University Students In Mexico Research Articles

Nativos digitales: internet y su relación con la lectura en estudiantes universitarios

El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar un diagnostico en estudiantes universitarios nativos digitales sobre la relacion entre el uso de internet y el numero de horas de lectura semanal en este medio y en fuentes impresas, asi como su vinculo con la busqueda de informacion de tipo academico y no academico. Es una investigacion diagnostica de tipo cuantitativo, transversal y correlacional; la muestra se conformo de 1 500 estudiantes universitarios, con un muestreo probabilistico aleatorio de estudiantes en Mexico inscritos en educacion superior y el uso de un instrumento tipo encuesta. Los resultados indican que los estudiantes universitarios en Mexico presentan una relacion directa entre el numero de horas de lectura semanal via internet y el numero de horas de lectura en fuentes impresas; son buscadores de informacion academica en mayor medida en fuentes impresas. Destaca que la mayoria de los nativos digitales universitarios tienen un habito lector.

Activismo feminista en las universidades mexicanas: la impronta política de las colectivas de estudiantes ante la violencia contra las mujeres

espanolEste documento presenta resultados de la investigacion sobre la con-formacion de colectivas feministas de estudiantes universitarias en Mexico, surgidas desde 2014 con el fin de denunciar y exigir a las autoridades universitarias la atencion a casos de violencia y acoso en sus centros de estudio. La hipotesis que guia este trabajo sostiene que estas organizaciones de feministas jovenes forman parte de los nuevos activismos surgidos en America Latina que confrontan la violencia estructural contra las mujeres, pero a la vez presentan caracteristicas particulares producto de los procesos de transformacion en el ambito de la educacion superior, en lo que denomino el doble anclaje de los procesos de institucionalizacion de la perspectiva de genero en las uni-versidades. Como agrupaciones contenciosas, son susceptibles de ser analizadas desde el enfoque de los movimientos sociales, con especial enfasis en la relacion que construyen con actores sociales e institucio-nes, lo novedoso de sus procesos de organizacion interna y su posi-cionamiento como actores politicos centrales en el escenario actual de protesta feminista a nivel global. EnglishThis document presents results of the research on the conformation of feminist collectives of university students in Mexico that emerged since 2014 in order to denounce and demand attention to the uni-versity authorities to cases of violence and harassment in their study centers. The hypothesis that guides this work holds that these organi-zations of young feminists are part of the new activisms that emerged in Latin America confronting structural violence against women, but at the same time, they present particular characteristics as a result of the transformation processes in the field of university education, in what I call the double anchoring of the processes of institutionalization of gender perspective in universities. As adversary groups, they are likely to be analyzed from the perspective of social movements, with special emphasis on the relationship they build with social actors and insti-tutions, the novelty of their processes of internal organization and their positioning as central political actors in the current scenario of feminist protest at a global level.

VALIDATION OF THE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURIAL ANTECEDENTS SCALE IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN MEXICO

The objective of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale (SEAS) with male and female university students in Mexico. There were 1,619 students from the University of Guadalajara and the Michoacan University of San Nicolas de Hidalgo who participated in the study. The reliability of SEAS was analyzed with Cronbach's alpha and the validity with confirmatory factor analysis using the maximum likelihood estimation method. Three factorial models of the scale were compared and items were added for its adaptation. The values produced by the factorial analysis show that the adapted Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale presents adequate evidence of validity and reliability for university students in the central-western area of Mexico. It is shown that experience with Social Problems, Empathy, Moral Obligation, Self-Efficacy and Social Support favor the Intention of Social Entrepreneurship. This research provides elements for the identification of profiles of potential social entrepreneurs who can influence the development of populations with emerging economies, involving higher education institutions, government, business and society.

Mexican and Spanish university students' Internet addiction and academic procrastination: Correlation and potential factors.

The 21st-century problem of Internet addiction is increasing globally, but especially among university students. Not surprisingly, then, problematic Internet use is associated with university students' academic procrastination. Because studies are scarce in Mexico and Spain has one of the highest rates of Internet addiction in Europe, this paper (i) analyzed the presence and degree of Internet addiction among university students in Mexico and Spain, (ii) determined potential sociodemographic factors influencing Internet addiction, and (iii) established the type of correlation between Internet addiction and academic procrastination. The cross-sectional study design used an online questionnaire to measure problematic Internet use and academic procrastination through convenience sampling at one university in Mexico and one in Spain. The questionnaire contained three sections: participants' sociodemographic data, the Internet Addiction Test, and the Academic Procrastination Scale. The final sample comprised 758 university students, 387 from Mexico, and 371 from Spain, aged from 18 to 35 (M = 20.08, SD = 3.16). Results revealed similar prevalence rates of problematic and daily Internet use for leisure, potentially influencing Internet addiction in all three models (i.e., Mexico, Spain, and Total). Additionally, significant positive correlation was revealed between problematic Internet use and academic procrastination (p < .001). Finally, findings showed relevant data on Internet addiction's prevalence in Mexican and Spanish university contexts, along with its influential sociodemographic factors.

