Incoming First-year Students Research Articles

Is cadaveric dissection essential in medical education? A qualitative survey comparing pre-and post-COVID-19 anatomy courses.

With the surge of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19]), the modality of teaching anatomy has shifted from in-person cadaveric dissection to virtual lessons for incoming first-year medical students. As a result, we aim to assess the impact that this curriculum change has on student perspectives. This study aims to understand the relative effect of a virtual anatomy course implemented during the pandemic (2019-2020) on the confidence, skills, and perspectives of first-year medical students compared to medical students who had traditional in-person anatomy at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (Rowan SOM) in Stratford, New Jersey. The authors developed a 14-question survey to target gross anatomy students of the Classes of 2023 and 2024at Rowan SOM. The Class of 2024 had a virtual anatomy lab compared to the Class of 2023, who had an in-person anatomy lab in their first year of medical school. The responses were analyzed to understand the difference between a hands-on cadaver lab and a virtual anatomy lab utilizing SPSS. The survey was administered to approximately 400 people, from which we received 149 responses (37.3%). Among all responses, 36.2% (n=54) belonged to the Class of 2023 who encountered hands-on cadaver experience, whereas 63.8% (n=95) belonged to the Class of 2024 who gained virtual anatomy lab experience. An independent t-test statistical analysis was utilized. Under the confidence domain, when students were asked about the understanding of trauma after their respective anatomy labs, 64.0% of the Class of 2023 (n=50) showed significantly higher confidence with p<0.001, compared to 15.4% for the Class of 2024 (n=78). Under the skills domain, the Class of 2023 (n=50) felt more comfortable with ultrasound (64.0%), identifying all of the pertinent anatomical structures and their respective locations on imaging (72.0%), and identifying the pathology (90.0%) with respective p values of <0.001, <0.001, and 0.004. Only 36.9% of Class of 2024 respondents shared similar comfort with ultrasound (n=84), 30.9% identifying pertinent anatomical structures (n=84) and 65.4% in identifying pathology (n=84). Under the attitude domain, the Class of 2023 (n=50) had more respect toward the human body with their hands-on cadaver experience (88.0%) than the Class of 2024 (n=89, 33.3%). Based on current results, it can be established that medical students who had in-person cadaveric dissection had a favorable attitude toward their anatomy course compared to students who had virtual anatomy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A combined web based intervention and ecological momentary intervention for reducing alcohol use among incoming first-year university students: Results from a three-arm randomised controlled trial

BackgroundThe transition from high school to university is associated with increased alcohol use and harm. Web-based interventions (WBIs) and ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) are two methods that have had some success in reducing alcohol use among university students and may be particularly effective if implemented during the transition to university. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of a combined WBI and EMI to reduce alcohol use among incoming university students. MethodsIncoming first-year students (n = 783, in 2018 and 2019) were randomized into either a WBI + EMI, WBI-only, or an assessment-only condition. All participants completed online questionnaires before university, after their first and second semester, and reported their alcohol use fortnightly throughout their first year. Those in the WBI + EMI and WBI conditions received online feedback about their drinking (i.e., the WBI) immediately following the pre-university survey. Those in the WBI + EMI were also sent eight EMI messages to their mobile phones during Orientation Week and six EMI messages across the academic year aimed at reducing alcohol harm. ResultsThere were no significant differences between the conditions in Orientation Week drinking, academic year drinking (both “typical” semester or fortnightly drinking), or alcohol-related harms. ConclusionA WBI + EMI intervention aimed at the transition to university did not reduce university students’ alcohol use. The transition, however, continues to be a period of serious harm where students drink more than any other period.

Addressing Motivations and Barriers to Research Involvement during Medical School among Osteopathic Medical Students in the United States

Involvement in research is regarded as a high-impact educational practice, which, for medical professionals, is associated with sharpened critical thinking and life-long learning skills, greater appreciation for evidence-based medicine, and better clinical competence scores. However, there are limited data regarding the research experience and/or interest among osteopathic medical students in the United States despite a rapidly increasing enrollment and expansion of the number of osteopathic medical schools. Thus, we administered an electronic survey examining prior research experience, interests, and perceptions about research participation during medical school to four successive classes of incoming first-year osteopathic medical students. We also performed focus groups with rising third-year osteopathic medical students around the topic of perceived barriers to and potential enablers of promoting research participation. This yielded a survey addendum where first-year osteopathic medical students provided feedback on the likelihood of specific incentives/enablers to encourage participation in research during medical school. Overall, osteopathic medical students are interested in research, view research experience as valuable, and perceive research experience as beneficial to future career development. Students perceive that the primary barrier to involvement in research is a potential negative impact upon performance in coursework. Feedback on the likelihood of specific enablers/incentives was also garnered. Our findings from a single institution may have important implications in defining the prior experiences and perceptions held by first-year osteopathic medical students. Specifically, our study indicates that research experiences intentionally designed with (1) a strong likelihood of gaining a publication, (2) financial compensation, and (3) the opportunity for short-term involvement, a flexible time commitment, and/or a dedicated time period are most likely to encourage research participation by osteopathic medical students.

