Diverse College Research Articles

Overcoming Obstacles to Broader Impacts Implementation

Broader Impacts (BI), or the potential for academic research to benefit society, are an important and growing function of higher education. Government agencies and private foundations increasingly expect researchers to clearly articulate BI in addition to intellectual contributions to their fields. In response to these expectations and the University of Notre Dame’s (ND) mission, the Center for Broader Impacts was established in 2022 to simultaneously enhance institutional efforts to support competitive research proposal development and contribute to the overall societal impact of ND by collaborating with faculty, campus units, and external partners to design, implement, and evaluate effective BI opportunities for a wide range of audiences. Drawing from expertise across a variety of faculty and staff practitioners, as well as discussions the authors participated in with seven other diverse universities as members of the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society’s (ARIS) Program to Enhance Organizational Research Infrastructure Capacity (ORIC) Cohort 5 training sessions, this article helps inform BI practitioners in higher education of potential obstacles, opportunities, and approaches to supporting researchers across their own campuses and communities, while also highlighting nuances of working with researchers for BI partners. An example model for a sustainable approach to BI programming is also offered in the context of the future of BI.

Profiles of John Henryism and subjective task value in higher education: the motivations and attributions of nontraditional students

AbstractSchool psychology scholars argue that diversifying the profession will advance equity and social justice. Yet, nontraditional and racially and ethnically minoritized students are underrepresented in school psychology programs. These diverse college students bring complex identities that may complicate as well as enrich their paths to achievement. This is a challenge as higher education environments often do not optimize support for these students. To address this challenge, we investigated the influence of a school‐based task on cognitive engagement, subjective task value, positive and negative emotions, identities, and context‐sensitive high‐effort coping called John Henryism in 294 U.S. college students. Correlation and regression analysis demonstrated a strong relationship between John Henryism and subjective task value. Latent profile analysis and follow‐up logistic regression demonstrated that older and Latinx students predicted membership in the group that was high in John Henryism and subjective task value. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of this work in better understanding the mixed consequences of achievement motivation, contextualizing subjective task value using John Henryism, and recommendations for higher education institutions.

Inclusive Faculty Hiring: Promising Practices for Increasing Higher Education Faculty Diversity

This paper reviews and synthesizes the extant work on promising practices in recruiting and hiring diverse college faculty in an equitable, inclusive process. First, I discuss the substantial demographic mismatch between faculty, the general working-age population, and undergraduate students. I then discuss the evidence that representational faculty diversity benefits students. I then integrate the literature on promising practices in inclusive faculty recruitment to recommend four strategies: better position advertisements, ongoing, proactive recruitment, thoughtful committee assignment and training, and a more deliberate, deliberative process. I offer multiple tactics within each strategy and urge institutions to adopt and prioritize whatever mix of these and other strategies/tactics makes the most sense for them.

The Moderating Role of Discrimination in the Association between Same-Race/Ethnicity Friends and Negative Ethnic-Racial Identity Affect over Time

The current study assessed the moderating role of perceived discrimination on the association between same-race/ethnicity friends and negative ethnic-racial identity (ERI) affect among Asian, Black, and Latinx students of color over time. Diverse college students ages 18-25 (73.7% female) provided self-reports of same-race/ethnicity friends, racial discrimination, and negative ERI affect at the beginning of a semester (T1) and end of a semester 4 months later (T2). Results indicated that T1 discrimination was a significant moderator of the relations between T1 same-race/ethnicity friends and T2 negative ERI affect (controlling for T1 negative ERI affect). Specifically, having same-race/ethnicity friends predicted an decrease in negative ERI affect over time, but only when discrimination was low. When discrimination was high, the relation between same-ethnicity friends and negative ERI affect was not significant over time. In other words, discrimination acted as a disrupter of same-race/ethnicity friends being associated with a reduction in negative ERI affect over time.