Effects of intergroup contact and relative gratification vs. deprivation on prejudice on both sides of the U.S./Mexico status divide

AbstractA study in the U.S.–Mexican intergroup context examined how collective relative gratification (RG) versus deprivation affects the relationship between intergroup contact and interpersonal closeness and subtle prejudice towards an out‐group. Participants were Mexican university students in Mexico (N = 239) and non‐Mexican students in California (N = 90). As predicted, Mexicans experienced less gratification/higher relative deprivation (RD), and low quality intergroup contact and expressed lower interpersonal closeness and higher subtle prejudice than U.S. Americans. Differences between countries were larger amongst participants reporting higher RD. Second‐stage moderated mediation analysis showed that the mediating effects of contact between country and interpersonal closeness and subtle prejudice, respectively, were larger amongst participants who felt relatively gratified than those who felt relatively deprived. These findings underline the importance of recognizing the moderating effect of differences in the RG versus RD levels of minority and majority groups when anticipating the potential benefits of intergroup contact for prejudice reduction.

Editorial

Editorial

The association between substance use and depressive symptomatology in nursing university students in Mexico

The present study represents an ex post facto non-experimental study of undergraduate nursing students (N = 1,176) residing in Mexico whereby we examined the association between substance use and depressive symptomatology. The sample was composed primarily of women (70.1%), between the ages of 18 and 23 years (89.5%). Outcomes suggest a significant association between current clinically relevant depressive symptomatology 3-month marijuana, alcohol, and sedative use. Additionally, current depressive symptomatology was significantly associated with lifetime alcohol and sedative use. Lastly, current depressive symptomatology was significantly associated with both moderate/high risk level due to alcohol and sedative use. The present study is innovative as it examines possible associations between depressive symptomatology and 10 classes of substances concurrently for a group that is largely understudied, further contributing to the international literature in this area. Findings are discussed with regards to study limitations.

When the American Dream Stops: New Challenges after DACA for ELT University Students in Mexico

In recent years, thousands of children and young people have been repatriated from the United States to Mexico. Their parents decided to return to their country of origin and not to host them to the DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) program. The objective of this paper is double: first, to characterize the different profiles of young students who return to Mexico after having studied some or all grades of their basic and upper secondary education in the United States and who are repatriated to take up their university studies; and secondly the challenges in scholastic and social issues are analyzed, those that students face in their attempt to attend higher education in another country. The results suggest that having a space for these students in the Mexican educational system is not enough, it is necessary to develop programs that facilitate the inclusion of these young people both in the school and in the social context.

Climate literacy among university students in Mexico and Spain: influence of scientific and popular culture in the representation of the causes of climate change

This article analyses climate literacy among university students, using their knowledge about the causes of climate change. Based on the theory of social representation, this comparative study examined a sample of 503 students. Using drawings and text, students were asked to respond to the question 'What is climate change?' They then completed an ad hoc survey. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data revealed that most students recognised human responsibility in climate change but demonstrated gaps in their understanding of the phenomenon. The results show that more specialised university education in the natural and technological sciences did not translate into more accurate representation, which was affected by common culture and scientific representation. In light of these findings, we offer recommendations for incorporating climate change into higher education curricula.

Climate literacy among university students in Mexico and Spain: influence of scientific and popular culture in the representation of the causes of climate change

Climate literacy among university students in Mexico and Spain: influence of scientific and popular culture in the representation of the causes of climate change

Longitudinal Study of Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Stress in University Students in Mexico (stage two)

This research deals around the variables of academic self-efficacy and academic stress arising from the problems presented by undergraduate students of a university in Mexico. The main objective is to corroborate the main theoretical hypothesis about the self-efficacy is an inhibitory potential of the experimented stress of the people, for which a 50-student cohort (divided into two groups) was studied through a quantitative, non-experimental, correlational and longitudinal or evolutionary study over two school semesters (representing the second of three stages of Research), and using the Academic Self-Efficacy Expectations Inventory as a data collection instrument. The results show that statistically it is not possible to accept the theoretical hypothesis mentioned previously, since a significant association between both variables has not been identified in the two moments of the study. However, it has been possible to determine that in one of the study groups, the input dimension of academic self-efficacy and the general academic self-efficacy have evolved positively from one stage to another, that is, they have increased significantly, which is what is expected According to Albert Bandura's Theory of Self-efficacy, contrary to what is desirable regarding academic stress, which also increased, but theoretically it would have been expected to decrease.

