Zealand University Students Research Articles

Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Choices and Eating Behavior among New Zealand University Students.

Extensive research suggests that COVID-19 infection can lead to persistent changes in taste and smell perception. These sensory changes have the potential to exert lasting impacts on dietary choices, nutrition, and body weight. This study aims to explore COVID-related shifts in dietary intake among New Zealand university students. We conducted a survey involving 340 university students who had experienced COVID-19 infection between 2022 and 2023. Participants reported any changes in eating behavior since before the pandemic and were asked to complete a 24-h food record. Participants' total daily energy intake, macronutrient intake, and composition were then compared with data collected from a similar cohort before the COVID-19 pandemic, spanning from 2017 to 2019. Dietary outcomes were compared using MANCOVA while controlling for individual age, gender, ethnicity, and BMI. Approximately 25% of participants reported experiencing sensory alterations with COVID-19, with those participants more likely to report changes in their experience of sweet tastes but not salty or fatty foods. Analyses of the pre- and post-COVID cohorts revealed that participants in the post-COVID group exhibited significantly higher consumption of protein and sodium. Understanding the long-term impact of COVID-19 infection may offer crucial insights into the role of chemosensory perception in dietary behavior.

Learning during a pandemic: an Activity Theory analysis of the challenges experienced by Aotearoa/New Zealand university students

AbstractThe worldwide disruption of higher education during the Covid-19 pandemic has been studied from the viewpoints of institutions and teachers, with some attention to students’ health and learning challenges. Attempts to theorise the diverse and conflicting challenges faced by students learning online during the pandemic have been limited. It is helpful to analyse students’ experiences as part of an activity system in order to unravel the system’s elements and determine contradictions that occur. This study adopted a mixed methods approach to investigate students’ online learning experiences at all eight New Zealand universities during the pandemic. Data obtained via a large-scale online survey, followed by focus groups and individual interviews, is presented in light of an Activity Theory framework. Findings show that students’ key challenges were associated with new tools and technologies, lack of interaction and social connection, lack of routine and space, and clashing commitments due to multiple roles and responsibilities. Contradictions can be a driving force for change and development in teaching and learning contexts. We conclude with recommendations for tertiary institutions, teachers, learning designers and students to inform future learning and teaching plans.

Sustainable Strategies for Teaching and Learning Online

Investigating students’ lived experiences of online learning can inform us on how best to teach them. In this paper, we harness the insights gained from pandemic teaching and learning to inform sustainable approaches. Theorized in relation to Ben-Eliyahu’s sustainable learning in education (SLE), this article offers insight into what tertiary teachers can do to support students with sustainable strategies, as well as how students can develop long-term learning strategies. We draw upon the research on the perspectives and experiences of New Zealand university students studying online in 2020 to inform SLE in online teaching and learning in the long term. The researchers collaborated with student associations to undertake a survey exploring the students’ experiences of online learning. There were 952 valid survey responses from all 8 New Zealand universities, complemented by 20 individual interviews and 9 focus groups involving 43 student participants, both on and offshore. Our findings indicate that students regard support, communication, and engagement as key areas where they experienced challenges or helpful practices, and where there are sustainable directions for future teaching and learning. We propose support that institutions can provide to both students and staff for sustainable strategies.

Who are we missing? Self-selection bias in nonsuicidal self-injury research.

Despite the threat of self-selection bias to the generalizability of research findings, remarkably little is known about who chooses to take part in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) research specifically. We aimed to establish the extent of willingness to take part in NSSI research within a commonly sampled population before assessing whether individual differences in demographic characteristics, NSSI lived experience, and participation experiences were associated with willingness to take part in future NSSI research. New Zealand university students (n = 3098) completed self-report measures of their NSSI, psychological distress, emotional dysregulation, experience of their participation in the current study, and willingness to participate in future NSSI research. Most participants (78.2%) indicated that they were willing to take part in future NSSI research. Men, older participants, people with NSSI lived experience, and those with more frequent past-year NSSI were more likely to be willing to take part in future NSSI research. Participants who reported a more positive subjective experience of the current study also indicated greater willingness. Findings demonstrate systematic differences in who is willing to take part in NSSI research. Future research should implement methodological and statistical approaches to mitigate the impact of self-selection bias on NSSI research.