Marketing mental health services: a mixed-methods analysis of racially and ethnically diverse college students’ engagement with and perspectives on U.S. university mental health clinics’ websites

BackgroundThe United States (U.S.) faces a significant mental health crisis, with around 52.9 million adults experiencing mental health disorders, with young adults (18–25 years old), such as college students, having the highest prevalence and lowest service utilization rates. While efforts to expand mental health services through “push” strategies are in place (e.g., training therapists in evidence-based therapies), limited initial engagement suggests a need for “pull strategies” and targeted marketing that make services attractive to college students and increase demand. This mixed-methods study identifies U.S. university mental health clinic websites and website characteristics that are attractive and engaging to college students interested in seeking mental health services (i.e., students were considering or actively looking for mental health support).MethodsEleven U.S. university websites were chosen (10 randomly and one from the university where students were attending) from a pool of 44 Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System training clinics websites. Fifty-seven college students (Mage = 20.95, SD = 2.97; 81% female; 68% racial/ethnic minority) were videorecorded engaging with two U.S. university mental health clinic websites, completed self-report engagement measures, and gave detailed feedback about websites through semi-structured interviews.ResultsLikert scale scores revealed moderate engagement with all websites (e.g., they were interesting and helpful). Qualitative results indicated that websites that provided important and easily understood information about key features of services (e.g., types, evidence-base, and cost), therapist backgrounds, psychoeducation, used lay language, and had an appealing website layout (e.g., color, font, images, organization, and interactive components) generated greater consumer interest and trust in their mental health services.ConclusionsThis study emphasizes the importance of using marketing strategies to enhance college students’ engagement through mental health service websites. Salient features, psychoeducation, and effective promotional strategies (e.g., how information is presented) were identified as crucial for website engagement and subsequent mental health service uptake. Using marketing strategies, such as tailoring language to consumer literacy levels, describing the evidence-base of services, and improving website design may address college students’ needs and enhance initial mental health service engagement.

Effects Of Yoga Practice On Psychological Health Of Ethnically Diverse College Students

Effects Of Yoga Practice On Psychological Health Of Ethnically Diverse College Students

Navigating time and space: examining the impact of contextual factors and self-regulation strategies on university students’ momentary engagement

This study presents a tool to capture students’ academic activities and engagement dynamics in university settings. It explores how strategies to manage time and study environments interact with contextual factors (i.e. study time, learning events, and study locations) in predicting students’ concentration and cognitive learning strategies in 81 students using experience sampling method. Findings show that students who are more capable of managing their time and study environment tend to exhibit reduced susceptibility to the influences of time and types of learning events. Furthermore, the positive relationships between time and study environment management and cognitive learning strategies are stronger in formal settings or residences than in informal settings. This study underscores the significance of self-regulation strategies for learning, especially in diverse university environments, for fostering optimal learning experiences.

Further validation of the visceral sensitivity index: Psychometric properties and utility for predicting disordered eating in a diverse university sample

Gastrointestinal (GI) visceral sensitivity (i.e., anxiety/worry over GI sensations) may be a key maintaining factor for disordered eating; however, it is unknown whether GI visceral sensitivity predicts the range of disordered eating behaviors in nonclinical samples. The current preregistered study aimed to replicate previous construct validity findings of the Visceral Sensitivity Index (VSI; i.e., factor structure, convergent and discriminant validity) and examine its criterion-related validity for predicting a range of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in a diverse undergraduate sample. A total of 591 university students were retained in the final analytic sample (53 % women; 23 % Hispanic [Any Race], 10 % Asian, 9 % Black) and completed the VSI, disordered eating, and additional validity measures. A confirmatory factor analysis tested the factor structure of the VSI, and correlations were used to examine convergent and discriminant validity. Hierarchical regressions and t-tests were used to examine criterion-related validity. Results replicated previous construct validity findings in a diverse undergraduate sample. Exploratory analyses supported invariance of the VSI across gender and the VSI discriminated between individuals at high- versus low-risk for an eating disorder and predicted a range of disordered eating attitudes (e.g., body dissatisfaction) and behaviors (e.g., restricting, binge eating, purging, compulsive exercise). GI-specific anxiety appears to be transdiagnostic across disordered eating behaviors and relevant across the spectrum of disordered eating severity. Future work may include developing transdiagnostic models of GI visceral sensitivity in disordered eating and investigating inclusion of the VSI in university screening efforts.