Does corruption affect cooperation? A laboratory experiment

In this paper, we analyze the nature of cooperation in different corruption regimes. In a laboratory experiment with university students in Mexico, individuals play first a corruption game and then a public goods game. The corruption game is divided into three groups: high- and low-monitoring scenarios as well as a control group not exposed to the game. The public goods game is divided into three groups: the standard game, a game with centralized punishment executed by an exogenously assigned leader, and a game similar to the second one, but adding the possibility of counter-punishment. There are four key results. First, there is more corruption in the low-monitoring group. Second, in the public goods game there is less cooperation in the low-monitoring group than in the group with more intensive monitoring. Third, the option of punishment increases cooperation, but the sensitivity to punishment is greater in the high-monitoring (low-corruption) group. Fourth, the option of counter-punishment of the leader decreases cooperation. Our results highlight the importance of corruption in decreasing trust and social capital and show the difficulty of promoting cooperation when corruption is prevalent.

The Evolution of Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Stress on the University Students in Mexico

This research deals around the variables of academic self-efficacy and academic stress arising from the problems presented by undergraduate students of a university in Mexico; it is regarding the perception of poor security experience to do their assignments. The results presented are the first stage of a quantitative study, no experimental and evolutionary groups (cohort), based on the self-efficacy theory of Albert Bandura. These results show that the students had an average level of perceived academic self-efficacy and a moderate level of academic stress, concluding that it was not possible to establish statistically significant correlation between the two variables.

Validity and Reliability of the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) in University Students.

The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been used successfully in many countries, but there are few studies of its validity and reliability for the Mexican population. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the self-administered ASSIST test in university students in Mexico. This was an ex post facto non-experimental study with 1,176 undergraduate students, the majority women (70.1%) aged 18-23 years (89.5%) and single (87.5%). To estimate concurrent validity, factor analysis and tests of reliability and correlation were carried out between the subscale for alcohol and AUDIT, those for tobacco and the Fagerström Test, and those for marijuana and DAST-20. Adequate reliability coefficients were obtained for ASSIST subscales for tobacco (alpha = 0.83), alcohol (alpha = 0.76), and marijuana (alpha = 0.73). Significant correlations were found only with the AUDIT (r = 0.71) and the alcohol subscale. The best balance of sensitivity and specificity of the alcohol subscale (83.8% and 80%, respectively) and the largest area under the ROC curve (81.9%) was found with a cutoff score of 8. The self-administered version of ASSIST is a valid screening instrument to identify at-risk cases due to substance use in this population.

Changes in Alcohol Use Among First Year University Students in Mexico

Background: Alcohol use and misuse is widespread among university students in many countries. Specific cultural factors may impact alcohol use after entering university. Objective: This paper considers changes in alcohol use among first year university students in Mexico. Methods: A qualitative study using ethnographic interviews with 57 female and 60 male student drinkers in Mexico City from March to June 2011. Each interview was evaluated by a set of thematic codes developed inductively from the interviews. Findings from excessive, heavy, regular, occasional drinkers, abstainers, and non-drinkers were analyzed to explore whether or not linkages existed between and/or among particular themes. Results: Students reported factors associated with changes in role and status, friendships, and increased autonomy as reasons for increasing or decreasing their alcohol use after entering university. Conclusions/Importance: Understanding the influence of Mexican cultural norms on alcohol use among Mexican and Mexican Americans can be helpful in informing studies and preventive efforts among both Mexican and Mexican American young people.

Shared Parenting, Parental Effort, and Life History Strategy

Previous developmental research has found that children from households with high shared parenting, childrearing agreement, and equitable division of parental labor experience positive developmental and social outcomes; a major limitation of these studies is that shared parenting measures do not assess the amount of total parental effort the child receives, but instead partitioning the amount of effort between parents. Life History (LH) theory predicts that the total amount of parenting the child receives should produce a greater developmental impact on the future LH strategies of children than precisely how that parental effort was apportioned between mothers and fathers. This report presents a cross-cultural study using convenience samples of university students in Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica, investigating the relationship of total as well as shared parental effort on family emotional climate and the LH strategy of the participants as young adults. The first study was performed exclusively in Mexico; results indicated that higher levels of shared parenting experienced as a child were associated with Family Emotional Climate also during childhood and with participant adult LH. The second study extended these findings; higher total parental effort predicted shared parenting effort, positive emotional climate, and slower offspring adult life history strategy in the three convenience samples of Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica.

