Undergraduate Women Research Articles

The Association Between Self-Surveillance and Self-Rated Health in College Women: A Mechanistic Approach

Although women outlive men, women report poorer self-rated physical health over much of the lifespan. Objectification theory may offer insight into this gender difference. Objectifying culture promotes self-surveillance, which encourages prioritizing the body’s appearance over its physical functioning and well-being. As women may engage in self-surveillance more so than men, this sequence of events may help explain this gender difference in self-rated health. However, the few studies examining this idea show an inconsistent relationship between self-surveillance and self-rated health. Nonetheless, self-surveillance may promote body shame and diminished awareness of internal bodily states. As these factors are associated with poor self-rated health, self-surveillance may predict poor self-rated health via these mechanisms. In study 1 ( N = 166 undergraduate women), self-surveillance was unrelated to self-rated health. However, body shame and low interoceptive awareness mediated this relationship. In study 2 ( N = 347 undergraduate women and men), self-surveillance correlated negatively with self-rated health for female participants but not male participants. Female participants reported poorer self-rated health, and this effect was serially mediated by self-surveillance, body shame, and low body responsiveness. These studies suggest a potential avenue by which self-surveillance may explain the gender difference in self-rated health in college samples, providing an important basis for future longitudinal investigations in more diverse samples. Moreover, these results suggest that interventions targeting body shame and low internal awareness may be used to promote good self-rated health as well as to prevent disease and poor health behaviors related to self-rated health.

Examining the Intersectional Experiences of Ethnic Minority Women Within the Gendered Paradigm of Educational Institutions: A Case Study of Rajshahi University.

This study aims to explore how ethnic minority women are facing discrimination at Rajshahi University. The research methodology involved the use of a qualitative case study design, which employed interviews to collect data from a sample of 17 undergraduate ethnic minority women at Rajshahi University. The study aimed to identify the influence of discriminatory outlook towards ethnic minority women in their academic experiences. There are significant biases against ethnic minority women in their academic experiences. The implications of this research highlight the need for increased attention to gender dynamics about ethnic minorities in society and the importance of creating more inclusive and equitable learning environments for all in society so that no one is facing discrimination based on their ethnic identity as well as gender status. This study contributes to the literature on gender and education by providing insight into the experiences of ethnic minority women and offering recommendations for authorities to promote a more equitable environment that eradicates the problems indicated in this research.

Recognition experiences of women of color in chemistry: an intersectional study

Much research on women of color in STEM has treated women of color as a collective, giving little attention to the nuanced differences in the experiences of the women within this larger group. Research on women of color in STEM has also given insufficient attention to disciplinary differences, and has often applied unidimensional, rather than intersectional approaches, to examining the experiences of these women. This study takes a nuanced approach to examining the recognition experiences of four undergraduate women of color in chemistry, and how those experiences are shaped by the intersection of their multiple marginalized identities, using an intersectional lens. Interpretive phenomenological analysis is used to center the women's voices and focus on capturing both the convergences and divergences in their experiences. Our findings illustrate the value of using an intersectional approach, and provide explicit examples of how recognition, especially negative recognition, manifests itself in these women's experiences. The findings have implications for how institutions and disciplines can support women of color to persist in science disciplines, as well as implications for research.

Admissions, Organization, Culture, and Policy: Understanding the Postsecondary Structures that Shape Women’s Entry into Computing Bachelor’s Programs

Despite the growing popularity of computing bachelor’s programs, women remain vastly underrepresented in these fields. Using Social Cognitive Career Theory and intersectionality as guiding theories, this qualitative study explores how postsecondary institutions shape women’s experiences choosing and entering computing bachelor’s programs. Twenty-eight of 40 participants entered their institutions with plans to study computing, while 12 developed a new (or renewed) interest in computing as postsecondary students. Findings outline four postsecondary structures that shaped women’s entry into computing majors, including university-level admissions and participant perceptions of financial and cultural accessibility; academic college-level organization and admissions processes; institutional computing cultures, namely introductory course experiences and social environments; and major declaration policies. Findings also show how these structures differentially shaped participant experiences based on intersecting social identities. Overall, findings illustrate the precarious relationship between computing interest development, major intent, and major enrollment for undergraduate women in computing.

