Real men do not read labels: the effects of masculinity and involvement on college students' food decisions

Consumer literature shows that a decision's degree of personal importance and relevance--one's level of involvement in the decision--indicates which type of intervention strategy will be effective in influencing consumers' choices. The authors surveyed 358 college students at a state university in the western United States to test the applicability of involvement on issues of obesity and eating habits. They found food decisions to be of greater personal importance and relevance to female students than to their male counterparts. The results suggest that efforts to address levels of obesity and being overweight among male college students must recognize that men's food choices are very much rooted in the ideology of what it means to be female and male in contemporary American society. The authors advance 5 peripheral-route intervention strategies to augment existing cognitive-oriented, information-based intervention programs.     

The effect of student residence on food choice

This study assessed the effect of student residence on food choices and dietary practices of students enrolled in an undergraduate nutrition class at Washington State University. We compared food consumption patterns of students living on campus, off campus, and in Greek housing. We also identified differences between men and women in food consumption and dietary practices. The results suggested that students' residence and sex may influence food choice and dietary practices. Significant differences in food choice related to students' residence were found for 8 of the 27 variables included on a food frequency list. Differences in the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, beer, fish, unsweetened cereal, white bread, and cookies were identified. In addition, students who lived in Greek housing were found to skip meals less frequently than other students, and men were found to consume significantly more beer, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, meat, and white bread than women students. Men were also more accurate in their perception of their body weight.     

Student mobility and identity-related language learning

This paper reviews some recent studies problematizing various aspects of identity in relation to mobile students’ encounters with the social interactive and pragmatic dimensions of language. The paper will examine several salient demographic categories represented in the literature: nationality, ‘foreigner’ status, gender, age, and sexuality. These studies clearly demonstrate that student sojourners abroad may encounter challenges not only to their language skills, but also to their identities. Furthermore, these challenges can influence both the overall quality of study or residence abroad as an environment for language learning and the particular aspects of language that students choose to appropriate or reject. In light of these findings, it would appear that simply enjoining language learners to become more engaged or less judgmental may not be sufficient. Rather, what is in order is a renewed emphasis on awareness of language and culture as well as approaches helping students to understand how linguistic choices both reflect and create interpersonal, social, and cultural contexts.     

A child's day: trends in time use in the UK from 1975 to 2015

This paper examines change in school‐age children’s (8–16 years) time use in the United Kingdom between 1975 and 2015. Over this period, concerns for children’s safety, technological change, and increased emphasis on success in school are widely argued to have altered children’s daily lives, leading for example to less time outdoors, more time in screen‐based activities, and more time focused on education. Using data from three national time use surveys collected in 1974–5, 2000–01 and 2014–15, this paper explores the extent to which these arguments reflect actual change in how children spend their time throughout the day. The results show that between 1975 and 2015 children increased their time at home, and spent more time in screen‐based activities and doing homework. Decreases in time in out‐of‐home activities were concentrated in time in unstructured play, partially offset by increased time in sport. A decomposition of trends revealed that, despite a narrowing of the gender gap in time in housework, gender remains a significant factor determining many aspects of children’s time use. In contrast, the significance of age declined in most leisure activities, with the exception of screen‐based activities where significant age differences emerged in 2000 and widened further in 2015.     

Positive Changes in Perceptions and Selections of Healthful Foods by College Students After a Short-Term Point-of-Selection Intervention at a Dining Hall

Abstract

Objective: Determine the effects of a short-term, multi-faceted, point-of-selection intervention on college students’ perceptions and selection of 10 targeted healthful foods in a university dining hall and changes in their self-reported overall eating behaviors. Participants: 104 college students, (age 18–23) completed pre-I and post-I surveys. Methods: Pre-survey collected at dining hall in April 2007, followed by 3-week intervention then post-survey collected via email. Healthy choice indicators, large signs, table tents, flyers and colorful photographs with “benefit-based messages” promoted targeted foods. Response rate to both surveys was 38%. Results: Significantly more participants reported that healthful choices were clearly identified in the dining hall after the intervention. Over 20% of participants reported becoming more aware of healthful food choices in the dining hall after the intervention. Significant increases in self-reported intake were reported for cottage cheese and low-fat salad dressing, with a trend toward increased consumption of fresh fruit. Seven of the 14 assessed eating behaviors had significant changes in the desired direction. Increased awareness of healthful foods was the top reason for self-reported changes in overall eating behaviors. Conclusion: Short-term, multi-faceted, point-of-selection marketing of healthful foods in university dining halls may be beneficial for improving college students’ perceptions and selections of targeted healthful foods in the dining hall and may improve overall eating behaviors of college students.     

