Test-taking anxiety among nursing & general college students

This study examined whether nursing students experience an unusual amount of debilitative anxiety in academic achievement, compared to general university students and provided senior psychiatric nursing students with a hands-on experience in research. A nonprobability convenience sample of 225 students was drawn from a university in the eastern United States. Alpert and Haber's Achievement Anxiety Test was administered to 94 nursing students and 131 general university students. Results indicated that nursing students do not have a statistically significantly higher debilitative anxiety than the general student population. However, all students experienced significantly higher levels of debilitative anxiety than were found by Alpert and Haber. Implications for academic nursing are discussed.     

Potential for violence toward psychiatric nursing students: risk reduction techniques

1. Nursing students could be vulnerable targets of violence in their psychiatric nursing clinical rotations by virtue of their predominant gender, and meek, insecure attitudes. 2. Nurses are taught to put the patients' needs first and students may blame themselves or minimize situations where they have been threatened or assaulted by a patient. Priority consideration must also be given to our own safety and that of our students, given the risk for occupational injury in the nursing workplace. 3. Affiliating agencies may restrict disabled students from patient care areas. Allowing a disabled student to participate in a clinical rotation on a psychiatric unit could put staff at unnecessary risk of violence if called on to protect the vulnerable student.     

Services for the underserved. A nurse-managed center for the chronically mentally ill

1. A university-based, nurse-managed center for the chronically mentally ill enhanced the experiences of baccalaureate nursing students with this underserved population. 2. The course objectives included psychosocial rehabilitation for chronic illness and provided a good fit between client's needs, course objectives, and the behavioral-ecological model. 3. The project positively changed the attitudes of nursing students. Changing attitudes of professionals and motivating student interest toward the chronically mentally ill is an imperative for meeting their needs.     

Work‐Family Commitment and Attitudes Toward Feminism in Medical Students

The authors examine work—family commitment and attitudes toward feminism in a cross‐sectional, medical student sample (126 women, 145 men). Results indicated no significant gender differences in commitment levels. Third‐year students reported significantly more family commitment than did students in lower years. Women reported significantly more positive attitudes toward feminism than did men. Future research should examine commitment to work and family roles relative to participation in work and family roles and whether medical students have more conservative attitudes toward feminism than do other groups. Reframing multiple role commitments as an opportunity for role integration may help clients identify how work and family can be mutually enhancing and growth‐producing rather than conflictual.     

Assessing social work and nursing students’ intentions to work with dying patients

This study assessed social work and nursing students’ intentions to provide end-of-life care, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. A total of 181 social work and nursing students completed a questionnaire examining intentions to provide end-of-life care, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, death anxiety, subjective knowledge, and sociodemographic characteristics. Students manifested a moderate level of intentions to provide end-of-life care, with nursing students indicating higher levels of intentions than social work students. Multiple regression analyses revealed that attitudes, subjective norms, and previous experience were the main predictors of intentions to provide end-of-life care. Recommendations for academic programs are discussed.     

Computer Attitudes of Psychology Students and a Mild Attempt to Influence Them

ABSTRACT

With the advent of the World Wide Web mental health practitioners who dislike computers or lack confidence in their skills are at a disadvantage. In exploring this problem, computer attitudes of psychology students, tomorrow's professionals, were assessed. A mild attempt by the instructor to influence them during the semester also was tested. At time 1 attitudes were quite positive. Females reported no more computer aversion than males, but slightly less confidence. Consistent relationships between Internet usage and positive attitudes occurred. Treatment and control group students did not differ significantly in their attitude change from time 1 to time 2.     

Attitudes toward lesbian, gay, and bisexual college students: the contribution of pluralistic ignorance, dynamic social impact, and contact theories

Social psychology theories may be useful in developing new interventions to reduce prejudice against lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) college students. For this preliminary study, the authors surveyed 109 college dormitory residents to determine their personal comfort with LGB students and their perceptions of other students' comfort with these individuals. They found widespread evidence of pluralistic ignorance--the students rated themselves as significantly less anti-gay than either their friends or the typical student. Students' attitudes showed geographic clustering, with the building of residence a significant predictor of students' attitudes. Finally, consistent with the contact hypothesis, the perception that 1 or 2 LGB students lived on the same floor or in the same building was associated with more positive attitudes.     

Texas college students' opinions of no-smoking policies, secondhand smoke, and smoking in public places

Abstract. The authors examined college student opinions of no-smoking policies, secondhand smoke, and smoking in public places. A convenience sample of 1,188 (66.4% female; 26.9% White, 64.1% Black, and 9.0% Hispanic) students attending 5 Texas colleges volunteered to complete a 60-item anonymous survey on tobacco attitudes and behaviors. Results of our study showed that women, Black students, and nonsmoking students reported the most favorable attitudes toward no smoking. Male students, white students, and students who smoked in the past 30 days (current smokers) reported the least favorable attitudes. The lowest level of agreement by all subgroups was provided for prohibiting smoking everywhere on campus (inside and outside of buildings). Implications for tobacco control on college campuses are discussed.     