Social support for undergraduate women pursuing a criminal justice career: an integrative literature review

Social support for undergraduate women pursuing a criminal justice career: an integrative literature review

Associations among sexual assault history, alcohol use, blackouts, and blackout intentions among college women

Background: Links between alcohol-induced blackouts and sexual assault (SA) are understudied. We tested whether: (1) history of blackouts, past 30-day blackouts, and past 30-day blackout intentions would be higher among women with histories of SA relative to women without; (2) baseline history of blackouts, past 30-day blackouts, and blackout intentions would predict an increase in SA severity (i.e., a continuous variable that considers SA tactic type and assault frequency) at a one-year follow-up. Methods: 1721 undergraduate women completed a baseline survey and 313 completed the follow-up. Results: Women with SA history had 2.10 higher odds of history of blackouts, 1.47 higher odds of past 30-day blackout during “one” drinking episode, 1.78 higher odds of blackout during a “few” drinking episodes, 3.21 higher odds of blackout during “most/all” drinking episodes, and 1.54 higher odds of blackout intentions in the last 30-days. Longitudinally, history of blackouts and past 30-day blackouts at baseline were associated with an increase in SA severity at follow-up, when peak drinks were not controlled. Conclusion: Longitudinal findings provide some evidence that lifetime history of blackouts and past 30-day blackouts are significant predictors of an increase in SA severity at follow-up and therefore an essential target for interventions.

Being underweight, academic performance and cognitive control in undergraduate women.

The prevalence of underweight among young women is a serious international health issue. However, the evidence on how being underweight negatively affects brain health and cognition is still unclear. This study investigated the association between underweight status, academic performance, and neurocognitive control in young Japanese women using a cross-sectional design. We analyzed the academic performance of female undergraduates, comparing underweight and healthy-weight groups (n = 43; age 18-23 years, M = 21.1, SD = 1.3) based on their grade point average (GPA). We also analyzed their error-related negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological measure that potentially reflects academic performance, during an arrowhead version of the flanker task to assess cognitive control of action monitoring. Participants with a low body mass index were found to have lower GPAs. Furthermore, the underweight students exhibited smaller ERN amplitudes, which indicates decreased cognitive control in action monitoring. These findings suggest that a healthy weight status is essential for effective cognitive functioning and academic success in young adult women, amongwhom being underweight is a serious health problem.

‘Keep your eyes open’: HBCU women’s peer sexual advice and the (re)production of vigilance

Discursive practices position Black women as racial, gendered, and sexual others. There remains a need to understand how Black women craft sexualities given this backdrop. This paper draws on sexual and dating advice from 30 semi-structured interviews to examine how cisgender heterosexual undergraduate women enrolled at a Historically Black College/University in the USA constructed and promoted heterosexualities. Neoliberalism, racialised risk narratives and notions of Black womanhood converge to frame how participants articulated their roles and the roles of women like them in maintaining sexual health and social status at the nexus of race and gender oppression, and in respect of aspirational Black feminine middle-class identities. Overarching messages in their peer advice revealed gender-specific expectations about sexual responsibility through self-reliance and sexual respectability through heterosexual monogamy. The present study expands sexualities research through an intersectional approach that examines the implications of racialised, gendered and classed meanings of Black sexuality and womanhood in an understudied population. Findings identify peer sexual advice as a rhetorical tool that simultaneously resists and reproduces power structures.

A Dog Accompanying a Man Makes Social Threatening Contexts Less Aversive and Enhances Perceived Safety Regardless of Societal Safety Levels

ABSTRACT Research shows that the inclusion of a dog in pictures showing a man in threatening scenarios improves women’s emotional reactions to them. However, the magnitude of this “dog-accompanying effect” (i.e., whether the inclusion of a dog renders socially threatening scenes less aversive, neutral, or positive) in societies differing in terms of safety remains unknown. To address this, undergraduate women from societies differing in safety levels (lower [Colombia, n = 120] and higher [Spain, n = 131] safety levels) provided valence, arousal, dominance, and safety ratings to images depicting a man alone or with a dog in threatening scenes, as well as to images of pleasant and neutral social scenes. The same response pattern was found in both countries: when viewing images of a dog accompanying a man, women gave lower valence, dominance, safety, and calmness ratings than when viewing images of neutral scenes. Conversely, women gave higher valence, dominance, safety, and calmness ratings when observing images of a dog accompanying a man compared with images showing the man alone in threatening scenes. Overall, these data indicate that a dog’s presence in pictures buffered negative emotional reactions to photos of threatening social scenes in societal contexts differing in safety levels, but still (slightly) activated the defensive motivational system. The slight activation of the defensive motivational system is interpreted as an adaptative response of the person to reduce or avoid potential harm (e.g., a hypothetical attack by the man). Our study provides a deeper understanding of the influence of dogs on women’s emotional reactions to images of threatening scenes by clarifying the magnitude of the dog effect in societies differing in safety levels.

