College Students In Mainland China Research Articles

Conceptions of Learning and Thinking Styles Among Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and Hearing Students

This study explores how students’ conceptions of learning relate to their thinking styles by administering the Conceptions of Learning Inventory III and the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II to 350 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and 463 hearing university students in mainland China. The reliabilities for the two inventories were first estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Then, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the validity of the COL-III. Finally, to predict thinking styles from conceptions of learning, hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted. Results showed that, among both DHH and hearing students, qualitative conceptions of learning (understanding, personal change, continuous, social competence, and duty) were significantly positively associated with a wide range of thinking styles. For DHH students, the contributions of conceptions of learning ranged from 11% to 32%, with a median of 25%. The predominant predictor was personal change. For hearing students, the contributions of conceptions of learning to thinking styles ranged from 9% to 22% (with a median of 15%), with the predominant predictor being duty. Thus, conceptions of learning significantly predicted thinking styles among both DHH and hearing students. The contributions, limitations, and implications of this research are discussed.

Perceived social support and mental health for college students in mainland China: the mediating effects of self-concept

ABSTRACTPrevious studies revealed that both self-concept and social support were associated with mental health in college students. Very few studies have explored the ways these two variables work on mental health, particularly in mainland China. In the present study, 411 college students in northwest China were assessed using the School and Society Situations Scale (which includes a social support sub-scale and self-concept sub-scale) and Self-report Symptom Checklist 90. The results showed that a positive self-concept was positively correlated with individual perceived social support from parents, teachers, and peers, and that both self-concept and perceived social support were negatively associated with mental health problems. Moreover, structural equation modeling analyses showed that self-concept fully mediated the role of perceived social support in individuals’ mental health. These results suggested that all kinds of perceived support from the social environment may help the college student form a positive self-concept, and the positive self-concept may help them resist and effectively cope with the risk factors related to mental health. These results also have implications in interventions to improve mental health in college students.

Research on Moral Judgment Competency of College Students in Mainland China with DIT-2

The purpose of this paper was to (1) examine moral judgment competency of a sample of 811 Chinese college students from a Southern university in mainland China with DIT-2; and (2) test whether gender, education, major, academic performance, and one-child policy have significant effect on the participants’ moral judgment competency. Results show that the participants score high in both Personal Interest schema and Postconventional schema, while low in Maintaining Norms schema. Gender and major have significant effect on participants’ moral judgment competency in China, while education level, academic performance and one-child family have no significant effect on their moral judgment competency. Reasons are discussed in the paper.

Language anxiety in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China: the effects of sociobiographical and linguistic variables

ABSTRACTThis paper examined language anxiety (LA) in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China and explored the links between their LA in the first language and a range of sociobiographical variables (i.e. gender and geographical background) as well as linguistic variables (i.e. mother tongue, age of onset of acquisition, context of learning, self-perceived oral proficiency, and frequency of use). Participants were 778 Beijing university students who speak Chinese dialects and Putonghua. Statistical analyses revealed that participants reported significantly higher levels of LA in dialects than in Putonghua across a variety of situations. Geographical background and gender had scattered effects on LA in Putonghua and in dialects. Early bilinguals whose mother tongue were both a dialect and Putonghua reported the least LA in both. Later age of onset and acquisition of Putonghua in an instructed context were linked to increased LA in Putonghua. The negative relationships between self-perceived oral proficiency, frequency of use and LA were stronger in Putonghua than in dialects. The higher levels of LA in dialects combined with their language practices suggest a relatively lower confidence in the use of dialects among this group of highly educated young Chinese adults.

Influence of L1 Metacognitive Reading Strategies on L2 Academic Reading of Chinese College Students