Online but Disconnected: Student Connectedness in Online Remote Learning i n Higher Education in New Zealand

New Zealand university students in the online learning environment may have feelings of disconnectedness, isolation, and suffer a lack of personal attention. Perhaps these universities are at a junction, where they can choose to offer students immersion into a virtual learning environment devoid of a physical presence, or a pathway which nurtures students’ learning in a hands-on, face-to-face, physical space. Understanding student online connectedness, or their sense of belonging with the online virtual learning environment, may help navigate a path through this junction as the emergence of online remote learning becomes commonplace in New Zealand. This article suggests that universities should foster a virtual place of learning by developing an online social presence and promote open communication between faculty and students, and between students and their peers. Students are more likely to value online courses that foster a high degree of connectedness, and they are more likely to complete these courses. In this article, online student connectedness is defined and tools to measure it are described. Strategies to promote student connectedness in the online learning environment are suggested, for example, comprising social media and social networking sites which facilitate communication and increase social presence.

Understanding Aotearoa New Zealand University Students Intentions to Seek Help If Experiencing Mental Distress: A Comparison of Naturalistic and Interventional Findings.

University students globally are consistently identified as a vulnerable group for mental distress and suicide. Despite this, students report low engagement in help-seeking behaviours. This series of studies aimed to assess barriers to help-seeking for students and the impact of an intervention that sought to increase support-seeking intentions. In Study 1, 373 undergraduate psychology students completed items related to depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, stigma, and help-seeking intentions. In Study 2, 133 undergraduate psychology students were randomly allocated into one of three intervention groups (control, infographic, video) and completed measures as used in Study 1. Despite experiencing clinically relevant symptoms and recent suicidal ideation, students in Study 1 tended to report low intentionality to seek help, citing perceptions that their distress was not serious enough or a desire to handle their issues independently. In Study 2, an infographic about different support services increased student's intentions to access support services and reduced their perception that their issues were not serious enough. Overall, Aotearoa New Zealand students endorsed similar barriers to help-seeking as students in other countries. Importantly, we demonstrated that a simple infographic intervention reduced perceptions regarding these common barriers and may increase students' knowledge about when to seek help.

The relationship between spiritual intelligence, resilience, and well-being in an Aotearoa New Zealand sample

ABSTRACT Existing research highlights adaptive applications of spiritual intelligence, specifically its relationship to positive well-being and quality of life. Limited studies have examined its applicability within secular Western contexts. Two-hundred and fourteen New Zealand university students completed a questionnaire measuring their spiritual intelligence, resilience, and several aspects of wellbeing. Results revealed that spiritual intelligence was significantly associated with increased resilience and reduced feelings of depression and stress, but not anxiety. However, the relationship between spiritual intelligence scores and combined depression, anxiety, and stress scores was fully mediated by resilience scores, suggesting that spiritual intelligence per se may not directly affect wellbeing.

‘Cognitive enhancers’: A qualitative exploration of university students’ experiences with prescription medicines for academic purposes

Qualitative work with students who use prescription medicines for academic purposes is limited. Thus, a more nuanced understanding of tertiary students’ experiences is urgently needed. Our study – which draws on five semi-structured interviews with New Zealand university students, complemented with information from local newspapers, blog entries and discussion forums – reveals students’ motivations and perceived effects, their risk perceptions and provides insights into the circumstances enabling the engagement with prescription medicines for academic purposes. Students were influenced by peers and social norms; and ideas about identity, morality and fairness also played a role for engaging with cognitive enhancers. Students used high levels of stress and workload to justify their use but took individual responsibility for their practices. By taking responsibility in this way, rather than considering it as a product of their environment, they buy into the neoliberal university discourse. Unexpectedly, some participants were already receiving medically justified psychopharmacological treatment but extended and supplemented this with nonmedical use. Others considered their use as being for academic emergencies, and that their low level of use helped manage risks. Overall, students viewed pharmacological cognitive enhancement for improving academic performance as cautious, safe, and morally acceptable. We argue in this paper that a local understanding of students’ motivations, justifications and perceptions of pharmacological cognitive enhancement is required, to tailor policies and support systems better to their needs and behaviours.