Sexual violence against sexual minority women in STEM: Compound backlash

BackgroundRecent research has found that gender parity (i.e., the ratio of women to men) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines is associated with sexual violence (SV) victimization for women. This finding may reflect a type of backlash wherein SV is a means of punishing women who are perceived to be violating their gender roles and threatening the male hegemony. Sexual minorities, who are likewise disproportionately victims of SV, report experiencing heterosexist hostility and harassment in STEM disciplines. There is reason to suspect that the combination of these marginalized identity positions (e.g., a sexual minority woman in gender-balanced STEM) may amplify perceived gender role violations and exacerbate the risk of SV victimization. MethodsData were collected from undergraduate women at five institutions of higher education in the United States. Sampling was stratified by STEM vs. non-STEM majors and male-dominated vs. gender-balanced majors. Sexual violence was measured via the revised Sexual Experiences Survey. We tested the interaction of sexual minority status and gender parity in STEM on SV via fixed effects OLS regression. ResultsSexual minority women in gender-balanced STEM were most frequently victims of SV. Women in male-dominated STEM majors were at no greater risk of SV victimization, regardless of sexual minority status, than their peers in non-STEM majors. ImplicationsThese findings suggest the possibility of a compound form of backlash, wherein women are exponentially victimized because their sexual identity and their membership in these STEM fields are seen as dual challenges to the male hegemony. If true, this could exacerbate health disparities rather than promote health equity for these sexual minority women. Findings point to the ongoing need to challenge hegemonic gender norms, focus prevention programs on populations most at risk, and ensure they are provided the appropriate resources for support.

Seeing Is Believing

Abstract: We investigate how visual cues in universities discourage women from pursuing STEM. We extend research on ambient sexism (i.e., witnessing sexist mistreatment of others) to include environmental cues that women do not belong. Men were pictured in STEM buildings (Pilot Study 1) and described in university-sponsored STEM news articles (Pilot Study 2) twice as often as women. In an experiment, undergraduate women who read about male scientists reported less positive STEM attitudes relative to men who read about male scientists and women who read about female scientists. Women who read about and saw images of female scientists reported more positive STEM attitudes than women who simply read about female scientists. Depicting predominantly male scientists in universities negatively impacts female students.

Peer Ethnicity as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Ethnic Identity and Body Appreciation in Black College-Aged Women.

Strong ethnic identity is recognized as a protective factor against body image concern and eating pathology in Black women as they tend to hold cultural values in line with an acceptance of a variety of body shapes and sizes. Reinforcement of these cultural ideals may occur via same-race peer relationships. The current study examined the mediating role of same-race versus other-race peers in the relationship between ethnic identity and body appreciation in Black women. Participants were 139 Black undergraduate women (Mage = 18.94 years, MBMI = 25.33) who completed validated measures of ethnic identity and body appreciation and reported on the ethnic makeup of their friends. We conducted mediation analysis examining the role of same-race peers on the relationship between ethnic identity and body appreciation. Same-race peers mediated the relationship between ethnic identity and body appreciation, where having a greater percentage of friends increased both ethnic identity and body appreciation in Black women. The influence of same-race peers should be considered in the development of culturally informed prevention and intervention efforts for eating pathology in Black women.

Event-level positive and negative reinforcement risk factors for alcohol use: Moderation by individual-level alcohol consequences and post-traumatic stress disorder symptom severity.

