United States College Students Research Articles

A cross‐cultural comparison of ethnocentrism among Japanese and United States college students

This study is a cross‐cultural comparison of ethnocentrism among Japanese and American college students. Both Japanese (N=372) and American (N=173) college students completed a measure of ethnocentrism and responded to several questions about their travel experiences, interaction with foreigners, and other similar kinds of questions. Results revealed that Japanese students scored significantly higher in ethnocentrism than the American students. Further results indicate that in both samples, men scored higher in ethnocentrism than women. The within group differences across both cultures were remarkably similar. In both Japanese and American samples, class rank, travel abroad experiences, interaction with foreigners, and hometown populations did not affect ethnocentrism scores.

Individualism and Authoritarianism Shape Attitudes Toward Physician‐Assisted Suicide1

We investigated the relation between value orientations and attitudes toward physician‐assisted suicide (PAS) in 267 United States college students. We predicted that individualistic values, especially those having to do with control and self‐determination, would lead to favorable attitudes toward PAS, and authoritarianism would lead to a rejection of PAS. A positive association between individualism and approval of PAS emerged which was moderated by attitude importance: People who did not endorse individualistic values did not have favorable opinions of PAS, regardless of how important the issue was to them. However, for individualists, PAS attitudes and attitude importance were positively related. Independent of individualism, authoritarianism was negatively related to PAS attitudes. Primarily for low authoritarianism, we found a correlation between attitude and attitude importance. The discussion focuses on the value‐expressive function of death‐related attitudes.

A Nutrition Analysis of Barstow College Students in USA

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in English; abstract also in Chinese.The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the intake of calories and nutrients in the daily diet of students enrolled at Barstow College. The present analysis indicates that the majority of Barstow College students (male and female) have insufficient intake of complex carbohydrates and fiber, and too much intake of sugar. Inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals is also a common problem facing most of the students.本文旨在分析美國加州巴士度大學學生進食的營養，調查結果顯示大部份男女生都普遍缺乏進食適量的碳水化合物及纖維質類食物，而偏向進食高糖份食物，導致出現缺乏足夠維他命和礦物質的情況。

Achievement, Power, and Affiliation Motives as Clues to (E)migration Desires: A Four-Countries Comparison

Within the framework of McClelland’s motivational theory, a model of the motivational structure of the migrant personality is proposed. It is argued that those who choose to leave their country of origin have higher achievement and power motivation and lower affiliation motivation than those who want to stay. This model was tested with 1050 college students in Albania, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. Data were collected between 1993 and 1996. MANOVA analysis confirmed our predictions for the achievement and power motives. Students who wanted to emigrate had higher achievement and power motivation scores than those who wanted to stay. This model was also applied to internal migrants. It was tested with 789 United States college students. Those who wanted to leave the region of their university after graduation scored significantly higher on achievement and power motivation than those who wanted to stay. It is argued that this pattern is specific for countries or regions of economic stagnation or decline, while it may be reversed for countries or regions of economic growth. Predictions for the affiliation motivation were only partly supported. Our findings suggest that psychological factors are important predictors of (e)migration.

Ego Identity Status in cross-cultural context: a comparison of Norwegian and United States university students.

To examine patterns of identity development for late adolescents raised in the Norwegian mixed liberal welfare-state economic system compared with late adolescents raised in the free-market economic system of the United States, ego identity status scores and distributions were examined for 56 (37 women, 19 men). Norwegian and 1498 (814 women, 684 men) United States undergraduate university students using the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2. The United States sample was drawn from four geographic regions and comprised of those who had participated in prior studies performed by Adams. Significant differences were found between the two nations on all identity status subscales in the ideological and interpersonal domains for each sex. The more moderate identity status scale scores evidenced by the Norwegian sample may reflect a cultural trend toward greater moderation in the exploration and commitment process.

Does Television Viewership Play a Role in the Perception of Quality of Life?

The authors hypothesized that television viewership influences materialism and dissatisfaction with standard of living, which in turn contributes to feelings of dissatisfaction with life. They collected data from five countries to examine the issue in a variety of cultural and media environments. The countries and types of samples were: United States (consumer panel and college students), Canada (urban households), Australia (urban households), Turkey (urban households), and China (urban households). The results were generally consistent with the hypotheses. However, most of the support came from the U.S. samples. Two possible explanations may account for the findings. One is that the effect of television viewership on life satisfaction is a unique phenomenon that is applicable only to the United States. Given the disparity of viewership levels between the U.S. and other countries, that explanation has some face validity. The other is that the effects were less evident in non-U.S. samples because of methodological limitations of the cross-cultural research. Overall, the results show that television viewership, at least in the U.S., may play a significant role in making people unhappy with their lives. Much of television advertising reinforces material consumption and possession with images of the “good life.” Thus, television advertising contributes to terminal materialism—materialism for the sake of materialism. Socially responsible advertising professionals should make a concerted effort to create messages that reflect instrumental materialism—materialism for the sake of meeting essential and basic needs.

