Sample Of American College Students Research Articles

Avoiding entangling commitments: Tactics for implementing a short-term mating strategy

The successful pursuit of a short-term mating strategy requires avoiding entangling commitments or unwanted, encumbering relationships. Two studies, based on an act-nomination and reported act performance methodologies, were conducted on samples of American college students to explore how individuals avoid entangling commitments. In Study 1 (N=102) we identified the acts individuals use to avoid entangling commitments in the context of short-term mating. In Study 2 (N=298) we examined reported usage of these tactics, and identified correlations with personality traits previously implicated in the pursuit of a short-term mating strategy (e.g., narcissism, mate-value). Personality traits such as the Dark Triad and sociosexuality, as well as mate-value, were positively correlated with tactics used to avoid entangling commitments. Results document how short-term mating strategists solve the problem of avoiding entangling commitments, reveal sex differences previously undiscovered, and highlight personality characteristics linked to solving this adaptive problem.

Coping flexibility and trauma: The Perceived Ability to Cope With Trauma (PACT) scale.

Theories about coping with potential trauma have emphasized the importance of concerted focus on processing the traumatic event. However, empirical evidence also suggests that it may be salubrious to distract oneself, remain optimistic, and focus on moving past the event. These seemingly contradictory perspectives are integrated in the concept of coping flexibility. This investigation reports the development and validation of a brief questionnaire, the Perceived Ability to Cope With Trauma (PACT) scale, with 2 scales that measure the perceived ability to focus on processing the trauma (trauma focus) and to focus on moving beyond the trauma (forward focus). In addition, we created a single flexibility score that represented the ability to use both types of coping. Participants included an Israeli sample with potential high trauma exposure and a sample of American college students. The factor structure of the PACT was confirmed in both samples. Preliminary evidence was obtained for the PACT’s convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Both the Forward Focus and Trauma Focus scales were independently associated with better adjustment, and each scale independently moderated the impact of heightened trauma exposure. Similarly, the combination of these scales into a single parsimonious flexibility score also moderated trauma exposure. Limitations of and future research with the measure are considered.

College students' text messaging, use of textese and literacy skills

AbstractIn this study, I examined reported frequency of text messaging, use of textese and literacy skills (reading accuracy, spelling and reading fluency) in a sample of American college students. Participants reported using text messaging, social networking sites and textese more often than was reported in previous (2009) research, and their frequency of textese use varied across contexts. Correlational analyses revealed significant, positive relationships between text messaging frequency and literacy skills (spelling and reading fluency), but significant, negative relationships between textese usage in certain contexts (on social networking sites such as MySpace™ and Facebook™ and in emails to professors) and literacy (reading accuracy). These findings differ from findings reported in recent studies with Australian college students, British schoolchildren and American college students. Explanations for these differences are discussed, and future directions for research are presented.

Psychometric properties of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire

Several instruments have been designed to measure problems associated with excessive, compulsive, or addictive use of the Internet. One such instrument, the 18-item Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire, was recently published with data supporting a three subscale model ( Demetrovics et al., 2008). These researches utilized an online format with a sample taken from the general population of Hungary. We utilized an American college student sample and a paper and pencil format to perform a confirmatory factor analysis of the PIUQ. In addition, we examined the reliability and construct validity of the PIUQ by examining the scales’ relationship with several indices of psychological and physical health. CFA results indicate a barely adequate and not completely problem free three factor model for the PIUQ ( χ 2 = 477.40; root mean square error = .097; comparative fit index = .831; Tucker Lewis coefficient = .804). Cronbach’s α for the total scale was .91 while the Cronbach’s α for each subscale were .81, .77, and .79. Construct validity for the model is demonstrated with significant correlations between the subscales and several indices of psychological and physical health. Suggestions for further research are provided.

Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis

The current study examines changes over time in a commonly used measure of dispositional empathy. A cross-temporal meta-analysis was conducted on 72 samples of American college students who completed at least one of the four subscales (Empathic Concern, Perspective Taking, Fantasy, and Personal Distress) of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) between 1979 and 2009 (total N = 13,737). Overall, the authors found changes in the most prototypically empathic subscales of the IRI: Empathic Concern was most sharply dropping, followed by Perspective Taking. The IRI Fantasy and Personal Distress subscales exhibited no changes over time. Additional analyses found that the declines in Perspective Taking and Empathic Concern are relatively recent phenomena and are most pronounced in samples from after 2000.

Appearance-Based Rejection Sensitivity Predicts Body Dysmorphic Disorder Symptoms and Cosmetic Surgery Acceptance

Appearance-based Rejection Sensitivity (Appearance-RS) is the dispositional tendency to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to rejection based on one's physical appearance. The present research examined associations among Appearance-RS, self-reported symptoms of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), and motivations underlying acceptance of cosmetic surgery among a sample of American college students. Appearance-RS predicted greater self-reported BDD symptoms and endorsement of cosmetic surgery for both intrapersonal and social reasons. Results remained significant even after controlling for appearance satisfaction, fear of negative evaluation, general rejection sensitivity, and depressive symptoms. This research therefore highlights the importance of considering individual differences in sensitivity to appearance rejection when examining body image disturbances, such as self-reported symptoms of BDD, and reasons for endorsing cosmetic surgery.

Assessing “Western” Mindfulness Among Thai Theravāda Buddhist Monks

Mindfulness has its roots in Eastern contemplative traditions and is rapidly gaining popularity in Western psychology. However, questions remain regarding the validity of Western operationalizations of mindfulness. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of several Western mindfulness measures among a sample of Thai Theravāda Buddhist monks. Twenty-four monks recruited from Buddhist temples in Thailand participated in the study. The monks evinced similar associations between mindfulness and related variables as American validation study samples did, and on two facets of mindfulness the monks’ mean scores were greater than an American college student sample. However, the American sample endorsed significantly higher scores on three other facets of mindfulness. These results raise concerns about whether these scales are measuring mindfulness as it is conceptualized in a Buddhist context. Future research with larger samples is needed to further assess the cultural validity and measurement equivalence of Western mindfulness measures across cultural groups.

Egos Inflating Over Time: A Cross‐Temporal Meta‐Analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory

A cross-temporal meta-analysis found that narcissism levels have risen over the generations in 85 samples of American college students who completed the 40-item forced-choice Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) between 1979 and 2006 (total n=16,475). Mean narcissism scores were significantly correlated with year of data collection when weighted by sample size (beta=.53, p<.001). Since 1982, NPI scores have increased 0.33 standard deviation. Thus, almost two-thirds of recent college students are above the mean 1979-1985 narcissism score, a 30% increase. The results complement previous studies finding increases in other individualistic traits such as assertiveness, agency, self-esteem, and extraversion.

Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career-Decision-Making Difficulties

This research focuses on developing a theoretical framework for analyzing the emotional and personality-related aspects of career-decision-making difficulties. The proposed model is comprised of three major clusters: pessimistic views, anxiety, and self-concept and identity. In Study 1, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale (EPCD) was developed, refined, and used to empirically test the model with an Israeli Internet sample ( N = 728). Study 2 ( N = 276) provided evidence for the cross-cultural validity of the proposed model, using an American college student sample. The relations between the cognitive and emotional components of career-decision-making difficulties are discussed, and theoretical, research, and counseling implications are explored.

Enquoting voices, accomplishing talk: Uses of be + like in Instant Messaging

Based on a comparative study of informal speech and writing practices within comparable samples of American college students in 2003 and 2006, this article charts a dramatic expansion in the use of quotative like, and of reported speech and thought more generally, in Instant Messaging (IM). The spread of be + like from speech, where it was already pervasive, into IM correspondence gives a quotative format once thought exclusively oral new purchase in written language and heralds new strategies of voice representation within a typewritten medium ostensibly limited in its expressive potential. We present this development as evidence of a speech community that recognizes specific quotative forms and functions as constitutive of a preferential conversational style we term ‘polyphonic’, which foregrounds morally and affectively charged voicings.

