College students' use of technology to communicate with romantic partners about sexual health issues

Objective: To examine college students' technology-assisted sexual communication perceptions and practices alongside their beliefs about the effectiveness of face-to-face (F-t-F) sexual communication. Participants: 144 college students at a private university in the Northeast, U.S., completed a survey in October 2016. Method: A cross-sectional online survey examined how college students use text messaging and private social media messaging to communicate with romantic partners about sexual health issues. Results: Students who have communicated with romantic partners via technology reported being likely to do so again in the future, to perceive the effectiveness of technology-assisted sexual communication to be comparable to F-t-F sexual communication, and to be confident in their ability to initiate sexual communication with romantic partners via F-t-F communication. Conclusions: College students may see text messaging and social media messaging as useful for sexual communication, which has important implications for college health professionals who wish to promote frequent, effective sexual communication.     

Assisted entry mitigates text messaging-based driving detriment

Previous research using cell phones indicates that manual manipulation is not a principal component of text messaging relating driving detriment. This paper suggests that manipulation of a phone in conjunction with the cognitive need to compose the message itself co-act to contribute to driving degradation. This being so, drivers sending text messages might experience reduced interference to the driving task if the text messaging itself were assisted through the predictive T9 system. We evaluated undergraduate drivers in a simulator who drove and texted using either Assisted Text entry, via Nokia's T9 system, or unassisted entry via the multitap interface. Results supported the superiority of the T9 system over the multitap system implying that specific assistive technologies can modulate the degradation of capacity which texting tragically induces.     

Physicians' and Nurses' Responses to Abuse of the Elderly:

A survey of Alabama physicians in the fields of internal medicine, family practice and general practice and a survey of nurses in the areas of home health and community health care were conducted in 1987 and 1988 concerning elder abuse and Alabma's thirteen-year-old mandatory reporting/protective services law. The authors found that phyisicans did not understand the law but nurses did. Physicians' attitudes toward the law were ambivalent. Nurses had more negative attitudes toward the law. These attitudes appeared to be based on poor response by authorities to earlier reports.     

Attitude, interest, and motivation for adoption and foster care

This survey compares prospective foster and adoptive parents' attitudes, willingness, and motivations, and discusses implications for media campaigns. The results show that demographic profiles of targets for adoption and foster placements are the same, an opportunity exists to shape positive attitudes toward foster care in immigrant populations, the most compelling way to attract parents is to focus on the child in need, and testimonials of personal experiences of foster and adoptive parents should address perceived barriers to adopting or fostering. Political, religious, and environmental ideology were unrelated to attitudes or willingness to adopt or foster. Respondents with strong identifications with gay or lesbian lifestyles exhibited a higher than average willingness to adopt or foster.     

The effects of perceived parental behaviors, attitudes, and substance-use on adolescent attitudes toward and intent to use psychoactive substances

The effects of parental behaviors, attitudes, and drug-use as perceived by adolescents on the latter's attitudes toward and intent to use psychoactive substances were studied. Perceived parental rejection, acceptance, and attitudes significantly differentiated between adolescents who reported favorable attitudes toward and high intent to use substances and those who expressed less favorable attitudes. On most parameters, the father's influence was significant, whereas the effect of the mother did not reach significance. Positive and significant relationships were also found between perceived parental rejection, acceptance, and attitudes and adolescent attitudes and intent to use psychoactive substances. No relationships were found between controlling parental behavior and adolescent attitudes and intent to use psychoactive substances. The role of the parents, as well as implications of the findings for prevention are discussed.     

Single and double sexual standards in Finland,Estonia, and St. Petersburg

The sexual revolution and fight for gender equality began in the West during the 1960s but did not reach the Soviet Union until the late 1980s. Using survey data from nationally representative samples from Finland in 1971, 1992, and 1999 and from two former Soviet areas, Estonia in 2000 and St. Petersburg in 1996, we investigated the following: (a) differences across decades and countries in acceptance of the sexual double standard (SDS) in attitudes toward marital infidelity and women's initiating sex; and (b) the relationship between the SDS and sexual satisfaction. Results show that Finland in the 1990s was more egalitarian than Finland in 1971, St. Petersburg in 1996, or Estonia in 2000. Egalitarian sexual attitudes were positively related to sexual satisfaction.     

Black heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in the United States

Although the direction and intensity of Black heterosexuals’ attitudes toward homosexuality have been topics for considerable speculation, empirical data from representative samples previously have not been available. In the current article we report findings from a two‐wave telephone survey with a national probability sample of 391 Black heterosexual adults. Results indicated that negative attitudes toward homosexuality are widespread but do not appear to be more prevalent among Blacks than among Whites. Gender differences in Black heterosexuals’ attitudes (men's attitudes toward gay men were more negative than their attitudes toward lesbians or women's attitudes toward gay men) appeared to result primarily from men's greater tendency to regard male homosexuality as unnatural. The single most important predictor of attitudes was the attribution of choice to sexual orientation: Respondents who believed that homosexuality is beyond an individual's control expressed significantly more favorable attitudes toward gay men and lesbians than did respondents who regarded homosexuality as a choice. Consistent with previous research in predominantly White samples, respondents were more likely to express favorable attitudes if they were highly educated, unmarried, politically liberal, registered to vote and not religious, and if they included Blacks in their concept of gay men. In addition, respondents reported more favorable attitudes if they had experienced personal contact with gay men or lesbians, but this was not a significant predictor of attitudes when other variables were statistically controlled. Possible differences between Blacks’ and Whites’ social constructions of sexual orientation are discussed.     