Examining motivation predictors of key communication constructs: An investigation of regulatory focus, need satisfaction, and need frustration

This research examined the extent to which key motivation factors predict significantly individual differences in three important communication constructs, namely communication apprehension, self-perceived communication competence, and willingness to communicate. This study was informed by the tenets of regulatory focus and self-determination theories and collected data from a sample of New Zealand university students. Findings show that promotion focus and competence satisfaction/frustration are strong predictors of psychological processes underpinning differences in communication apprehension and self-perceived communication competence. In addition, the results suggest that self-perceptions of communicative competence are a strong positive predictor of willingness to communicate. These findings have important implications for motivation and communication research as well as for pedagogical practice pertaining to communication.

Physical Activity and Associated Constraints Following the Transition From High School to University

The considerable changes in physical activity (PA) during the transition to university are likely associated with changes in PA constraints during this transition. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in PA and associated constraints among first-year university students during the transition to university. Data concerning sociodemographic characteristics, PA behaviors, and changes in PA and constraints were collected from 121 first-year New Zealand university students via an online survey. Data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings revealed that following the transition, PA declined significantly, that PA participation patterns/trends had changed (from team/group sports to individual activities and to less competitive and/or more social activities), and that changes in constraints (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and time management) may have influenced changes. Findings shed light on how changes in constraints potentially influence PA following the transition and provide evidence to inform the development of policies and interventions to promote student PA.

Knowledge of OSTEOPOROSIS and LIFESTYLE BEHAVIOURS IMPACTING PEAK BONE MASS among Young Adults

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem through its association with fragility fracture. Low peak bone mass (PBM) is a major contributor to later osteoporosis risk. Despite this, most studies concentrate on older people when the window of opportunity to impact PBM has passed. This study aimed to understand what adolescents and young adults understand about PBM, the risk of osteoporotic fracture and how lifestyle factors impact PBM. Such information may inform educational interventions to reduce future risk of fracture, and provide important public health benefits. New Zealand university students were approached to participate in this study. Nine focus groups of a total of 44 adolescents and young adults, mean age 22.9 (± 4.02) years of different ethnicities (29 female 15 male), were conducted using a semi-structured approach with open-ended questions and prompts. Transcripts were thematically coded using an inductive content analysis approach. Participants reported poor knowledge of PBM and factors impacting risk of osteoporotic fracture. There was a general awareness of the positive and negative impacts of many lifestyle behaviours such as physical activity, diet, tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption on health in general, but not specifically how these impact PBM and good bone health in later life. We conclude that in a cohort of New Zealand University students, current knowledge of osteoporosis and lifestyle factors that impact PBM is limited. Educational interventions in young adults are now warranted to improve PBM and prevent osteoporosis in late adulthood.

Influences of learning strategies on assessment experiences and outcomes during the transition to university

ABSTRACT During the transition to university, early summative assessments may serve as powerful indicators of academic performance and perceived competence by students. How students learn in preparation for these assessments may be determinants of task-related experience and outcomes. The current study investigated the influences of learning strategies on anxiety, grade, and academic self-efficacy upon completing an early summative assessment at university. With a sample of New Zealand university students (n = 233), a hypothesized model was tested predicting the influences of rehearsal and elaboration strategies on assessment-related experience and outcomes. Results showed rehearsal strategies to have a positive influence on state anxiety and, to a lesser degree, academic self-efficacy; by comparison, elaboration strategies had no influence on state anxiety but a strong, positive influence on academic self-efficacy. State anxiety had a negative influence on both task grade and academic self-efficacy. The benefits of academic support during the university transition are discussed.