Abstract With the fast increasing number of second language (L2) learners in universities, the ability to read L2 academic texts has become one of the most important skills that L2 college students need to acquire. However, L2 learners still face various problems and difficulties in their L2 reading and past literature suggests that reading strategies have proven to be effective in enhancing L2 reading. Therefore, it is of great significance to examine the factors influencing L2 reading strategies use. Among factors influencing L2 reading strategy use, L1 reading strategies have been identified as a significant influence. However, few studies in this regard have looked into college students in mainland China which has a large number of L2 learners. This study aimed to seek the connection between first language (L1) and L2 metacognitive reading strategies by comparing and contrasting mainland China college students’ metacognitive strategy patterns in their L1 and L2 academic reading. The study also explored factors influencing Chinese college students’ L2 reading strategy use. The study conducted a survey on reading strategies (SORS), think aloud protocol (TAP) and stimulated recall interviews (SRI) to explore the research issues. The study found that Chinese college students employed strategies on a more frequent basis in their L2 academic reading as compared to their L1 academic reading. Two factors, namely, limited L2 proficiency (LLP) and test-oriented reading approach (TORA) were identified as the major factors influencing the L2 metacognitive strategy patterns of Chinese college students. The present study adds to the existing knowledge on the relationship between L1 and L2 reading strategy patterns for Chinese college students and examines factors shaping their L2 reading strategy use. This study assists English language teachers to identify factors influencing Chinese college students’ reading strategies patterns while taking into consideration of the factors influencing their L2 strategy use.

Language attitudes by university students in mainland China

AbstractThrough a questionnaire survey of non-local university students, this study examined direct language attitudes of English, Putonghua, and local dialects in the first-tier city Guangzhou, second-tier city Tianjin, and small city Yan’an. The significance of this study lies in two aspects: few of the previous studies examined language attitudes of non-local subjects; few of the previous studies compared attitudes toward three varieties across economically diverse cities. The study adoptedGardner & Lambert’s (1972)motivation theory to measure direct attitudes of the participants. Findings included that non-local students showed positive attitudes toward Cantonese both integratively and instrumentally but not toward the Tianjin and Yan’an dialects. Furthermore, students had positive integrative and instrumental attitudes toward Putonghua in all three cities. Finally, they showed high and positive integrative and instrumental attitudes toward English, with the means of Guangzhou and Tianjin higher than those of Yan’an. Future research should incorporate qualitative measures to provide a deeper understanding of language attitudes.

Self-Determination and Integration among Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Hearing University Students

This study explores how self-determination relates to integration among deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and hearing university students in mainland China. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) Self-Determination Scale and the Institutional Integration Scale were administered to 300 DHH students and 250 hearing students. Results showed that those with higher levels of self-determination tended to be more integrated, while those with lower levels scored lower on the Institutional Integration Scale. The limitations, contributions, and implications of the present research are discussed.

Thinking styles predict religious belief among subgroupings of university students

ABSTRACTThis study explores how thinking styles relate to religious beliefs among subgroupings (by gender, university class level, and academic discipline) of university students in mainland China. The Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II (TSI-R2) and the Religious Belief Scale (RBS) were administered to 522 students. Results showed that, those with Type I styles (i.e. more creativity-generating, less structured, and cognitively more complex) tended to be less religious, while those with Type II styles (i.e. more norm-favouring, more structured, and cognitively more simplistic) scored higher on the RBS. The limitations, contributions, and implications of this research are discussed.

Conceptions of learning and quality of university life among deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing university students

ABSTRACTThis study explores how conceptions of learning relate to quality of university life among deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and hearing university students in mainland China. The Conceptions of Learning Inventory III and the Quality of University Life Measure were administered to 200 DHH and 240 hearing students. Results showed that deep-level conceptions of learning (learning as duty) significantly and positively predicted quality of university life among DHH and hearing students, while surface-level conceptions of learning (learning as gaining information) significantly negatively predicted quality of university life among DHH students. The significance, limitations, and implications of the present research for university administrators, teachers, and students are discussed.

Body image attitude among Chinese college students.

The present study aimed to examine body image attitude in Chinese college students and related psychological consequences. A silhouette-matching test was administered to 425 college students in mainland China. Self-esteem, negative emotions, subjective well-being, and eating-disorder-related weight-controlling behaviors were also measured. Only 12.9% of the participants were satisfied with their figure and the extent of body image dissatisfaction was comparable for both sexes. The majority of the female participants indicated a preference to be more slender. Their ideal figure was underweight and was far smaller than the most attractive female figure chosen by male participants. For male participants, the proportion wanting a fuller figure was comparable to that wanting a slimmer figure. Among female participants, body image dissatisfaction negatively correlated with self-esteem and subjective well-being, and positively correlated with negative emotions. Drive for thinness correlated with eating-disorder-related weight-controlling behaviors not only for females, but also for males. Body image dissatisfaction, as a diagnostic feature for major subtypes of eating disorders, may signal serious concern among Chinese college students.