Getting on the right track? Educational choice-making of students with special educational needs in pre-vocational education and training

This paper explores the educational choice-making of students with special educational needs in the context of Finnish pre-vocational training and one of its programmes, ‘Preparatory and Rehabilitative Instruction and Guidance for Disabled Students’. The authors enquire into the kinds of educational choices available for students in the preparatory programme, and how student counselling meets their educational hopes and future plans. The analysis draws on an ethnographic study of special needs education in post-compulsory education in Finland. It shows that students need to reflect on their educational plans within institutional and diagnostic restrictions and guidance. The authors state that educational choices can be negotiable, but more attention must be given to deconstructing the self-evidences and institutional barriers linked to the transitions of young adults with special educational needs.     

Living Together and Eating Together: Changes in Food Choice and Eating Habits during the Transition from Single to Married/Cohabiting

In 1995 we recruited twenty-two heterosexual couples from Edinburgh and Glasgow to examine the changes which took place in their eating habits and food related activities when they began to live together. Semi-structured interviews were carried out three months before and after moving-in dates and on each occasion both men and women were interviewed separately. Both felt that eating together had a symbolic importance when they set up home together and most couples made efforts to eat a main meal together most evenings, while shopping and eating patterns tended to become more regular and formalised than they were at the pre-marriage/cohabitation stage. In a small majority of cases the women were mainly responsible for buying and preparing food. A significant difference between these women and those of other, earlier studies is that they tended to be less deferential to their husbands' food choices. However, associations between women, food and nurturing were evident in the efforts women made to improve their husbands' diets. Where food purchase and preparation were shared, so was choice of food. The goal of enjoying food together was achieved by learning, influence and compromise but no significant gendering of power in food choice was identified.     

An exploratory study of recreational drug use and nutrition-related behaviors and attitudes among adolescents.

This study examined drug use and eating behaviors among adolescents. The data were collected by phone interviews from 401 northern Nevadan students in grades seven to twelve. Students were divided for comparison into three groups according to their involvement with drugs: Abstainers, conventional users, and high-risk users. Analyses indicated that high-risk users less frequently ate lunch, meals at home, and with their families, and ate more often at convenience stores, fast food restaurants, and with friends. In addition, female high-risk users had significantly more negative perceptions regarding their food choices than the other female groups, and were more concerned with dieting than their high-risk using male peers. Male and female high-risk users believed that their drug use affected their eating habits. Implications for prevention programming and future research are discussed.     

TigerPlace, A State-Academic-Private Project to Revolutionize Traditional Long-Term Care

The Aging in Place Project at the University of Missouri (MU) required legislation in 1999 and 2001 to be fully realized. An innovative home health agency was initiated by the Sinclair School of Nursing specifically to help older adults age in place in the environment of their choice. In 2004, an innovative independent living environment was built and is operated by a private long term care company, as a special facility where residents can truly age in place and never fear being moved to a traditional nursing home unless they choose to do so. With care provided by the home care agency with registered nurse care coordination services, residents receive preventative and early illness recognition assistance that have markedly improved their lives. Evaluation of aging in place reveal registered nurse care coordination improves outcomes of cognition, depression, activities of daily living, incontinence, pain, and shortness of breath as well as delaying or preventing nursing home placement. Links with MU students, faculty, and nearly every school or college on campus enrich the lives of the students and residents of the housing environment. Research projects are encouraged and residents who choose to participate are enjoying helping with developing cutting technology to help other seniors age in place.     

Effectiveness of a multi-faceted,school-based health intervention program with 4th graders in Alabama

Childhood obesity is considered one of the most prevalent, chronic disorders in the U.S. with Alabama among the states with the highest incidence. Schools have the opportunity to play a vital role in educating children about healthy nutritional, physical, and psychological choices. The purpose of this multi-faceted, school-based health intervention was to educate children about healthy nutrition, promote physical activity, and use avatars as an educational and motivational tool for understanding and developing healthy bodies. Six fourth-grade classrooms in rural Alabama participated. The intervention group consisted of 25 males and 26 females (43% African-American, 57% European-American; 26% obese, 14% overweight) who received a 10-week nutrition education program that incorporated classroom physical activity and exposure to avatars. The control group consisted of 30 males and 24 females (41% African-American, 59% European-American; 28% obese, 15% overweight) who received no intervention or initial avatar exposure. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance determined that only intervention children significantly improved their healthy food choice intentions, ability to identify fatty foods, and general nutrition knowledge at posttest. Additionally, most intervention students reported that manipulating their avatar's body size helped them think about healthy weight (86%-helpful, 12%-somewhat helpful) and their own best, healthy body size (76%-yes, 22%-maybe). Intervention children picked healthier avatars as their ideal/desired body size at posttest. This intervention improved nutrition knowledge and attitudes and provided preliminary evidence that avatars can be a useful tool in childhood health interventions to help elementary school students think about healthy weight and body size.     