Promoting Inclusion Through a Peer Mentoring Program

Various studies have shown the need for and importance of inclusion in an undergraduate student’s campus experience, academic success and career development. The Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department organizes monthly department events, such as open house, internship and career workshops, Lunch and Learn with employers, and holiday parties. These events are always well received and help to connect and engage with the BME students. We have also noticed that many first-year students do not attend these events, which could negatively impact the retention and student academic progress. The COVID-19 pandemic has added further challenges especially for the first-year students to make connections and socialize as easily as prior to the pandemic. We started a BME peer mentoring program with the main goal to help incoming first-year students make a smooth transition from high school to college. Every student is assigned a BME mentor. The mentors are Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) chapter officers and/or Biomedical Engineering Honor Society members. The mentors start email communication with the mentees in the summer. At the meet and greet in the first week of the fall semester, the BME Department office introduces expectations for the mentors and mentees, such as monthly one-on-one meetings, participation of at least one BMES and/or BME department events every month, and completion of end-of-semester surveys. It also provides essential support throughout the year to facilitate the program by providing mentor training, keeping an open-door policy to address any concerns from the mentors or mentees, channeling their need to other offices, and promoting the value of peer mentoring and learning. It is expected that the mentoring program will help build peer relationships between the mentors and mentees, encourage first-year students to progress towards their educational goals, and enrich their campus experience. The mentors will also benefit from the program with enhanced confidence, leadership and communication skills. We report in this article the process of implementing our peer mentoring program, major findings, student survey results, and lessons learned.

Assessing a Summer Bridge Program: Centering Student Voice and Student Learning

Summer bridge programs (SBPs) are intended to promote student learning, academic achievement, and persistence to graduation. They are also a viable vehicle for supporting diverse minoritized student constituencies. Our study, guided by a student-centered assessment approach, examined the experiences of incoming first-year students. Findings highlight the importance of the program in supporting students’ transition to college, academic skill development, and building social networks. This study offers implications for those interested in assessing and improving SBPs.

Reading ‘rithmatic: examining the impact of a literacy intervention on mathematics placement assessment

PurposeCollege placement assessments in the USA have underperformed in predicting college readiness. This has prompted a wave of reforms to placement practices and policies. Recently, student preparation for placement assessments has come to the forefront as a means for enabling better evaluation of college readiness. In this study, the authors explored the effects of an intervention aimed at preparing students for precollege placement assessments. The intervention focused on the provision of mathematics discipline-specific literacy skills because demonstrating mathematical mastery depends on students’ ability to read, understand and translate text into mathematical computations.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors used a randomized control trial design. The design enabled the authors to draw causal inferences while examining the effects of a placement assessment preparation intervention on mathematics placement and course outcomes. The authors also examined the intervention’s effect across incoming first-year college students with varying levels of readiness.FindingsFindings demonstrated a positive and significant effect on assessment scores and placement for intervention participants with a stronger effect for those with higher levels of readiness. Intervention participants exhibited comparable academic success outcomes as those who did not receive the intervention.Originality/valueLittle assessment research has explored the intersection of mathematics and literacy skills in relation to college readiness assessment. In addition, findings support the utility of preparation for college placement assessments.