An Exploratory Study of Sensory Processing Patterns of Undergraduate College Students: Implications for College Campuses

Abstract Date Presented 03/22/24 This study explored sensory processing patterns of a diverse college population today. Findings indicate diversity in sensory processing and support the need for varied sensory-informed learning and living environments to support student success. Primary Author and Speaker: Alexis Viray Additional Authors and Speakers: Teresa Sharkey Eustace, Brittany Dreyhaupt, Hogai Balouch, Catherine Cavaliere Contributing Authors: John A. Damiao

Exploration of Black/African American College Survivors of IPV During COVID-19 Utilizing Descriptive Analysis.

The last few decades have ushered in an increase in scholarship focused on campus-based violence, specifically sexual violence, sexual assault, and unwanted sexual experiences. This rise in sexual violence scholarship has promoted the examination of current campus-based interventions, resources, and response systems. However, there exists a dearth of research exploring the experience of intimate partner violence for college students within college/university settings. In this descriptive analysis, we capture the prevalence of intimate partner violence for a nationwide sample of 1,035 college students across diverse college and university campuses within the United States. Researchers utilized a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Intimate Partner Violence Screening Questionnaire to capture and measure college students' experiences of intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. To analyze the data, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 28) was used. Univariate analyses and cross-tabulation analyses were conducted to examine the data. Specifically, due to the majority of research focusing on cisgender, White heterosexual women respondents, we focus our analysis on the experiences of Black and/or African American survivors of intimate partner violence on college campuses, in hopes of capturing the prevalence of intimate and relationship violence for Black/African American college students across colleges and universities. Results of this study revealed the prevalence of all types of intimate partner violence and abuse such as emotional/psychological, physical, and sexual violence within Black/African American college students. Findings from this database study produce implications for college/university campuses to consider capacity to address enduring psychological concerns and outcomes tied to intimate partner violence within college/university campuses, while also considering culturally responsive prevention and intervention efforts.

A Bayesian Study of Drinking and Intimate Partner Violence Across Two- and Four-Year Colleges

ABSTRACT This study investigated intimate partner violence victimization patterns in two-year and four-year college students, examining heavy episodic drinking as a risk factor. Using Bayesian analysis to assess similarities, Hypothesis 1 found moderate evidence for no reliable differences in dating victimization between groups. Hypothesis 2 indicated that heavy episodic drinking reliably predicted intimate partner violence in both college types. Contrary to Hypothesis 3, the relationship strength between heavy episodic drinking and intimate partner violence did not differ between campus types. These results suggest consistent intimate partner violence patterns across college types, emphasizing the importance of addressing heavy episodic drinking in prevention efforts for both groups. The study contributes valuable insights to understanding and mitigating intimate partner violence risks in diverse college settings.

‘Your experience is gonna be similar’: white habitus and college students’ discursive strategies

ABSTRACT Though more people of colour are entering higher education, significant barriers remain, with higher education remaining a culturally white institution. This paper adopts a framework consistent with Critical Whiteness Studies to understand the ways that the power of whiteness is reproduced on a diverse college campus. This research uses qualitative interviews to identify rhetorical strategies used by white students that reflect and reinforce a white habitus. Three main themes emerged: an understanding that diversity is ‘anything’, that commonalities in the student body are more important than differences, and that learning about diversity equates to learning about only the most visible aspects of culture. These themes are contrasted with counterthemes from students of colour, revealing the ways white students remain ignorant of their peers’ of colour experiences on campus.

ASSESSING THE IMPACT AND CHALLENGES OF ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN INDONESIAN HIGHER EDUCATION: A PATHWAY TO GLOBAL INTEGRATION OR A BARRIER TO LOCAL IDENTITY?

This research examines the effect of the implementation and implication of English as Medium of Instruction in Indonesian higher education institutions. It further examines the impact of EMI on educational outcomes, cultural identification, and the linguistic future. The study assumes both the positive and negative significance of the above measures. Following the qualitative methodology, the case study conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 participants, including 15 faculty members and 15 students, from three diverse universities in Indonesia. The diverse perspectives demonstrate both the positive and negative impacts of EMI. While the research finds a positive correlation between EMI implementation and English proficiency, as well as better global engagement, the study also exposes such hindrances to the EMI as the language proficiency barriers and the issues of cultural displacement and lack of equity. Apart from that, the fears related to the erosion of Bahasa Indonesia and the local identity are also due to the friction between culture preservation in globalization integration. As a result, the policy recommendations are developed with the idea to propose the measures of the transition to the EMI, which does not replace the national educational practices and values.