Cross-cultural and cognitive issues in the implementation of new technology: focus on group support systems and Bulgaria

Over 40 per cent of technology implementation attempts in the United States (US) fail. These failures often are the result of human (rather than technological) problems. The consequences of implementers installing in one country equipment designed in another should be even more problematic and ubiquitous, as technology designers continue to move into international markets. A cognitive model of cross-cultural implementation is tested, using a US-designed group support system (GSS) and groups of Bulgarian and US university students. Bulgarians were expected to be less critical of the technology due to cultural responses to power and authority (i.e., less likely to challenge authority) and therefore less successful in adapting to the technology. However, results suggest that the Bulgarian students may in fact be more likely to challenge authority than their US counterparts. As hypothesized, Power Distance mediates some of the effects between culture and satisfaction with the GSS.

Condom Use Behavior: An Assessment of United States College Students' Health Education Needs

Descriptive studies regarding sexual activity and condom use among college persons have found that college students are particularly permissive and do not use condoms regularly. Within a social cognitive theory (SCT) framework, the present study determined the condom use related health education needs of college students. Data regarding condom use frequency, appropriateness of condom use, social support for condom use, perceived barriers regarding condom use, perceived social norm regarding the use of condoms, perceived outcomes of using a condom, and condom use self-efficacy were collected from 569 students enrolled in health, physical education, and recreation classes at a large mid-Western United States university. Results indicated a serious lack of consistent and appropriate use of condoms. Strengths and weaknesses of SCT scales were described. Women could improve on their physical and emotional outcome expectations of using a condom. Areas for men that could be improved include perceived physical and emotional outcomes of condom use, self-efficacy related to partner disapproval and embarrassment, and self-efficacy related to intoxicants. Several recommendations for college health education programs were made.

What Use is Popper to a Politician?

Some years acquire symbolic status, and one such year is 1968. All over Europe and the United States university students exploded into violent rebellion. Insofar as this would-be revolution had an ideology it was unquestionably Marx-inspired, even if the Marxism was not always orthodox. It so happens that in the years 1970–1971 I was teaching philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford. And because of Oxford University's system, almost unique, of individual tuition for undergraduates, this meant I found myself in a continuing one-to-one relationship with bright students who were in the throes of revolutionary fervour.

Cancer Metaphors: Taiwan and the United States

The Cancer Metaphors Test, a measure of the imagery of cancer, was administered to a sample of 138 Taiwanese college students and 167 United States college students, equated on age and gender, and presumed not to be different on academic achievement and socioeconomic level. A factor analysis of the Taiwanese protocols replicated the factor structure previously found on the CMT for United States respondents. Significant differences were obtained on two of the four CMT factors, with Taiwanese students scoring higher on both Terminal Pessimism and Future Optimism. Such differences are discussed in terms of differential coping strategies.

The Structure of Emotions: Canada-United States Comparisons

A cross-cultural analysis of the structure of emotions for comparable samples of Canadian and United States university students was conducted, employing mean ratings on the evaluation, potency, and activity (EPA) dimensions of the semantic differential. Within each culture, data also were analyzed by gender. Our results show that despite cross-national and gender differences in affective range and intensity, the structure of emotions is relatively invariant across culture (Canadian and U.S.) and gender. In addition, our findings support and extend conclusions of recent research concerning the dimensionality of the emotions domain, the circumplex model of emotions, and the function of the potency dimension.

Paranormal Beliefs in British and Southern USA College Students

Beliefs in a variety of paranormal phenomena were examined in a sample of British college students and were compared with the beliefs obtained in a previous study from a sample of Southern USA college students. The main difference between the British and American students concerned traditional religious belief. Not only were the American students greater believers than the British students in traditional religion, but factor analysis indicated that traditional religious belief in these American students was separate from their other paranormal beliefs which was not the case for the British students.

An Item and Factor Analysis of Danish, Lebanese and United States College Students' Responses to the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

Arabic, Danish and English versions of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were administered to college students in Lebanon, Denmark and the United States. There were 200 Lebanese, 150 Danes and 200 Americans, each group divided evenly on the basis of sex. The mean raw scores of the Danes, Americans and Lebanese were 9.59, 12.45 and 19. 11, respectively. Separate item analyses yielded a total of 27 common items which correlated significantly with total score in all three groups. Correlations between item rankings across groups ranged from. 53 to. 79 with considerable agreement in the placement of items in the extreme ranks. The factor analyses produced factors which were only moderately similar across groups. It was inferred that the overall findings of the study support the use of the Marlowe-Crowne scale for estimating social desirability with both Danish and Lebanese college students. Sampling limitations, however, mitigate against the uncritical use of the scale within these cultures without further study.