Managing the Student‐Parent Dilemma: Mothers and Fathers in Higher Education

In this article, I explore how student‐parents draw on cultural discourses associated with parenthood and education when talking about their child care choices and schooling experiences. Unlike many other studies, I include the voices of both fathers and mothers. College students have extraordinary demands on their time, and their instructors do not generally expect them to be parents. Some students feel that in fact they are expected to be bad parents, bad students, or both. The use of accounts allows student‐parents to assert they are good parents even as they spend less time with their children and make their schoolwork a priority some of the time. As they modify their understandings of their capabilities as parents and students in this setting, they come to see themselves differently. They potentially change others' understandings of what good parents and good students are as well. Both the parent identity and the student identity change in the context of the university.     

Brèves réflexions sur la reconnaissance d'un « droit à la différence alimentaire » dans le commerce international

We repeatedly hear that the World Trade Organization's rules (modified in 1994 to reinforce the principle of worldwide free trade) tend to inevitably uniformize culture in food, among other things. Whether in the case of bovine growth hormones or genetically modified organisms, WTO rules will ultimately impose a single food model as a universal reference mark. In France, these ideas crop up in talk about malbouffe (bad eating) and calls for a return to democratic choices or for instituting a fundamental “right” to freely choose food habits. Even though such talk has sometimes confused the issues, it has shed light on how the food question is presented in international trade. Increasingly, the issue is to defend national or regional values, or even choices about the type of society. What place do WTO rules reserve for these values ? Under what conditions can such values justify exemptions from free-trade rules and, ultimately, the maintenance of a “right to food differences”? As the European Union is thoroughly changing food legislation in line with its own concepts - the precautionary principle, the plurality and independence of procedures for evaluating foodstuffs, the well-being of animals, etc. - the answers provided to the foregoing questions will be decisive. - Special issue on Agriculture and food.     

TigerPlace,A State-Academic-Private Project to Revolutionize Traditional Long-Term Care

ABSTRACT

The Aging in Place Project at the University of Missouri (MU) required legislation in 1999 and 2001 to be fully realized. An innovative home health agency was initiated by the Sinclair School of Nursing specifically to help older adults age in place in the environment of their choice. In 2004, an innovative independent living environment was built and is operated by a private long term care company, as a special facility where residents can truly age in place and never fear being moved to a traditional nursing home unless they choose to do so. With care provided by the home care agency with registered nurse care coordination services, residents receive preventative and early illness recognition assistance that have markedly improved their lives. Evaluation of aging in place reveal registered nurse care coordination improves outcomes of cognition, depression, activities of daily living, incontinence, pain, and shortness of breath as well as delaying or preventing nursing home placement. Links with MU students, faculty, and nearly every school or college on campus enrich the lives of the students and residents of the housing environment. Research projects are encouraged and residents who choose to participate are enjoying helping with developing cutting technology to help other seniors age in place.     

A contingency approach to nonprofit governance

A number of contingency factors may be relevant for effective nonprofit organizations and their boards. Although all boards must fulfill certain critical roles and responsibilities, strategic choices can be made about adopting different governance configurations or patterns. These choices can be meaningfully informed by understanding organizational contingencies such as age, size, structure, and strategy—and, even more important, by external contingencies and environmental dimensions such as degree of stability and complexity. This article extends or layers contingency thinking beyond its traditional focus on an alignment between the external environment and the organization's structure to focus as well on the alignment of the organization's governance configuration with its structure and environment. Structural contingency theory in general, and specifically within nonprofits, is reviewed. Two cases are presented of organizations that used an approach based on contingency theory in an action research process to examine and change their governance configurations. The steps they followed may help other nonprofits adapt their governance structures and practices and fulfill their responsibilities for board assessment and reflection.     