Civic Intentions and Actions: Exploring Civic Engagement among College Students in Mainland China

For the study discussed in this article, the authors developed a survey instrument to assess civic engagement among college students in China. Derived from focus-group interviews and extant literature on civic engagement, the survey was administered to 587 students from three universities in Southern China. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on a randomly split-half sample, and a subsequent confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the other split-half sample to evaluate measurement structure and measurement invariance of the survey. A total of 22 items were included in the final measurement model. The authors identified five first-order factors from the survey (i.e., helping others, community service, acting on social problems, civic salience, and civic responsibilities), which loaded on two second-order factors (i.e., civic actions and civic attitudes). The authors also tested measurement invariance across male and female participants in the sample. Implications of the second-order factor structures and measurement invariance in future research on civic engagement in China are discussed.

A comparative study of academic dishonesty among university students in Mainland China and Taiwan

The purpose of this study was to compare the academic dishonesty (AD) experience of students from Mainland China and Taiwan. Specifically, we investigated students’ current self-reported personal AD, their perception of peers’ AD, the climate of academic integrity and their awareness of AD’s seriousness. Furthermore, we sought to explore the relationship between AD behavior and several variables. In total, 605 students from Mainland China (n = 368) and Taiwan (n = 237) were recruited to participate in the study. All the participants perceived that they were less involved in AD than their peers, and students from both areas ranked the gravity of AD offenses similarly. However, Chinese students generally reported higher rates of improper credit attribution, fraudulence, and falsification than their Taiwanese counterparts. Finally, two regression models revealed gender, perception of peer AD, and awareness of AD’s seriousness were significant variables in terms of predicting self-reported personal AD, and there existed interactions between the students’ perception of peer AD and gender. Witnessing peers’ misconduct influenced males more than females in terms of engaging in AD for both Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese students.

Association of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among university students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether depressive symptoms are associated with suicidal ideation among university students in China.Five Chinese and English electronic databases (EBSCO, PubMed, Chinese Web of Knowledge, Wanfang, and Weipu) were searched to identify relevant studies. Cross-sectional studies published from 2000 to 2016 reporting about the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among university students in China were used for meta-analysis to approximate the overall association between depression and suicidal ideation among university students in mainland China. StatsDirect 3 was used for meta-analysis of included literatures.Of 513 initially identified references, 44 studies were selected, including 88,431 participants with depressive symptoms. The combined odd ratio of the relationship was 2.174 (95% confidence interval: 2.027–2.333; P < 0.0001).There exists a moderate association between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among university students in China, and depressive symptoms contribute to the development of suicidal ideation. In particular, university students from western regions of China, from nonmedical background, should be provided more psychological and clinical assistance.

Thinking Styles and Quality of University Life Among Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Hearing Students.

The authors explored how thinking styles relate to quality of university life among deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) and hearing university students in mainland China. The first of two studies affirmed the validity and reliability of a modified version of the Quality of University Life Measure (QULM; Sirgy, Grezskowiak, & Rahtz, 2007) among 833 university students (366 DHH, 467 hearing). The second investigated relationships between thinking styles and quality of university life; the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II (Sternberg, Wagner, & Zhang, 2007) and modified QULM were administered to 542 students (256 DHH, 286 hearing). Students scoring higher on Type I styles (i.e., more creativity-generating, less structured, cognitively more complex) tended toward greater satisfaction with university life; those scoring higher on Type II (i.e., more norm-favoring, more structured, cognitively more simplistic) tended toward less satisfaction. Contributions, limitations, and implications of the research are discussed.

Exploring Different Patterns of Love Attitudes among Chinese College Students.

Individual differences in love attitudes and the relationship between love attitudes and other variables in Asian culture lack in-depth exploration. This study conducted cluster analysis with data regarding love attitudes obtained from 389 college students in mainland China. The result of cluster analysis based on love-attitude scales distinguished four types of students: game players, rational lovers, emotional lovers, and absence lovers. These four groups of students showed significant differences in sexual attitudes and personality traits of deliberation and dutifulness but not self-discipline. The study’s implications for future studies on love attitudes in certain cultural groups were also discussed.