Attitudes Toward Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual College Students: The Contribution of Pluralistic Ignorance,Dynamic Social Impact,and Contact Theories

Abstract

Social psychology theories may be useful in developing new interventions to reduce prejudice against lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) college students. For this preliminary study, the authors surveyed 109 college dormitory residents to determine their personal comfort with LGB students and their perceptions of other students' comfort with these individuals. They found widespread evidence of pluralistic ignorance—the students rated themselves as significantly less anti-gay than either their friends or the typical student. Students' attitudes showed geographic clustering, with the building of residence a significant predictor of students' attitudes. Finally, consistent with the contact hypothesis, the perception that 1 or 2 LGB students lived on the same floor or in the same building was associated with more positive attitudes.     

An Evaluation of Working on What Works (WOWW): A Solution-Focused Intervention for Schools

Working on What Works (WOWW) is a manualized, 10-week classroom intervention based on solution-focused brief therapy. This study evaluates WOWW using a randomized experimental, posttest-only design. The study included 30 fourth and fifth grade classrooms, containing 30 teachers and 413 students. Results indicate no significant differences between WOWW and control groups for student internalizing and externalizing behaviors, student–teacher relationships, student academic performance, or teacher sense of efficacy. However, students in the WOWW group had significantly fewer days absent from school compared with the control group. Additionally, teachers' ratings on WOWW classrooms' performance improved significantly more than teachers' ratings on the control classrooms. Results from this study show that WOWW is a feasible intervention for therapists to use in schools and can be implemented across classrooms in both public and private schools. WOWW has potential to improve student attendance and classroom performance, both of which are important areas of concern for schools.     

A developmental perspective on the Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines

The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines were developed to help multidisciplinary school-based teams use a decision tree to evaluate student threats and take appropriate preventive action. A main goal of this approach is to allow school-based teams to recognize and respond to the developmental complexities of children and adolescents without resorting to the use of zero tolerance discipline. The model takes a triage approach that involves progressively more extensive assessment and intervention according to the severity of the threat and the student's intentions. The article summarizes two field test studies of the model, a study of training effects on staff attitudes and knowledge about violence prevention, and a quasi-experimental study showing that secondary schools using the model enjoyed a more positive school climate characterized by less bullying and greater willingness among students to seek help for threats of violence.     

Differences Between College Students from Divorced and Intact Families

We examined five hundred college students from intact and divorced families along several measures of adjustment. Further, comparisons within the divorce group were made across gender and number of years since the divorce with the covariates of parents' marital happiness prior to the divorce, remarriage, and who the student lived with after the divorce statistically controlled. Measures of adjustment included sexual behavior, attitudes toward marriage, depression, self-esteem, and general psychological functioning (pathology, anxiety, expression). Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that students from divorced families had significantly more sexual partners and more negative attitudes toward marriage than students from intact families. In addition, a significantly higher percentage of women from divorced families had had sexual intercourse as compared to women from intact families. Finally, women with parents that divorced within the past year were significantly more expressive than women with parents that divorced more than five years ago and more expressive than men with parents that had divorced within the past five years. The results are discussed in terms of the resolution of intimacy issues for college students with divorced parents and implications are drawn.     

Are Psychology University Student Gamblers Representative of Non-university Students and General Gamblers? A Comparative Analysis

Students recruited from psychology undergraduate university populations are commonly used in psychology research, including gambling studies. However, the extent to which the use of this subpopulation produces findings that can be extrapolated to other groups is questionable. The present study was designed to compare results from university-recruited psychology student gamblers to those obtained from a sample of gamblers recruited from the general population that also included students. An online survey measuring gambling behavior and Internet gambling, attitudes and knowledge about gambling and problem gambling severity was posted on websites accessed by gamblers. Participants were recruited from two sources, a psychology undergraduate university population (n = 461) and online websites (n = 4,801). Results showed university-recruited students differed significantly from both adults and students recruited from the general population in respect to demographic variables and gambling behavior. Psychology undergraduate students were younger, more likely to be female, and had lower incomes. When relevant demographic variables were controlled, psychology undergraduate students were found to gamble less frequently, at different times, and to be at lower-risk for gambling-related problems, but had more irrational beliefs and more negative attitudes towards gambling than gamblers recruited from the general population. Results suggest that caution should be used in extrapolating findings from research using university-recruited psychology student gamblers to wide community populations due to differences related to gambling thoughts, attitudes and behaviors.     

College Student Financial Stress: Are the Kids Alright?