Responding to student mental health concerns in social work education: reflective questions for social work educators

In this paper, we explore ways in which social work educators might respond to students who report that mental health issues underlie their difficulty in meeting core competencies, or otherwise use the language of mental health to describe their struggles to succeed in social work programs. We discuss various trends in policy responses in Canada, the US, the UK, and Ireland. While there are general policy trends, it is clear that responding to these kinds of issues requires the development of highly flexible and situated policy processes that can respond to student realities, concern for students’ rights and privacy, and an awareness of potential discrimination against students. These processes also need to meet the specificities of practicums, particular institutional policies, the mandates of relevant professional bodies, and the precise local legislative framework that shapes these situations. Given these varying contexts, in this conceptual paper, we used a framework on disability that is informed by critical theory to engage existing school policies and propose a set of reflective questions that can guide schools of social work to create an overall responsive environment. These reflective questions are designed to help social work educators balance the rights and needs of students with the professional and institutional demands that students meet core competencies in their education.     

The American Trade Dollar

The changes in technology that have affected mail delivery are a dynamic way to encourage students to think critically and make meaningful connections across historical eras. In the classroom, personal communication through the mail can become the “thematic glue” used across historical units to highlight the changes in everyday life caused by technological innovation. The post office initiated changes in streetlighting and crosswalks, stimulated the development of rural roads and highways, and provided passenger services on railways. Classroom teachers can use the activities and discussion questions to introduce students to this entity and its influence on our history.     

The Deflective Power of Reproductive Technologies:

Advances in reproductive technologies are altering women's experience of maternity and childbirth. They increase medical intervention while decreasing women's options and control over maternity. Although presented as increasing individual choices for women, their potential is to restrict choices for women as a group. The Baby M case illustrates that women's experience of maternity is belittled even in the least technologically dependent arrangement of surrogacy. These technologies deflect pressures for social reforms by promising technological fixes for reproductive difficulties. Often these problems have social causes. Women delay motherhood and increase reproductive risks, for example. to conform to male career timetables. Reforming employment policies is blunted, though, by the technological turn. These technologies should not be allowed to deflect the women's movement from pressuring for social change.     

A descriptive analysis of students seeking HIV antibody testing at a university health service.

The authors describe 255 students who voluntarily sought human immunodeficiency (HIV) antibody testing at a university health center. Fifty-nine percent of the students were women, their average age was 22.6 years, and they had low reported rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Nearly one third of the students had been previously tested for HIV. Approximately 40% of students described sexual activities that placed them at some risk for HIV infection and other sexual problems, such as unintended pregnancy and STDs. None of the students expected that their HIV test results would be positive, and that proved to be the case. Results of this study are discussed with a view to the role of HIV testing and counseling in campus AIDS programming.     

Bridges to learning: international student mobilities,education agencies and inter‐personal networks

International education is a fundamentally transnational project. It relies on the movement of individuals or knowledge across national borders, disturbs the centrality of the nation‐state in educational reproduction, and is facilitated by economic and social networks that act as bridges between countries of origin and education. In this article, I address this latter point through reference to research conducted with South Korean international students in Auckland, New Zealand. In particular, I discuss the emergence of transnational social and economic activities that are facilitating the movement of international students from South Korea to Auckland — activities that might usefully be understood as forming ‘bridges to learning’. These include the activities of education agencies, immigrant entrepreneurs and the interpersonal relationships with which many students engage in the negotiation of their transnational lives. In a broader sense I illustrate how the emerging mobilities of international students cannot be viewed as independent of other phenomena but must be seen as embedded within transnational processes that take place at different geographic and social scales.     

Diverse students and literacy in social work education: pedagogies for a new tertiary landscape

In the Western policy landscape, students from diverse cultural, linguistic, economic and other backgrounds are increasingly represented in an expanded tertiary education system. Structural and technological changes have challenged traditional pedagogies designed for more elite cohorts, and shifted the boundaries of textual practices in both universities and professional worlds. In spite of these momentous trends, university literacies often remain tacit and inaccessible to those new to them, and pedagogies rarely explicitly engage with the complexities of these shifting boundaries. University students unfamiliar with these tacit literacies can become marginalised and ultimately struggle with the literacy demands of their academic and professional worlds. This is problematic in social work education, as professional practice demands complex written and oral communication, with potentially significant social and legal repercussions. This paper reports on pedagogies initiated by action research in a Bachelor of Social Work programme in an Australian University. Pedagogies were introduced to make elite codes explicit, use students’ literacies as assets for learning and encourage ‘code switching’ between literacy practices to resist colonising into more powerful literacies. Students’ capacities in academic and professional literacies were significantly enhanced by these practices, and their cultural inheritances valorised, encouraging their contribution to the social work discipline.