Energy Conservation and Attitudes toward Technology

An exploratory survey of a small suburban community near LosAngeles investigated the attitudes and values underlying acceptanceof technological applications, examined the relationship ofgeneral attitudes toward technology to conservation attitudesand behavior during the energy crisis of 1973–1974, andcontrasted college students with the surrounding community intheir regard for technology and energy conservation. Two distinctdimensions of attitudes toward technology utility and affect–weredefined and found to relate to belief in the reality of theenergy crisis and preferred solutions, but not to reported conservationbehavior. Moreover, in contrast to popular images, no strongantitechnology sentiment was found among the college sample     

Value,Attitude, and Belief Determinants of Willingness to Accept a Facility for the Homeless

Basic values, attitudes toward the homeless, and specific beliefs about a proposed facility were examined, along with the NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) phenomenon, to explore if, and to what degree, these factors affect community acceptance or rejection of a facility for the homeless. Previously designed Protestant ethic (PE) and Humanitarian-Egalitarian (HE) scales were used to measure two basic values (Katz & Hass, 1988). Scales to measure attitudes toward the homeless and beliefs about a planned facility were developed. As predicted, values, attitudes, and beliefs correlated with each other and were related to plan acceptance, so that HE, pro-homeless attitudes, and positive beliefs about the plan were positively related to acceptance, and PE, anti-homeless attitudes, and negative beliefs about the plan were positively related to rejection. Also as predicted, four proximity measures were all related to acceptance of the plan.     

A Review of Poll Everywhere Audience Response System

Poll Everywhere, an audience response system based on cell phone texting technology, was tested in two undergraduate social work classes with very positive results. A survey conducted in one class reveals that two-thirds of the students answered every question and 14% most of the questions; over 90% found text-based polling to be either easy or extremely easy to use; over 90% thought it helped them learn class material; and over 80% would recommend or highly recommend its use. The instructors, too, found many strengths to this system. It is very easy to use, proved to be an effective way to engage students and increase class participation, free for a class size up to 40 students, and free to students with cell phone plans with unlimited text messaging. With the vast majority of college students owning cell phones, and text messaging serving as their primary form of cell phone communication, this technology is an intuitive, cost-effective, user-friendly technology that can enhance students' learning and classroom experience, and instructors' effectiveness in teaching course material and assessing students' command of the same by examining the results of their polls.     

Value,attitude, and belief determinants of willingness to accept a facility for the homeless

Basic values, attitudes toward the homeless, and specific beliefs about a proposed facility were examined, along with the NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) phenomenon, to explore if, and to what degree, these factors affect community acceptance or rejection of a facility for the homeless. Previously designed Protestant ethic (PE) and Humanitarian-Egalitarian (HE) scales were used to measure two basic values (Katz & Hass, 1988). Scales to measure attitudes toward the homeless and beliefs about a planned facility were developed. As predicted, values, attitudes, and beliefs correlated with each other and were related to plan acceptance, so that HE, pro-homeless attitudes, and positive beliefs about the plan were positively related to acceptance, and PE, anti-homeless attitudes, and negative beliefs about the plan were positively related to rejection. Also as predicted, four proximity measures were all related to acceptance of the plan.     

Power, desire, and pleasure in sexual fantasies

One hundred and sixty-two participants (ages 21-45) wrote open-ended sexual fantasies and completed self-report measures of rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, and attitudes toward women. We coded fantasies using a newly developed scoring system that includes themes of dominance, submission, sexual pleasure, and sexual desire. Men fantasized about dominance more than women did; they also tended to focus more on the desire and pleasure of their partner. Desire and pleasure were more closely linked in the fantasies of men than in the fantasies of women, for whom the two were distinct constructs. Although fantasies of submission were not associated with problematic attitudes for either gender, men's fantasies of dominance were associated with greater acceptance of rape myths. For women, greater rape myth acceptance was associated with emotional and romantic fantasy themes.     