Validation of the short form of the intercultural sensitivity scale (ISS-15)

Through the process of globalization, individuals are becoming increasingly interculturally sensitive and competent through exposure to cultural differences. To meet the growing empirical interest in intercultural communication competence and sensitivity, this study examined a short intercultural sensitivity measurement scale for use in contexts with limited time constraints. We abbreviated the 24-item Intercultural Sensitivity Scale to create a 15-item version (ISS-15). To permit its use in a non-English speaking culture, the ISS-15 was translated into Chinese and administered to university students in mainland China. Overall, the results indicated that the ISS-15 retained significant levels of reliability and validity. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the short form fit the data better than the original form. The five subscales of the ISS-15 also showed acceptable internal consistency. Hence, the Chinese version of the ISS-15 was found to be valid and reliable for use in cross-cultural research settings with limited time constraints.

Prevalence of Depression Among College-Goers in Mainland China: A Methodical Evaluation and Meta-Analysis.

There are no proper statistics available to assess how much of a burden it is to them. This study was conducted to gauge the pooled prevalence and offer evidence in support of few prevention and regulation strategies.A methodical literature search was conducted with the help of the Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Chinese Web of Knowledge, Wanfang, and Chongqing VIP databases. Furthermore, articles published from 2000 to 2014, reporting about the estimated prevalence of depression among college students in mainland China, were covered as well. In this study, a meta-analysis was deployed to approximate the overall prevalence of depression among college-goers in mainland China.A total of 45 studies were conducted on 50,826 participants. The average pooled prevalence of depression was 30.39% (26.38–34.55%). Subgroup analyses showed that 29.45% (22.88–36.48%) were men and 28.65% (23.44–34.16%) were women. Furthermore, 28.10% (22.83–33.70%) were from the northern part and 32.44% (26.67–38.48%) were from the southern. The prevalence of depression was 30.45% (23.96–37.36%) for sample sizes of <500 subjects, 30.99% (25.08–37.23%) for samples with 500 to 1000 people, and 29.54% (33.32–37.33%) in case of samples with >1000 people. Publications between 2000 and 2006 showed a depression prevalence of 8.45% (22.34–35.00%), whereas 30.52% (21.30–40.61%) and 31.79% (27.31–36.45%) were the corresponding values according to publications during 2007 to 2011 and 2012 to 2014.The prevalence of depression among college students in mainland China had reached the world's epidemic level.

Thinking Styles and University Self-Efficacy Among Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, and Hearing Students.

This study explores how students' thinking styles are related to their university self-efficacy, by administering the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised II and the University Self-Efficacy Scale to 366 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) and 467 hearing university students in mainland China. Results showed that, among all participants, those with Type I styles (i.e., more creativity-generating, less structured, and cognitively more complex) had higher levels of university self-efficacy. At the same time, DHH students with Type II styles (i.e., more norm-favoring, more structured, and cognitively more simplistic) had lower levels of university self-efficacy. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the present research are discussed.

Investigation of college students’ mental health status via semantic analysis of Sina microblog

The objective of this study is to understand the current mental status of college students in mainland China. In this study, 60 thousand college students’ microblog content from January 2014 to June 2014 was collected. An emotional energy level, which was developed by a psychologist David R Hawkins, was taken as a basis for ontology database to divide the student’s emotion into three parts-positive, negative and neutral status. An ontology-based semantic analysis method was used to analyze the microblog data. The result shows that 46.38% of Sina microblog data reflects positive psychological status, and the ratios of neutral and negative psychological status are 19.77% and 33.85%, respectively. It means that almost one third microblog reflects some negative mentality. The semantic analysis of the big data suggests that most students have healthy mental status, and the negative status of the students should not be ignored.

An alternative form of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory: assessing Chinese university students

To overcome the major weakness in the response format of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory and to use the information most relevant to the population concerned in the present study, an alternative form of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI-AF) was designed. The 80 Likert-scaled items in the inventory were tested among 385 university students in mainland China. Good psychometric data were obtained for the DMI-AF. Although no age difference was found in any of the defense styles, statistically significant differences were discovered in particular defense styles based on gender, academic discipline and social desirability. Both similarities and differences were identified between the present findings and the past findings obtained through using the 200-item Likert-scaled DMI and the 200-item forced-choice DMI. Limitations, significance and practical implications for university education are discussed.