Acculturation and Depression Help-Seeking Intentions in a Majority Mexican American College Student Sample.

Work has not examined if acculturation or enculturation may predict endorsed benefits, barriers, and intentions to seek mental health services for depression, specifically among Latino students enrolled in a rural and majority Latino immigrant institution of higher education. An improved understanding of factors informing mental health help-seeking is needed to identify possible intervention points to address gaps in accessing depression treatment. Participants (N = 406) read a vignette depicting a person with depressive symptoms. Participants were asked if they would seek help for depression if in the situation described in the vignette. Participants provided text responses about their preferences for managing depression symptoms and their mental health help-seeking history. Additionally, participants completed a self-report depression symptom screener, demographic surveys, acculturation assessment, and questionnaires on perceived benefits and barriers to seeking mental health services. Path analysis was used to test the link between acculturation status and intent to seek services for depression, with benefits and barriers as mediators. The results revealed that higher perceived benefits and lower barriers were directly associated with greater intentions to seek help. Furthermore, an indirect effect of acculturation on help-seeking intentions via higher perceived benefits of seeking care was observed. These findings persisted after controlling for age, gender, depression, and history of seeking care for depression. Future work should test the replicability of this finding with diverse college students living in predominantly immigrant communities. Universities might consider tailoring outreach initiatives to provide information on the range and accessibility of mental health services, the location of mental health service centers, and the procedures for accessing such services.

The role of engaged living in the association between self-concealment and psychological distress among racially diverse college students in Hawaiʻi

Self-concealment has been identified as a significant risk factor for negative mental health outcomes. Engaged living, defined as the process of living one's life according to deeply held values with life fulfillment, is one salutary construct that may serve as a protective factor in light of mental health-related risk factors. The present cross-sectional study investigated whether engaged living moderated the positive association between self-concealment and psychological distress in a sample of 1,074 racially diverse college students in Hawaiʻi. Upon the completion of informed consent, study participants completed an online self-report survey that included the measures of interest in the present study. Results revealed that self-concealment was positively associated with psychological distress. Moreover, the strength of the positive association between self-concealment and psychological distress was smaller in participants with high (vs. low) levels of engaged living, but this moderating effect was small. A subsequent post-hoc analysis revealed that the indirect effect of self-concealment on psychological distress manifested through engaged living. Conceptual and applied implications of the present findings, as well as future directions of this line of inquiry, are discussed.

Racism and alcohol-related problems among Black adults: The role of negative emotionality to experiencing racism

IntroductionAlthough Black Americans tend to consume less alcohol than non-Hispanic/Latine White Americans, Black Americans who do drink alcohol appear at especially high risk for negative alcohol-related problems. This alcohol-based health disparity indicates a need to identify psycho-sociocultural factors that may play a role in drinking and related problems to inform prevention and treatment efforts. Minority stress-based models posit that stressors such as racism increase negative emotions, which may be associated with using substances such as alcohol to cope with negative emotions. Yet, little research has directly assessed emotional reactions to racism and whether it plays a role in drinking-related behaviors. MethodParticipants were 164 Black American undergraduates at a racially/ethnically diverse university who endorsed current alcohol use 18–48 (M = 21.7, SD = 4.3). Participants completed an online survey regarding their experiences with racism and alcohol-related behaviors. ResultsExperiencing more frequent racism was related to greater negative emotions experienced in response to racism (i.e., negative emotional reactivity to racism) and alcohol-related problems. More frequent racism was related to more alcohol-related problems via the sequential effects of negative emotional reactivity to racism and coping motivated drinking. ConclusionsThese data indicate that the experience of negative emotions that occur after experiencing racism and attempts to cope with those negative emotions by consuming alcohol play important roles in drinking behaviors among Black Americans.

Understanding College Students' Healthcare Avoidance: From Early Maladaptive Schemas, through Healthcare Institutional Betrayal and Betrayal Trauma Appraisal of Worst Healthcare Experiences.