Student debt and wellbeing: a research agenda

ABSTRACTWith levels of student debt unprecedented and rising in many democracies, growing attention has been given by academics and practitioners to its possible effects for student wellbeing. This article makes three contributions to this debate. First, it offers a critical review of literature that considers the relationship of student debt and wellbeing to open up discussion about the dimensions, limitations and possibilities of the field. Second, the paper points to potential avenues for future research about student debt and wellbeing by considering indicative comments made by New Zealand university students as part of a series of in-depth interviews. Third, the article makes a practical contribution to current debates about the tuition ‘fees free’ policy in New Zealand. We argue that developing a more robust understanding of how student debt affects wellbeing may help to broaden and reinvigorate academic and public debate about student debt.

Perfectionism, wellbeing, and university performance: A sample validation of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) in New Zealand

The Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS) is a self-report instrument which has been tested in several countries with mixed support. The current research examined the factor structure, construct validity, and reliability in a sample of university students in New Zealand (n = 1028). Our findings add support for a five-factor structure with two recommended cross-loadings, adequate internal consistency, and strong measurement invariance between male and female students. Significant correlations were found between most FMPS subscales, wellbeing, and semester GPA. Regression-based results indicated that several FMPS factors were predictors of wellbeing and semester GPA, respectively. An interaction effect was found between gender and the Parental Expectations subscale when predicting wellbeing. Overall, these results indicate that the FMPS is a reliable, valid instrument for New Zealand university students with a five-factor model which shows relevance to gender, wellbeing, and performance.

The Association Between Mindfulness and Grit: an East vs. West Cross-cultural Comparison

Mindfulness, namely present-oriented attention that is non-judgmental in nature, and grit, namely perseverance and passion for long-term goals, are psychological constructs that have recently received considerable attention within the West. Given the theoretical importance and heretofore lack of research into how these two constructs relate to each other, the present study aimed to examine how mindfulness and grit relate to each other within Western and non-Western cultures. New Zealand (N = 343) and Thai (N = 233) university students completed a battery of questionnaires that assessed the variables of interest. Although both samples showed a positive association between grit and mindfulness at the construct level, results at the facet level showed several notable differences. Specifically, acting with awareness and non-judging were found to predict grit for NZ students more strongly than for Thai students. These findings suggest that mindfulness evidenced more robust relationships with grit in an individualistic culture than in a collectivist society.

Improving Measurement of Trait Competitiveness: A Rasch Analysis of the Revised Competitiveness Index With Samples From New Zealand and US University Students.

Measuring competitiveness is necessary to fully understand variables affecting student learning. The 14-item Revised Competitiveness Index has become a widely used measure to assess trait competitiveness. The current study reports on a Rasch analysis to investigate the psychometric properties of the Revised Competitiveness Index and to improve its precision for international comparisons. Students were recruited from medical studies at a university in New Zealand, undergraduate health sciences courses at another New Zealand university, and a psychology undergraduate class at a university in the United States. Rasch model estimate parameters were affected by local dependency and item misfit. Best fit to the Rasch model (χ2(20) = 15.86, p = .73, person separation index = .95) was obtained for the Enjoyment of Competition subscale after combining locally dependent items into a subtest and discarding the highly misfitting Item 9. The only modifications required to obtain a suitable fit (χ2(25) = 25.81, p = .42, person separation index = .77) for the Contentiousness subscale were a subtest to combine two locally dependent items and splitting this subtest by country to deal with differential item functioning. The results support reliability and internal construct validity of the modified Revised Competitiveness Index. Precision of the measure may be enhanced using the ordinal-to-interval conversion algorithms presented here, allowing the use of parametric statistics without breaking fundamental statistical assumptions.