Weight-loss practices among university students in Mexico.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the prevalence of weight-loss practices among university students from Tlaxcala, Mexico.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 2,651 university students was conducted. Logistic regression tests were used to estimate the probability of students trying to lose weight and successfully achieving weight loss.ResultsNearly 40% of students attempted to lose weight, though only about 7% lost more than 10% of their body weight and maintained this weight loss during the time of the study. The methods used most were exercise and dieting, and those who dieted were more successful at losing weight.ConclusionsThe high prevalence of weight-loss attempts and the poor outcomes with these weight-loss methods among this sample of university students is a public health concern. Universities should provide students with healthy weight-control approaches, which include offering information about healthier lifestyles, access to healthy food and opportunities to be physically active.

Oye, ¿qué onda con mi dinero?

The objective of this study is to broaden the focus of pragmatic research to include the speech act of complaints produced by heritage speakers of Spanish. In addition to being a face-threatening act, the diverse ways in which complaints are expressed makes them a rich source for investigating how language use can vary across speech communities. Although there has been some research concerning contexts of intercultural communication, the pragmatic proficiency of heritage speakers of Spanish in the United States is an area that merits further investigation. In order to examine heritage speaker complaints, this study compares data from the following three groups: Mexican native speakers of Spanish (22), native speakers of English (40), and heritage speakers of Spanish (21). The heritage speakers and English native speakers in this study were undergraduate students at a large public university in California, while the native speakers of Spanish were university students in Mexico. All the participants completed an on-line Discourse Completion Test that included three complaint scenarios.

Instrumento para la evaluación de variables psicológicas y comportamientos sexuales de riesgo en jóvenes de dos centros universitarios de México

To measure the psychometric attributes of a survey instrument designed to evaluate historical and context variables that lead to high-risk sexual behaviors among a sample of university students in Mexico. Cross-sectional study of a sample of 1 346 university students in Mexico: 784 from the Sonora State Center for Higher Education in Hermosillo, Sonora, or 33.2% of its total enrollment; and 562 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, at Tlalnepantla campus in Mexico State, or 23.5% of its total enrollment. The study took place in Hermosillo during the month of October 2006 and in Tlalnepantla from January to March 2006. The survey had 11 questions on sociodemographics, 7 on risky sexual behaviors, 22 on related motives, 8 on social context, and 6 on physical status prior to sexual relations. The survey was evaluated in terms of how well the questions were understood, its conceptual validity, and reliability. The final version of the survey instrument was composed of 44 questions. The reliability analysis produced an overall Cronbach alpha value of 0.821, taking into account all the variables combined and grouped by factor. Three factors were found that together accounted for 38.36% of the total variance: reasons for not using a condom in the first sexual relationship or throughout life, reasons for inconsistent use of a condom with a casual sex partner, and willingness to become sexually active and to engage in casual sex. The psychometric attributes of this survey instrument were found to be satisfactory. Those interested in using this instrument should become familiar with the theoretical model on which it is based, since understanding the results depends on properly defining the historical and context variables, and their interaction.

Gender symmetry in prevalence, severity, and chronicity of physical aggression against dating partners by university students in Mexico and USA

The paper reports results from analyses of the physical aggression against dating partners by four samples of university students in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Mexican Americans and Non-Mexican Whites in El Paso and Lubbock Texas, and New Hampshire (N=1,544). The percent reporting partner violence (PV) was high in all samples, but also differed significantly between samples. The lowest rate was in New Hampshire (29.7%), followed by Texas, Non-Mexican Whites (30.9%), Texas Mexican American (34.2%), and the highest rate was in Juarez (46.1%). When only severe assaults were compared, the differences between samples was similar, i.e., lowest in New Hampshire and highest in Juarez. In all four samples, there was no significant difference between males and females in either the overall prevalence of physical aggression or the prevalence of severe attacks. Among the 553 couples where one or both of the partners were violent, in almost three quarters of the cases (71.2%) there was gender symmetry in the sense that both partners engaged in this type of behavior. When only one partner was violent, this was twice as likely to be the female partner (19.0%) as the male partner (9.8%). Among the 205 couples where there was an act of severe aggression, symmetry was less prevalent (56.6%), but when only one partner was violent, it was again twice as likely to be the female partner (29.8% female only versus 13.7 male partner only). These results are consistent with the gender symmetry in PV found in many studies. They extend those results by showing that gender symmetry prevails in four different cultural contexts. The presence of gender symmetry in these different cultural contexts, combined with studies showing that women are injured more often and more seriously by partner-assaults, and studies showing that women initiate PV as often as men, suggests that programs and policies aimed at primary prevention of PV by women are crucial to ending PV and for reducing the victimization of men and women.