Evaluating Non-response Bias in a Parent-Based College Alcohol Intervention

Background: The purpose of this study was to address a dearth in the literature on non-response bias in parent-based interventions (PBIs) by investigating parenting constructs that might be associated with whether a parent volunteers to participate in a no-incentive college drinking PBI. Method: Incoming first-year students (N = 386) completed an online questionnaire that included items assessing plausible predictors of participation in a PBI (students’ drinking, perceptions of parents’ harm-reduction and zero-tolerance alcohol communication, whether parents allowed alcohol, and changes in parents’ alcohol rules). Four months later, all parents of first-year students at the study university were invited to join the PBI, which was described as a resource guide to teach them how to help their student navigate the college transition and prepare them for life at their university. Results: Parents who signed up for the intervention used greater harm-reduction communication than those who did not sign up, were more likely to have allowed alcohol use, and signing up was significantly associated with student reports that fathers became less strict toward drinking after high school. Students’ drinking and zero-tolerance communication did not significantly differ between the groups. Conclusion: Results indicate that non-response bias can be an issue when utilizing a real-world, non-RCT recruitment approach to invite parents into a PBI (i.e., non-incentivized, inviting all parents). Findings suggest that more comprehensive recruitment strategies may be required to increase parent diversity in PBIs.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Virtual and In-Person Delivery of Mindfulness-Based Skills Within Healthcare Curriculums.

PurposeTo promote well-being, healthcare education programs have incorporated mindfulness-based skills and principles into existing curriculums. Pandemic-related restrictions have compelled programs to deliver content virtually. Study objectives were to determine (1) whether teaching mindfulness-based skills within physician assistant (PA) programs can promote well-being and (2) whether delivery type (virtual vs. in-person) can impact the effectiveness.MethodsDuring this 2-year study, a brief mindfulness-based curriculum was delivered to incoming first-year students at six PA programs, while students at two programs served as controls. The curriculum was delivered in-person in year one and virtually in year two. Validated pre- and post-test survey items assessed mindfulness (decentering ability, present moment attention and awareness, and psychological flexibility) and well-being (perceived stress and life satisfaction).ResultsAs expected, coping abilities and well-being were adversely impacted by educational demands. The mindfulness-based curriculum intervention was effective in increasing mindfulness and life satisfaction, while decreasing perceived stress when delivered in-person. Virtual curricular delivery was effective in decreasing perceived stress but not improving life satisfaction. Over half of the participants receiving the curriculum reported positive changes on mindfulness measures with approximately 14–38% reporting a change of greater than one standard deviation. Changes on mindfulness measures explained 30–38% of the reported changes in perceived stress and 22–26% of the changes in life satisfaction. Therefore, the mindfulness curriculum demonstrated statistically significant improvements in measures of mindfulness and mitigated declines in life satisfaction and perceived stress.ConclusionMindfulness-based skills effectively taught in-person or virtually within PA programs successfully promote well-being.

Mathematical Readiness of Freshmen Engineering Students (K-12 2020 Graduates) in Eastern Visayas in the Philippines

Abstract: This study assessed the mathematical and analytical readiness of the incoming first-year college engineering students (K-12 2020 graduates) in Eastern Visayas in the Philippines. First-year engineering students (n=177) participated in the College Math Readiness Test (CMRT), a questionnaire on mathematics subjects that covered Precalculus, Analytical Geometry, Series and Mathematical Induction, Trigonometry, and Basic Calculus: Limits and Continuity, Derivatives, and Integration. The findings indicate that 43% of the respondents were mathematically-college-ready (MCR) and 57% were not-mathematically-college-ready (NMCR). Regarding the NMCR, 39% fared fairly and 18% fared poorly in the CMRT. This suggests that remedial support for mathematics for this group may be required for them to be college-ready for an engineering course. The respondents had the lowest correct mean score for the Integration subjects: Evaluating Differential Equations (15%), Evaluating Definite Integrals (16%), and Solving Area Between Curves (19%). The results of the ranking of the Senior High Schools (SHS) showed that 13 SHS with at least 2 takers and 24 SHS with single takers need to improve their quality of teaching to enhance the mathematical competence of their graduates. The findings of this study were used to identify remediation areas and recommendations to improve the students' college mathematical and analytical readiness. &#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: K-12, college-math-readiness, engineering students, Philippines

Tobacco 21's Impact Amid the E-Cigarette Surge.