The multistage model of drug addiction posits that risk processes contributing to alcohol use change as individuals develop alcohol use disorders. However, few studies have tested this theory outside of the lab or at the event level. We assessed whether event-level associations between positive reinforcement (e.g., positive affect, sociability expectancies) and negative reinforcement risk factors (e.g., negative affect, tension reduction expectancies) and same-/next-day alcohol consumption varied as a function of an individual's level of alcohol consequences. Given elevated alcohol use consequences among individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disruptions in reward processing that affect this population, we also tested whether these processes differed based on the presence and severity of PTSD. We used data from a 30-day ecological momentary assessment study with 174 undergraduate women who regularly engaged in heavy episodic drinking. A majority (78%) of the sample had experienced sexual assault and 44% had current PTSD. Analyses used Bayesian multilevel structural equation modeling with diffuse (non-informative) priors. We used markov chain monte carlo (MCMC) algorithms to generate a series of 10,000 random draws from the multivariate posterior distribution of our sample for each model. Results partially supported the multistage model. Event-level negative reinforcement risk factors only predicted more alcohol consumption among individuals who experienced more alcohol consequences. Findings for positive reinforcement risk factors were partially consistent with hypotheses. Overall, findings appear to operate similarly across PTSD symptom severity. Results suggest that interventions for heavy episodic drinking could benefit from attending to an individual's level of alcohol consequences. For example, preventive interventions for individuals who tend to experience few consequences may benefit more from addressing positive reinforcement risk factors, while treatment interventions for those who experience more consequences may benefit from attending to both positive and negative reinforcement.

To die for: attractiveness, fashion, and health risks

The purpose of this research was to investigate perceptions of risks and benefits associated with popular risky fashion practices (tanning and wearing stilettos) among young adult women. Objectives were to (a) determine if fashion interest predicted benefit perceptions among young women, (b) determine the role of antecedents (fashion interest, risk perceptions, benefit perceptions, consumption emotions) in predicting the behavioral frequency of risky fashion practices, and (c) explore the extent to which tanning and wearing stilettos are similar/different in underlying mechanisms. Undergraduate women were emailed a link to a Qualtrics online survey and a total of 671 provided usable responses; 328 were tanners and 343 wore stilettos. Benefits tapped the attractiveness and fashionability that is expected from engaging in tanning and wearing stilettos, while risks focused on health risks such as melanoma or joint damage associated with tanning or wearing stilettos. Path analyses and decomposition of effects found that fashion interest was positively related to frequency of wearing stilettos, but was not related directly to tanning frequency. Fashion interest was a significant driver of perceived benefits for both risky behaviors. Benefit perceptions increased positive emotion and risk perceptions increased negative emotion; only positive emotion influenced the frequency of risky fashion practices. For both tanning and wearing stilettos, perceived benefits increased risky fashion practice frequency both directly and indirectly through positive emotion. However, perceived risks decreased fashion practice frequency only directly. Thus, perceived benefits outweigh perceived risks among women who engage in these risky fashion practices.

Influence of body and hand anthropometric characteristics on handgrip strength in young Nigerian women

Background and aimWomen are well known for having lower handgrip strength (HGS) compared to men. However, factors contributing to lower HGS in women remain unclear. This study investigated the influence of body and hand anthropometric characteristics (HAC) on HGS among young Nigerian undergraduate women.MethodsApparently healthy 500 young female adults from a Nigerian University were recruited conveniently. Age and physical characteristics were recorded. Right and left (R&L) HGS were measured using an electronic dynamometer. HAC including R&L arm girth (ArG), forearm girth (FaG), wrist girth (WrG), finger span (FSp), finger breath (FBr), finger length (FLg) and palm length (PLg) were measured. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Alpha level was set at p < 0.05.ResultsThe mean age of the participants was 22.46 ± 3.72 years. Age and body mass index (BMI) contributed about 20.0 and 12.0% to the prediction of HGS, respectively. Similarly, R&L HAC: ArG, FaG, WrG, FSp, FBr, FLg and PLg contributed about 22.8 and 14.8% to the prediction of HGS, respectively. Significant correlations occurred between HGS and each of BMI, R&L HAC (p < .05). Furthermore, significant correlations were also found between age and each of R&L HAC (p < .001).ConclusionsAge, BMI and HAC have significant influence on the HGS of young Nigerian undergraduate women. Hence, physical factors such as weight, height, BMI, and hand anthropometric measurements are recommended as part of routine assessment for effective rehabilitation plans in the care of women with hand disability or poor hand function.

Psychiatric Consultations in Afzalipour Hospital in Kerman, Southeastern Iran

Background: A significant proportion of hospitalized patients suffer from psychiatric disorders. A timely request for psychiatric consultation results in the early recovery of such patients. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the frequency of causes and diagnoses in psychiatric consultations in the Afzalipour Hospital in Kerman, Southeastern Iran, in 2018. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The required data, including age, gender, marital status, occupation, level of education, counseling wards, and psychiatric diagnosis, were extracted from the patient’s clinical records. Results: In this study, 1106 patients’ records were reviewed. Most participants were female (54.7%), and the most frequent (30.3%) age range was 20-30 years. The most common reason for seeking consultation was suicide (56%), and the most common diagnosis made by consultant psychiatrists was major depression (27.8%). The highest number of requests for consultation was made by the internal ward (68.06%). Psychiatric disorders were widespread among married subjects (P = 0.024) and patients holding high school and diploma degrees (P = 0.019). Conclusions: Psychiatric problems are common in the inpatient wards of general hospitals. According to this study, psychiatric issues and problems are highlighted more in married, young, and undergraduate women admitted to general hospitals and need further consideration.