An analysis of College students’ subjective well-being (SWB) and persistence behavior was conducted with an emphasis on financial stress and individuals’ perceptions of financial situation, controlling for a number of health, financial, and demographic factors. Data were taken from a sample of 324 undergraduate students from a major Midwestern university. Results indicated that students experiencing higher reported financial stress scored lower on a measure of SWB, and were also significantly more likely to report difficulty maintaining enrollment or number of academic hours enrolled. Individuals’ financial self-efficacy was positively associated with SWB and negatively associated with reductions in enrolled hours, though was not significant as a predictor of student persistence attitudes. Implications for student well-being and healthy campus initiatives are discussed.     

When the context withholds girls from gender a-typical conduct: Schools' gender role culture and disruptive school behaviour of boys and girls

On average, boys display more disruptive school behaviour than girls. This study looks at this behaviour in the first place as gendered behaviour, investigating whether boys' and girls' disruptive behaviour is associated with their schools' student and teacher gender role culture. Multilevel analyses (HLM7) of representative Flemish data of 2706 male and 2436 female 8th grade students in resp. 57 and 49 secondary schools, and 1247 teachers gathered at the end of school-year 2013/14, revealed that a more traditional student gender role culture is associated with less disruptive school behaviour in girls. As for boys, the positive association between traditional student gender role culture and disruptive school behaviour disappears when accounting for their individual gender role attitudes, which are significantly more traditional than those of girls. More traditional gender role attitudes coincide with more disruptive behaviour in boys and girls. Moreover, boys displaying less disruptive behaviour report a higher felt pressure for gender conformity. No impact is found of the homogeneity of teachers' gender role attitudes. The findings demonstrate that disruptive school behaviour can be looked at as gendered behaviour and can be tackled, at least partly, by discouraging gender stereotypical beliefs in students.     

A longitudinal study of the effects of a university human sexuality course on sexual attitudes

This study tested the hypotheses that students taking a university human sexuality course will have different attitudes over a 2‐year period than students not taking such a course, and more accepting attitudes toward the sexual behaviors of others, over a 2‐year period, than toward their own sexual behavior. Sexual attitudes of 127 human sexuality class students and 114 control class students at the University of Northern Iowa were measured at the beginning of class (pretest), the end of class (posttest), and 2 years after the end of class (follow‐up). There were no pretest differences between the treatment and control groups in university classification, marital status, political affiliation, religious affiliation, sex, age, grade point average, or sexual attitudes. Both hypotheses were supported. Human sexuality students developed more accepting attitudes and became more accepting of behaviors for others compared to behaviors for self. Control group students developed less accepting attitudes and became less accepting of behaviors for others compared to behaviors for self. The sex of the students and the session they attended class were also found to influence sexual attitudes.     

Discipline,Shaming and Antisocial Attitude in Philadelphia Middle Schools

The U.S. school system has changed fundamentally in its basic approach to social control in recent decades, with harsh approaches to student discipline having increased in popularity despite data showing pronounced and steady declines in incidents of both school violence and juvenile delinquency. This study revisits a sample of students in the Philadelphia School District to examine how perceptions of school rules and administration are associated with antisocial attitudes among students who were recently disciplined. The analysis included measures of interdependency, shaming, and peer association derived from reintegrative shaming theory. Findings from multiple regression analysis show that students who perceived their sanction as reintegrative in the school context were less likely to hold antisocial attitudes. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Research Notes

In the summer of 1995, a required MSW course was taught simultaneously to two sections of students at the University of Georgia, 11 on the main campus and 9 at a branch campus. Each section was alternately taught using live instruction or distance learning (two-way interactive television). At the conclusion of the course, students evaluated each method of teaching using Biner’s (1993) instrument for measuring attitudes toward televised courses. Live instruction was rated significantly higher than distance learning. Although distance learning technology has potential for augmenting social work educational resources, it has not yet demonstrated comparable outcomes in terms of student learning.     

Attitude Change among College Students toward Homosexuality

Abstract

Although audio-visual materials are commonly used on college and university campuses, frequently those materials are not evaluated to determine what impact they may have on students' attitudes. The present research compared the effect of three audio-visual programs on attitudes of college students toward homosexuality. The three programs included a film that dealt with prejudice towards numerous groups but not towards homosexuals; a video-tape of a homosexual clergyman who discussed sexual variance with particular emphasis on homosexuality; and two films in which couples were explicitly engaging in homosexual behavior. A control group was used. All groups received a lecture about homosexuality.

Using a two-way analysis of covariance, significant differences were found among the groups. Subjects that watched the film on prejudice and the video-tape of a discussion of homosexuality, as well as the control group, were all significantly more tolerant toward homosexuality than subjects who watched the explicit films. The difference among groups was immediate only. Five weeks after exposure to audio-visual programs, there were no significant differences. There was no significant difference between males and females, either immediately after seeing the programs or five weeks later. Thus, attitudes of college students toward homosexuality can be altered and were not gender specific.