Nationwide implementation of Tobacco 21 (raising the legal sales age for all tobacco products to 21) is occurring against the backdrop of an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) epidemic among young people, which makes Tobacco 21 evaluation difficult. To address this issue, we examined young adult use of e-cigarettes separately from use of other tobacco products. Our objective was to determine whether use changed after Tobacco 21 implementation and whether those changes differed by product. In Columbus, Ohio, which began enforcing Tobacco 21 in 2017, we surveyed incoming first-year undergraduates at a large, public university in 2016 (Cohort 1; n = 529) and re-contacted them in 2018. We surveyed a new sample of incoming first-year students in 2018 (Cohort 2; n = 611). Survey items assessed tobacco use, sources for obtaining tobacco, and attitudes surrounding Tobacco 21. Both cross-sectional (Cohort 1 vs Cohort 2) and prospective (pre-post Tobacco 21 in Cohort 1) analyses indicated a slight decline in most tobacco use from 2016 to 2018, but e-cigarette use more than doubled during the same period. Students enrolled throughout the transition to Tobacco 21 (Cohort 1) perceived little effect of Tobacco 21 on peer use. The largest proportions (35.3%-43.5%) of combustible tobacco were obtained outside Columbus; 61.8% of e-cigarette users reported obtaining e-cigarettes through borrowing. Tobacco 21 was associated with reductions in combustible and smokeless tobacco use, but its impact was not sufficient to curb the surge in e-cigarette use. Tobacco 21 should be contextualized as part of a broader network of tobacco control efforts, including additional youth-access regulations, that may be needed to address e-cigarette use among young people.

Job Attribute Preferences of Incoming University Students and Newly-Hired Employees in the Context of the Romanian Labour Market

The purpose of this study is to investigate which job and organisational attributes incoming first-year students prefer in a job, and whether their preferences differ from those of newly-hired employees. Factor analysis of the job attributes reveal four underlying factors: job itself, firm attributes, compensation and rewards, and supportive work environment. Results show that students’ perceptions differ from those of employees only with regard to the importance of firm’s attributes. This study also examines whether preferences for job attributes differ when students’ growth need strength, academic achievement, and gender are taken into account. Results indicate that students with high growth needs place greater importance on job attributes centred on job itself, but lower importance on job attributes concerning supportive work environment. Furthermore, female students rate job attributes pertaining to supportive work environment significantly higher than male students.

Apostasy of an “Anti-Assessment” Curmudgeon: Developing a Geographic Concept Inventory for Assessing Program-Level Learning Outcomes in a Department of Geography

Apostasy is defined as the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief. This article describes the apostasy of a professor of geography with respect to their initial hostility toward the utility of learning outcomes assessments. This apostasy motivated the development of assessment instruments that could provide evidence that graduating geography and environmental science majors possessed more skills and knowledge and confidence in their skills and knowledge than they did as incoming first-year students. The instruments we developed for learning outcomes assessment are described and presented. Qualitative and statistical analyses of several years of data demonstrate statistically significant improvements in the objective quizzes and self-assessments of the graduating students. The results provided a satisfying body of evidence suggesting that the teaching and learning taking place in our department are effective while also identifying some issues we need to address. These data provide a mechanism for the faculty to reflect on our curriculum and teaching practices to identify ways to improve them. These instruments are used on an on-going basis to inform departmental program reviews, to field inquiries from accreditation teams, and to promote the department within the university.

Well-Being and General Anxiety Among University of Michigan Dental Students

BackgroundAnxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions, affecting approximately 1 in 9 people worldwide. More specifically, dental students have been considered vulnerable to anxiety despite the fact that dental students have also reported high levels of well-being. Therefore, we hypothesize that University of Michigan School of Dentistry (UMSOD) dental students pose high levels of well-being but suffer from anxiety. Our objective is to measure anxiety and well-being levels among UMSOD dental students for 2 consecutive academic years.MethodsDental students (N = 609) were surveyed for well-being and general anxiety levels. To assess well-being and anxiety levels we used the World Health Organization–Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5) questionnaire and the General Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale, respectively. Surveys were sent through Qualtrics. For statistical analysis, chi-square and t test were used at p &amp;lt; 0.05.ResultsThe mean well-being score among dental students was 12.26 (SD = 1.14). In the first survey moment for anxiety, which coincided with the week before the spring break in 2017, approximately 39% of the respondents (n = 255) scored 10 or higher on the GAD-7, which means moderate anxiety. In the second survey moment, the week after the spring break week in 2017, we found a slight but not significant reduction in anxiety levels, with approximately 32% of the responses (n = 109) of the dental students scoring 10 or higher on the GAD-7. Incoming first-year dental students before starting the dental school program presented well-being mean of 18 (SD = 0.60). Only 13% of incoming first-year dental students scored 10 or higher on anxiety before starting the school program. By the fall term, the well-being mean among incoming first-year dental students dropped to 13.29 (SD = 1.32), and 22% of the incoming first-year dental students scored 10 or higher in the GAD-7.ConclusionsUniversity of Michigan School of Dentistry dental students posed poor well-being and moderate anxiety. Incoming first-year dental students posed higher well-being and lower anxiety levels before starting the dental education program. However, as the academic year developed, incoming first-year dental students suffered a decrease in well-being and an increase in anxiety levels. Our study indicates a trend of poor well-being and high anxiety among UMSOD dental students.

