functioning. Method: A sample of 7,649 undergraduate students (73% female: mean age = 19.95, standard deviation = 1.98: 62% Caucasian) completed measures of personal identity, well-being, internalizing symptoms, externalizing problems, and health-risk behaviors.

Results: Results revealed that (a) identity exploration and commitment were negatively associated with internalizing symptoms, health-risk behaviors, and externalizing problems through well-being, (b) ruminative exploration was negatively associated with well-being and positively associated with externalizing problems, and (c) increased levels of ruminative exploration appear more detrimental for men than …

Gender Differences In The Associations Among Body Mass Index, Weight Loss, Exercise, And Drinking Among College Students, Adam E. Barry Phd, Shawn Whiteman Phd, Anna K. Piazza-Gardner Ms, Alexander C. Jensen Phd

Faculty Publications

Objective: To explore gender differences regarding weight management behaviors of college drinkers. Participants: Nationally representative sample of college students from the fall 2008 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment II (N = 26,062 students). Methods: Structural equation modeling was used to examine potential gender differences in associations among exercise, weight loss behaviors, and alcohol use. Results: Critical ratio tests revealed that associations between exercise and weight loss behaviors were more strongly correlated among females as compared with males. For females, there was a small negative association between exercise and drinking behaviors; in contrast, for males, there was a …