Role of Alexithymia in the Association Between Childhood Abuse and Risk Perception for Sexual Victimization in College Women.

Sexual victimization is prevalent among college women with a history of childhood abuse (CA), which some research suggests is linked to impaired risk perception for sexual victimization or difficulties identifying and responding to unwanted sexual advances. Alexithymia is one construct yet to be examined in the association between CA and risk perception for sexual victimization. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the associations between CA, alexithymia, and risk perception for sexual victimization in a sample of college women with a history of CA. Participants included 294 undergraduate women with a history of childhood emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse (Mage = 20.6, 80.6% White). An a priori path analysis was conducted to examine whether alexithymia indirectly explains the association between CA and risk perception for sexual victimization (i.e., comprising two related constructs, including threat detection and behavioral response to threat). Supplementary analyses were conducted post hoc to examine potential differences across CA subtypes (emotional, physical, and sexual). Alexithymia indirectly explained the relationship between CA and threat detection, and behavioral response to threat. However, indirect effects were negative, suggesting that undergraduate women with more severe CA and alexithymia identify sexual assault threat cues and intentions to "leave" a hypothetical sexual assault scenario sooner rather than later. The same pattern of results was observed for emotional and physical (but not sexual) CA when examining their indirect effects on threat detection, and for emotional CA when examining behavioral response to threat. Findings contribute to the literature on sexual victimization by clarifying the role of alexithymia in risk perception for sexual victimization. Results also highlight the potential utility of increasing emotional literacy among college women with a history of CA (and especially emotional abuse) to facilitate adaptive responding to unwanted sexual advances.

How exposure to body neutrality content on TikTok affects young women’s body image and mood

Body neutrality aims to encourage a non-judgmental attitude towards the body and prioritize functionality over appearance. This study examined the impact of exposure to TikTok body neutrality content on young women’s body image and mood. The sample comprised 189 undergraduate women (Mage = 19.25, SD = 1.98) who were randomly assigned to view one of three compilation TikTok videos on body neutrality, thin ideal, or art. Controlling for pre-test measures, results showed that women in the body neutrality group reported higher functionality appreciation and body satisfaction than women in the thin ideal and art control groups. Higher levels of positive mood and fewer upward appearance comparisons were reported by women in the body neutrality group relative to the thin ideal group. Although women in the body neutrality and thin ideal groups thought about their appearance and what they were wearing whilst viewing the videos, women in the body neutrality group reported that those thoughts were more positive than those in the thin ideal group. Findings demonstrate that brief exposure to body neutrality content on TikTok may induce immediate positive body image and mood in young women whilst providing a useful alternative to the unrealistic beauty standards popularized on such platforms.

Effects of male-dominated physics culture on undergraduate women

Effects of male-dominated physics culture on undergraduate women

Effects of online self-compassionate writing on stigmatizing and affirming self-perceptions: Potential boundary conditions in undergraduate women

This study investigated the effects of an online self-compassionate writing intervention on stigmatizing and affirming self-views toward the body in a sample of college women (N = 254). Participants were randomly assigned to a self-compassionate writing, attentional-control writing, or wait-list control condition for one week, and completed measures of self-compassion, affirming self-perceptions, and stigmatizing self-perceptions at baseline, one-week post intervention, and one-month post intervention. A series of mixed AN(C)OVAs revealed no significant effects by condition or time on stigmatizing or affirming self-views toward the body when controlling for self-esteem, internalized weight stigma, and eating disorder symptomatology. Follow-up exploratory analyses demonstrated no significant effects by condition on the six facets of self-compassion. Notably, participants were significantly more likely to drop out from the study over time if they were lower in self-compassion and self-esteem, and higher in internalized weight stigma at baseline. These results suggest that online self-compassion writing interventions may need to be longer and more potent, especially for women with more entrenched and stigmatized views about their bodies, as well as potential boundary conditions of cultivating self-compassion in a short-term online intervention.