College, Covid, and Questions: Tips and Advice for Incoming Freshmen, Undergraduates, Transfer Students, and Parents

Suzy Beamer Bohnert’s College, Covid, and Questions: Tips and Advice for Incoming Freshmen, Undergraduates, Transfer Students, and Parents is a pocket guide, answering questions incoming students frequently have about college and university life. While incoming first-year students are the primary audience for the book, some sections address parents or family members. The thematic organization allows readers to locate areas of interest quickly. While the title suggests an emphasis on COVID19’s impact on higher education, most of the text focuses on traditional aspects of college, including tutoring, essential campus resources and offices, residential life and roommates, clubs and activities, and travel.

Disciplinary significance of social caring in postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

We analyzed student engagement in physics during a summer course for incoming first-year students, part of a cohort-based learning community designed for students from underrepresented groups in the School of Engineering of a predominantly white institution. The data—video of an episode within the course and interviews of the 11 students one year later about their experiences in the program and the course—support two findings: (i) The students cared for each other, in a social sense, and felt cared for by the instructor, and (ii) the students framed the course as focused on their own reasoning. We argue that the former supported the latter, and we offer this as a conjecture for further study: Social caring can support productive epistemological framing. If this is correct, it would suggest the benefits of aligning what takes place within courses with the socially supportive dynamics of extracurricular cohort-based learning communities.Received 4 January 2021Accepted 9 August 2021Corrected 8 October 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.023106Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasDiversity & inclusionEpistemology, attitudes, & beliefsPhysics Education Research

The Prospective Effects of Parents’ and Friends’ Approval of Drinking on Simultaneous Alcohol and Marijuana Use during College

Background: Recent reports indicate that simultaneous alcohol and marijuana (SAM) use is a growing health concern among college students. As SAM use consists of both alcohol and marijuana, risk factors associated with either can serve as plausible targets by prevention efforts to reduce SAM use. Objectives: To explore this, the current study investigated the direct and indirect effects of two established risk factors for drinking on SAM use: perceived parental permissiveness toward drinking and friends’ approval toward drinking (injunctive norms). Method: Incoming first-year students (N = 470) reported parental permissiveness, injunctive norms, alcohol use, and SAM use at baseline (T1) and 5 months later (T2). SAM use was assessed again 15 months post-baseline (T3). Path analysis was conducted to examine whether T2 variables mediated relationships between T1 variables and T3 SAM use. Results: Results revealed that T2 student alcohol use mediated the effects of T1 parental permissiveness, injunctive norms, and alcohol use on T3 SAM use. Conclusions/Importance: Findings from this study extend research on SAM use by identifying perceived parental permissiveness and injunctive drinking norms as risk factors for SAM use through their effects on alcohol use. Based on these findings, it is plausible that parent-based interventions and interventions targeting peer injunctive norms during the first year of college could be used to effectively prevent or reduce SAM use.

Understanding Links Between College Students’ Childhood Pet Ownership, Attachment, and Separation Anxiety During the Transition to College

ABSTRACT Despite evidence that youth develop close relationships with their childhood pets, virtually nothing is known about how pet attachment and behavioral involvement with pets may shape students’ pet-separation anxiety during the transition to college. Given that separation may constitute a potential risk factor for developing mental health issues, we explored these associations. A month before arrival on campus, a randomly selected sample of incoming first-year students (n = 2,000) reported on pet ownership (n = 145), pet attachment (Johnson et al., 1992) and pet-related behavioral involvement. A month later, 2 weeks into the semester, students reported on the severity of pet-related separation anxiety, with 25.5% of students reporting experiencing moderate to severe pet-related separation anxiety. Regression analyses modeled contributions of students’ pet attachment, behavioral involvement, and student characteristics (e.g., first generation, mental health history) on pet-related separation anxiety. Results showed that people substituting-related pet attachment (β = 0.19, p = 0.015), spending more time with pets compared with other pet owners (β = 0.24, p = 0.002), talking to pets (β = 0.19, p = 0.009), nights per week of pet-co-sleeping (β = 0.16, p = 0.027), significantly predicted separation anxiety while students’ history of anxiety (β = 0.18, p = 0.012) and self-harm (β = 0.14, p = 0.046) were controlled. Findings show that students whose pets played a large role in their lives experienced separation anxiety during the transition to college, which may compromise academic success. Students’ indicators related to pet ownership should be considered as potential risk factors beyond traditional mental health considerations.