Validity of Personal Growth Initiative Scale scores with a Mexican American college student population.

This study tested the validity of scores on the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS; C. Robitschek, 1998, 1999) with a Mexican American college student sample. Results indicated that the PGIS scores appear to be culturally relevant for this population, with scores on the PGIS having many similar relations with other variables that have been found in prior research with mostly European American college students. PGIS scores appear to be minimally related to measures of cultural constructs for both Mexican American men and women. Results are discussed in terms of their relations to constructs prevalent in Mexican American cultures. Limitations, implications for counseling, and suggestions for future research are presented.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE WILLINGNESS TO ENGAGE IN RISKY BEHAVIOR: A TERROR MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE

Two studies examined the effects of mortality salience inductions on men and women's willingness to engage in risk-taking behaviors. In Study 1, a sample of American college students (N = 101) were exposed to either a mortality salient or a control condition and then rated their willingness to engage in a variety of risk-taking activities. In Study 2, a sample of Israeli high-school students (N = 106) completed a self-esteem measure, were exposed to either a mortality salient or control condition, and then rated their willingness to use various psychoactive substances that were offered in three different hypothetical scenarios. In both studies, findings indicated that mortality salience led to higher willingness to engage in risky behaviors in men but not in women. Study 2 also revealed that self-esteem moderated the effect of mortality salience on the willingness to use psychoactive substances but only when they were offered by a friend. The discussion offers a terror management perspective of risk-taking behaviors.

Money Attitudes, Credit Card Use, and Compulsive Buying among American College Students

The consumer culture has evolved into one of the most powerful forces shaping individuals and societies (Roberts and Sepulveda 1999 a, b). The desire to become a member of the consumer culture appears to be universal (Droge and Mackoy 1995). Changing attitudes toward money are an important catalyst behind the spread of the consumer culture. Money is important—especially to American college students who have been raised in a credit card society where debt is used freely (Ritzer 1995). Schor (1998) believes that access to easy credit is one of the causes of overspending. Using a causal modeling approach, the present study investigated the role money attitudes and credit card use play in compulsive buying within a sample of American college students (see Figure 1). Findings suggest that the money attitudes powerprestige, distrust, and anxiety (Yamauchi and Templer 1982) are closely related to compulsive buying and that credit card use often moderates these relationships. Study results have important public policy, marketing, and research implications.

Confirming the Three-Factor Creative Product Analysis Matrix Model in an American Sample

The purpose of this study was to confirm, in an American sample, the validity of a three-factor structural equation model that had been previously tested and refined with a sample of young adult students in Norway (Besemer, 1998). The three-factor model, a Creative Product Analysis Matrix (Besemer & Treffinger, 1981), was tested by analyzing the responses to the Creative Product Semantic Scale by a sample of American college students from two State University of New York colleges. Confirmatory factor analyses provided strong support for construct validity of the questionnaire and the three-dimensional creativity model. Participant judges were able to detect differences perceived in Novelty, Resolution, and Elaboration and Synthesis of the 4 stimulus items.