Understanding healthcare avoidance among college students is critical. In this study, we consider two broad cognitive contributors to greater healthcare avoidance: specific early maladaptive schema and negative appraisals of students' prior worst healthcare experiences. From schema theory, we proposed college students holding greater levels of two early maladaptive schema (disconnection/rejection and impaired autonomy/performance EMS) would be more likely to appraise their problematic healthcare experience as both containing healthcare institutional betrayal (HIB) behaviors and as traumatic and betrayal-inducing; both EMS and these appraisals would predict healthcare avoidance. Using a cross-sectional survey in a large, diverse college student sample (n = 1383, 61.1% female, 18.9% African American, 7.2% Asian, 6.4% Hispanic/Latino), as predicted, both EMS were significantly related to healthcare avoidance. Furthermore, a sequential mediation model was supported, indicating students holding greater EMS of disconnection/rejection or impaired autonomy/rejection reported more HIB in their worst healthcare experience, and appraised that experience as more betraying. Taken altogether, this model accounted for 23% of the variance in students' reports of healthcare avoidance. Core beliefs formed early in life may be a foundational lens through which potentially traumatic healthcare experiences are processed in ways that can impact emerging adults' future healthcare engagement. Findings also support the importance of addressing HIB actions and repairing trauma appraisals accrued during problematic healthcare experiences to prevent healthcare avoidance by emerging adults.

The Impact of Social Media on Academic Performance Among College Students

This study investigates the relationship between social media usage and academic performance among college students. Through a comprehensive literature review, theoretical framework analysis, and empirical data collection, the research aims to elucidate how social media engagement influences students’ academic outcomes. Using SPSS for statistical analysis, the study also incorporates case studies from diverse college settings to offer a nuanced understanding of the implications for educational policy.

Exploring views on praxis possibilities of multilingualism in university literacy pedagogies

Background: South African literacy-as-social-practice theoreticians, language-in-education experts, educational linguists, and language policies advocate multilingual pedagogies to acknowledge and cater to diverse multilingual learners’ literacy development. Universities purport multilingualism to provide for the multilingual norm, students’ literacy, and educational development, as scholarship shows that multilingualism benefits academia and literacy education. Yet, these universities remain locations for monolingual and epistemological biases. Concerns about such praxis pretensions in pluralistic literacy education and the failures in literacy-as-social-practice strategies have been raised. However, the perceptions of lecturers and students on their role in implementing desirable praxis in multilingual literacy education are under-researched.Objectives: This qualitative study explores lecturers’ and students’ perceptions and their impact on practising linguistic plurality in literacy for educational development schemes.Method: The research uses in-depth individual and focus-group interviews with four lecturers and four first-year undergraduate students at a selected linguistically diverse university. An interpretivist paradigm was applied consisting of participants’ subjective experiences as members of a higher education institution (HEI).Results: Findings reveal that lecturers have difficulty coping with multiple languages due to inadequate training and misconceptions about multilingualism, and monolingual pedagogy perceptions carried over from their institutions whose culture denies students’ linguistic plurality.Conclusion: The study demonstrates the importance of shifts in epistemological orientation and adequate training, focused on multilingualism, to develop versatile and agile lecturers equipped for multilingual universities.Contribution: This research contributes to understanding the complex implementation problems regarding multilingual literacy education and possible solutions. It postulates new ways of forging multilingual literacy practices to erase praxis morbidity.

The Differences in 21st-Century 4C Skills Among Diverse University Choirs in China

Choir singing originated from the choir of Christian churches in medieval Europe and first appeared in the 1st century. However, the focus of choir education had long been on musical knowledge, neglecting the cultivation of practical skills, resulting in variations in skill performance. In the 21st century, choir singing flourished, particularly in Chinese universities. Aligned with modern educational trends, choir singing aimed to foster students' 4C skills: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration. Music educators gradually emphasized skill development, recognizing it as essential for students' future lives and careers. Nevertheless, the cultivation of these 4C skills remained at a preliminary stage, with varying understandings of skills across different universities leading to differing skill levels among choir ensemble students. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the disparities in the development of 4C skills among choir ensemble students from diverse Chinese universities. Three universities of different types were selected for the study, and a quantitative approach was employed through a case study to examine the differences in students' 4C skill development in the 21st century. Because most of the research was qualitative. Researchers distributed an online survey to all students in the music school's choir ensembles of the three universities, collecting a total of 220 valid responses. The analysis revealed that students in universities with a stronger musical emphasis exhibited a positive attitude towards skill cultivation and development. These findings provided valuable insights for the future of diverse forms of choir music education in terms of skill development.