Dental Students' Knowledge and Attitudes about Human Papillomavirus Prevention.

The purpose of the current study was to assess knowledge and attitudes about human papillomavirus (HPV) and HPV vaccination for oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) prevention in first-year through fourth-year dental students. Methods: In this cross-sectional quantitative study, surveys assessed knowledge and attitudes about HPV, HPV-related OPC, and HPV vaccination of incoming first-year dental students (D1), outgoing first- and second-year dental students (D1–D2), and outgoing third- and fourth-year dental students (D3–D4). After completing a 40-item pre-training knowledge and attitude assessment survey, a one-time, one-hour national HPV training session was conducted. An 8-item attitudinal post-survey was completed after training. Results: Of 173 participants (75.9% response rate), over 85% did not know that the rate of HPV is not highest among women in their 30s, and only 11% to 28% knew that smoking-associated OPC is more deadly than HPV-associated OPC. While participants overall expressed willingness to administer the HPV vaccine, the willingness of dental students to do so in their future practice tapered off progressively through dental school year categories (p < 0.001). Among outgoing D1–D4 students, the one-hour HPV training increased participants’ self-perceived ability to describe the burden of HPV disease, discuss the importance of HPV vaccination for cancer prevention, and provide needed HPV vaccination information to parents (all p ≤ 0.004). Conclusions: Understanding deficits in dental student knowledge and attitudes across the 4 years of dental school may help dental educators better understand the timing and content needed for effective HPV training in the dental school curriculum to reduce HPV-associated OPC prevalence.

Family−school conflict and self-regulation among diverse women in higher education

PurposeThis study investigated whether family−school conflict, directly and indirectly, predicts behavioral regulatory strategies (via emotion regulation) among women in higher education. The authors aim to hypothesize that the direct and indirect effects would vary by race/ethnicity.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were 1,872 incoming first-year female students from a large, racially/ethnically diverse urban public university. They were classified into four racial/ethnic groups: 22% Asian American (n = 403), 11% Black (n = 209), 46% Latina (n = 865), and 21% White (n = 395). Data were collected from institutional records and an online student pre-matriculation survey. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to explore the structural relations among key variables.FindingsFamily−school conflict was negatively associated with help-seeking in all racial/ethnic groups, whereas family−school conflict was negatively associated with time management only for Latina students. In addition, family−school conflict indirectly predicted time management and help-seeking through increased emotion regulation, particularly among Latina students.Originality/valueIn considering racial heterogeneity, the results showed the importance of analyzing racial/ethnic groups separately to obtain more accurate information on self-regulation mechanisms in family−school conflict contexts.

Main outcomes of M-bridge: A sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) for developing an adaptive preventive intervention for college drinking.

Objective: The goal was to develop a universal and resource-efficient adaptive preventive intervention (API) for incoming first-year students as a bridge to indicated interventions to address alcohol-related risks. The aims were to examine: (a) API versus assessment-only control, (b) the different APIs (i.e., 4 intervention sequences) embedded in the study design, and (c) moderators of intervention effects on binge drinking. Method: A sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) included two randomizations: timing (summer before vs. first semester) of universal personalized normative feedback and biweekly self-monitoring and, for heavy drinkers, bridging strategy (resource email vs. health coaching invitation). Participants (N = 891, 62.4% female, 76.8% White) were surveyed at the end of first and second semesters. The primary outcome was binge drinking frequency (4+/5+ drinks for females/males); secondary outcomes were alcohol consequences and health services utilization. Results: API (vs. control) was not significantly associated with outcomes. There were no differences between embedded APIs. Among heavy drinkers, the resource email (vs. health coach invitation) led to greater health services utilization. Moderator analyses suggested students intending to pledge into Greek life benefited more from any API (vs. control; 42% smaller increase from precollege in binge drinking frequency). Conclusions: Although overall effects were not significant, students at high risk (i.e., entering fraternities/sororities) did benefit more from the intervention. Furthermore, the resource email was effective for heavier drinkers. A technology-based strategy to deliver targeted resource-light interventions for heavy drinkers may be effective for reducing binge drinking during the transition to college. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).