An intercept study to measure the extent to which New Zealand university students pre‐game

Objective:We aimed to quantify the degree to which students pre‐gamed in New Zealand, using self‐report and breathalysers. Methods:A total of 569 New Zealand undergraduate students were interviewed (men = 45.2%; first year = 81.4%) entering three university‐run concerts. We asked participants to report how many drinks they had consumed, their self‐reported intoxication and the duration of their pre‐gaming session. We then recorded participants' Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC; µg/L) and the time they arrived at the event. Results:The number of participants who reported consuming alcohol before the event was 504 (88.6%) and the number of standard drinks consumed was high (M=6.9; median=6.0). A total of 237 (41.7%) participants could not have their BrAC recorded due to having consumed alcohol ≤10 minutes before the interview. The remaining 332 participants (57.3%) recorded a mean BrAC of 288.8µg/L (median=280.0 µg/L). Gender, off‐campus accommodation, length of pre‐gaming drinking session, and time of arrival at the event were all associated with increased pre‐gaming. Conclusion and implications for public health:Pre‐gaming was the norm for students. Universities must take pre‐gaming into account; policy implications include earlier start times of events and limiting students' access to alcohol prior to events.

Rasch analysis of the Perceived Stress Scale: Transformation from an ordinal to a linear measure.

Rasch analysis was conducted to enhance the precision of the widely used 10-item Perceived Stress Scale using two datasets (n = 450 each) randomly selected from samples of the New Zealand general population (n = 1102), New Zealand university students (n = 479) and US university students (n = 396). The best Rasch model fit (χ2(27) = 29.92, p = .36), good person separation reliability (.80) and coverage (98%) of the sample by the scale items were achieved when locally dependent items were combined into subtests. These findings support reliability and internal structural validity of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale. The instrument precision can be further improved using the ordinal-to-linear conversion tables published here.

New Zealand Students and ‘Cultures of Intoxication’

The drinking practices of New Zealanders have been the subject of much concern, culminating in a report by the New Zealand Law Commission in 2010 which presented evidence-based recommendations for implementing effective alcohol policies in New Zealand. Within debates about alcohol consumption and drinking practices, New Zealand University students have been identified as a group of young people who drink more heavily than their peers, as well as suffering from more alcohol related harms. The following discussion focuses on a group of eight university students, aged 18–19, some who were non- or light-drinkers, and their reflections on the cultures of intoxication that they negotiate, as well as their experiences of peer pressure. The aim of this article is to discuss the drinking and abstinence prac- tices of this group of New Zealand university students to explore how they interact with or resist contemporary cultures of intoxication in the particular context of university life. Eight qualitative, semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed and the themes: cultures of intoxication, peer pressure and inexperienced ‘drinking disasters’ are discussed. This paper critically ex- plores these key themes and discusses the New Zealand context in relation to the international literature about student drinking cultures (Hernandez, Leotini and Harley 2013; Romo 2012; Supski, Lindsay and Tanner 2016), including young people who are light or non-drinkers (Conroy and de Visser 2014; Nairn, Higgins, Thompson, Anderson and Fu 2007; Fry 2010; Herring, Bayley and Hurcombe 2014). The interviews identified an overarching New Zealand culture of intoxication, as well as more local cultures of intoxication, which students bring with them to a university setting.

Analyzing student motivation at the confluence of achievement goals and their underlying reasons: an investigation of goal complexes

This research investigated the interrelations among achievement goals and the underlying reasons for pursuing them. To do so, it utilized the framework of goal complexes, which are regulatory constructs defined at the intersection of aims and reasons. Data from two independent large samples of New Zealand university students showed that across types of reasons, namely development versus demonstration of competence/ability, and approach-avoidance tendencies pertaining to aims and reasons, respectively, participants rated lowest items mapping normative aims. Additionally, for most non-normative achievement goals, which in this study were related to task and own past performance, students endorsed more strongly items pertaining to the development rather than the demonstration of competence/ability. This pattern of results was reversed for approach—but not avoidance—related reasons associated with normative aims. These findings are largely consistent with the tenets of cognitive dissonance theory and have important implications for pedagogical practice, policy development, and the study of self-evaluation and cognitive processes. In addition, they delineate new directions for fruitful future research.