Editorial. On editorial freedom: implications of the JAMA affair

this edition was going to press, the news broke that the executive vice president of the American Medical Association (AMA), E. Ratcliffe Anderson, had sacked George Lundberg, who had edited the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) for 17 years. Because we see this as being of great importance for public health, we have taken the unusual decision to publish a joint editorial that will appear in the European Journal of Public Health and the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health* Most readers will, by now, be familiar with the circumstances surrounding Lundberg's dismissal. A paper reporting that, in 1991, 59% of a sample of American college students would not consider oro-genital contact as 'having sex' had, after peer review, been fast-tracked for publication, appearing the same week as the impeachment trial of President Clinton got underway in the United States Senate. The link was obvious, and indeed the paper's relevance to 'recent presidential statements' was highlighted in a JAMA press release. Anderson argued that this action took the journal 'into a major political debate that has nothing to do with science or medicine'. Although the fast-tracking of the paper was cited as die cause for the sacking, it soon became clear diat there were other, underlying, issues. These have been explored in detail by others* and will not be reviewed here, except to note that the AMA may have been feeling especially nervous about how such a paper would influence its support in Washington. The views expressed by die college students were contrary to the case being made by the Republican House managers in the impeachment trial. And die AMA has increasingly been linked widi die Republican Party, making large contributions to Republican congressional candidates in recent years. The AMA may also have felt a need to avoid further controversy in die wake of a hostile media reaction to a deal in which it had agreed to endorse a large corporation's products in return for royalty payments, later cancelling it at a cost of over $13 million.^ The AMA's decision has unleashed a tide of condemnation among editors of medical journals and others. Many

THE EFFECT OF A LUDUS LOVE STYLE ON SEXUAL EXPERIENCE

This study examined the effects of a game-playing love style – ludus – (Hendrick &amp; Hendrick, 1991) with sexual experience. In a sample of American college students (N=305) the study found that sexual experience was related to the ludus (game-playing) subscale. As the tendency to endorse items of the ludus scale increases, the individual reported an ever larger number of sexual partners. Neither the gender of the respondent nor the effect of being in a deepening interpersonal relationship mollifies the tendency to endorse the ludic items.

Beliefs About Time: Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Abstract Block, Saggau, and Nickol (1983-1984) investigated beliefs about time and temporal experience in a sample of American college students. In the present study, the same questionnaire was administered to students in Japan and Malawi. Factor analysis revealed similarities and differences in the structure of beliefs reported by students in the three countries. Belief structures and beliefs concerning physical time and personal time were somewhat different across the three groups, suggesting cultural influences. However, belief structures and beliefs about experienced duration and remembered duration were similar across cultures.

The Context of Satisficing in Vignette Research

Abstract Social psychologists use vignette experiments to study cognitive aspects of social interaction. The quality of data produced in vignette research can be enhanced by minimizing the tendency of subjects to satisfice in formulating their responses, that is, to cognitively process vignette information in a careless and ineffective way. This article draws from research on the cognitive aspects of survey measurement to clarify conditions likely to encourage satisficing and reports vignette experimental data obtained in a sample of American college students that demonstrate predicted context effects on satisficing.

Situational and Dispositional Components of Reactions toward Persons with Disabilities

The situational and dispositional components of reactions toward disabled persons were investigated in a hypothetical format. Initially, a sample of American college students (n = 194) indicated the level of anticipated emotional arousal to 70 brief descriptions of situations in which contact with disabled people might occur on a college campus. Mean ratings were used to select nine situation descriptors representing a range of anticipated arousal levels. Subsequently, a separate sample of students (n = 164) completed the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (Yuker, Block, & Younng, 1966) and were presented with one of the nine situation descriptors. Participants imagined themselves in the situation described (with a person with an immediately obvious disability) and indicated how they would feel and respond by completing various measures. Results indicated that emotional arousal and other reactions were attributable to main effects for both situational and attitudinal factors, whereas the statistical interactions between the two were not significant.

Causal Attribution and Depression

In a study using American college students, Seligman, Abramson, Semmell, and Baeyer (1979) found support for the learned helplessness model of depression. A replication with Filipino college students points to the possible confounding influence of overall attributional style. Restated in such a way as to isolate and remove this confounding factor, the learned helplessness model is supported by the Philippine data, and the model holds for affective and somatic as well as psychological symptoms. We applied the restated model to a new sample of American college students and found results consistent with those in the Seligman study. However, the predictability of the model for our American sample extends to affective and psychological, but not somatic, symptoms of depression.