Social support networks,instant messaging,and gender equity in refugee education

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the role of instant messaging chat groups to support teacher training and gender equity initiatives in Kenyan refugee camps. Our findings are based on survey data with refugee teachers in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps (n?=?203), group interviews with refugee teachers in Kakuma (n?=?21), and interviews with international instructors of teacher training programs in Nairobi, Toronto, and Vancouver (n?=?14). In our analysis, we apply amplification theory, feminist science and technology studies paradigms, and considerations of transnational approaches to understand the use of instant messaging among refugee teacher communities. Our framework explores how social and cultural norms are amplified through transnational text and instant messaging related to teacher training and in support of gender equity. Peer-to-peer group chats draw on transnational learning opportunities and expand these engagements through group chats between men and women refugee teachers across camps as well as through community engagement about gender equity initiatives in education. International instructors identify both value and hesitation in navigating the quantity and content of these communications, such as learning more about refugee teachers’ daily lives in the camps and concern about following and managing the amount of communication that can ensue over chat groups. Our work has practical implications for transnational teacher training programs in refugee camps, illuminates how mobile technology and chat groups allow women and men in the community to engage and support girls’ education, and questions how text messaging affects the lived and day-to-day experiences of women refugee teachers.     

Power,desire, and pleasure in sexual fantasies

One hundred and sixty‐two participants (ages 21–45) wrote open‐ended sexual fantasies and completed self‐report measures of rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, and attitudes toward women. We coded fantasies using a newly developed scoring system that includes themes of dominance, submission, sexual pleasure, and sexual desire. Men fantasized about dominance more than women did; they also tended to focus more on the desire and pleasure of their partner. Desire and pleasure were more closely linked in the fantasies of men than in the fantasies of women, for whom the two were distinct constructs. Although fantasies of submission were not associated with problematic attitudes for either gender, men's fantasies of dominance were associated with greater acceptance of rape myths. For women, greater rape myth acceptance was associated with emotional and romantic fantasy themes.     

Role of narratives in promoting mental illnesses acceptance

This study examines the role of narrative persuasion in promoting acceptance of mental illnesses. Specifically, we investigate the relative persuasiveness of narrative versus non-narrative messages, as well as the relative effectiveness of first-person versus third-person narratives. Findings of a between-subjects experiment (N = 562) suggested that narratives were more effective than non-narratives in promoting favorable attitudes toward people with mental illnesses. Although narratives led to greater transportation among the participants, reduced counterarguing seemed to be the underlying mechanism for enhanced persuasiveness of narratives. Moreover, the results were indicative of a possible interaction between narrative perspective and participants’ gender. Implications of the findings for health campaigns are discussed.     

Understanding Nurse Perceptions of a Newly Implemented Electronic Medical Record System

Nurses are the frontline of healthcare; however, there has been little theoretically-driven research on their acceptance of information technology use in care delivery. This research utilized the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to understand how hospital nurses perceived the implementation of a new electronic medical record (EMR) system. This study used mix methods. The survey responses indicated that social influence and performance expectancy were significant factors in system adoption. Effort expectancy did not have a significant influence on the intention to use the EMR. The interviews were utilized to better understand these results. The UTAUT model highlighted factors that are important to nurses during an EMR deployment and can help in future implementations of technology in healthcare.     

EAP Referral Training and Supervisor's Beliefs About Troubled Workers

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between EAP referral training and supervisors' interactions with troubled workers. Using a field survey, self-report, retrospective methodology, 224 industrial supervisors' beliefs about impaired employees were examined in connection with the former group's participation in constructive confrontation training and their attitudes toward EAPs. In general, based on Bayer and Gerstein's (1988a) Bystander-Equity Model of Supervisory Helping Behavior, it was predicted that supervisors who had attended training and/or held positive attitudes toward their EAP would report more welldeveloped beliefs about troubled workers than persons who had not received training and/or held negative attitudes toward their EAP. Overall, our results provided support for the idea that constructive confrontation training enhances supervisors' recognition of impaired employees. While we anticipated this finding, we did not expect supervisors to report that their attitudes toward their EAP were unrelated to their beliefs about troubled persons. Alternative explanations for why supervisors behaved differently from what we had anticipated are offered, as are suggestions for how to conduct research on other aspects of the supervisor-impaired worker identification process.     

Issues of Gender in Promoting Tolerance for Homosexuality

Although a recent review suggests that students' attitudes toward homosexuality change as a result of taking a human sexuality course, research in this area has not adequately addressed the issues of gender of target and gender of respondent. Attitude measures rarely distinguish between lesbians and gay men; respondents are expected to hold more negative attitudes toward homosexuals of their own sex; and women are expected to be more readily influenced in some situations. This study shows that women and men did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, but attitudes toward lesbians were more easily changed than attitudes toward gay men regardless of the gender of the respondent.     

Adolescents' Willingness to Vote for a Woman for President:

During the past two decades there has been an increase in the number of women who campaign for and attain political office. This clearly has the potential to influence attitudes toward women in politics. In particular, it has the potential to influence the attitudes of adolescents, who, according to socialization theory, are especially affected by role models. In this study we used a quasiexperimental design to examine adolescents' attitudes toward female political candidates. We found that the junior and senior high school students we surveyed did not, as a group, use candidate sex as a voting cue. However, females were more willing than males and blacks were more willing than whites to vote for the female candidate.