Ethnicity and child sexual abuse experiences of female college students

This research examines the understudied issue of race/ethnicity in relation to child sexual abuse experiences (CSA) in a cross-sectional convenience sample of 461 female college students completing a survey. Comparisons of students' abuse experiences revealed ethnic differences in sexual abuse prevalence, severity of abuse, the victim- offender relationship and post-abuse coping. Black students reported more sexual abuse than other ethnic groups, followed by Hispanics, Whites, and Asians. Although timing and extent of disclosure of sexual abuse did not vary by ethnicity, negative social reactions to disclosure were more common for certain ethnic groups than others. No ethnic differences emerged for depressive or PTSD symptoms. Implications are drawn for future research on the issue of ethnic differences in the aftermath of CSA experiences.     

"Natural recovery" from alcohol abuse among college students

As they progress through college, a significant number of students reduce their abusive alcohol consumption without formal interventions on the part of the university, other agencies, or counseling/mental health services. Such "natural recovery" may offer important clues as to both the etiology and reduction of alcohol abuse on campus. The author reviews factors hypothesized to play a significant role in facilitating natural recovery and offers suggestions about how such findings might be used to shape campus structures and activities so as to reduce excessive alcohol consumption by college students.     

ADHD,depression, and substance abuse risk among beginning college students

Abstract

Objective: This study examined differences in substance use, depression, and academic functioning among ADHD and non-ADHD college students. Participants: Included 1,748 students (ages 18–25; women 68.4%; Caucasian 71.3%) with and without history of ADHD. Methods: We assessed the relationship of ADHD to substance use variables, controlling for depressive symptoms and examined relationships with GPA. Results: ADHD students were more likely to have engaged in frequent alcohol use, binge drinking, regular marijuana use and to have used other drugs in the last year. They reported higher depression symptoms than non-ADHD students, although substance abuse risk remained high even when controlling for depressive symptoms. ADHD students had lower overall GPA than those without ADHD. However, this difference was no longer significant when controlling for depression and marijuana use. Conclusions: College campuses should consider programing aimed at identifying ADHD students at risk for developing substance abuse problems and emotional difficulties.     

Acculturation status and sexuality among female Cuban American college students

The authors examined relations among different measures of acculturation, and between acculturation and sexual behavior, in a sample of female Cuban American college students (n=61, M age = 18.4 years) who completed self-report surveys. In the first set of analyses, weak to moderate associations emerged among 4 measures of acculturation (birthplace, childhood language use, current language use, and ethnic identity), suggesting that inconsistent findings from prior research may have resulted from measurement limitations. In multivariate analyses, the authors examined predictors of sexual behavior and found that 1 aspect of acculturation (higher levels of ethnic identity) and background characteristics (being older and less religious) were associated with voluntary sexual intercourse. Moreover, higher levels on a sexual risk composite were associated with being born in the United States, more ethnically identified, older, and less religious. These analyses highlight the need for specificity in assessing acculturation in a college student population and support the need to examine cultural factors directly in sexuality research.     

Everyday health communication experiences of college students

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined college students' day-to-day health communication experiences. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 109 midwestern university students participated in the study. METHODS: The participants completed health communication diaries for 2 weeks, generating 2,185 records. Frequent health topics included nutrition and diet, minor health concerns, risky health practices, and body fitness. RESULTS: Approximately 27% of health communication experiences involved the proactive seeking of health-related information or advice. Interpersonal venues (face-to-face, telephone, and e-mail) were evident in about 75% of the records, which were dominated by exchanges with friends and family members. The authors found modest interactions of topic, channel, and purpose. CONCLUSIONS: Congruent with the uses and gratifications theory, the authors found that satisfaction with and perceived impact of health communication experiences varied by topic, channel, relationship, and purpose.     

A multivariate analysis of adverse childhood experiences and health behaviors and outcomes among college students

Objective: This study investigated associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACE) prior to age 18 years and multiple health behaviors (eg, cigarette and other substance use) and outcomes (eg, obesity, depression) for a large college sample. Participants: 2,969 college students from seven universities in the state of Georgia were included in the analysis. Methods: Web-based surveys were completed by students (45–60 minutes) during the spring semester, 2015. Results: Findings indicate that more ACEs are associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, ADHD symptoms, cigarette use, alcohol use, marijuana use, and BMI, in addition to lower levels of fruit and vegetable intake, and sleep. Conclusion: ACEs may carry forward in the lifespan to influence a range of unhealthy outcomes among college students. College intervention programs may benefit by recognizing the pervasiveness of ACEs and their associations with health behaviors and outcomes, and include interventions across more than one health behavior.     

Food insecurity among college students

Many college students experience food insecurity. It is important that researchers understand this issue for students because food insecurity is a measure of material hardship more broadly, and it could have negative implications for students' success in college and their lifetime economic opportunities. This review synthesizes researchers' current understanding of food insecurity among college students from a sociological lens focused on economic insecurity and material hardship. It focuses in detail on the breadth and depth of research around food insecurity among college students, exploring how food insecurity is measured, researchers' varying methodologies for assessing it, and topic areas of interest, such as how food insecurity differs by institution type, demographic characteristics, and its associations with health and academic outcomes.     

Links between past abuse,suicide ideation,and sexual orientation among San Diego college students

The authors explored relationships among childhood abuse, suicidal ideation, and sexual orientation of 18- to 30-year-old students enrolled in 2 San Diego area colleges, using responses from anonymous questionnaires. Sixty percent of the 138 eligible respondents were women, and 22% were self-identified gay/bisexual individuals. Women were more likely than men to report at least 1 form of emotional abuse (odds ratio [OR] = 2.3; p =.02) and unwanted sexual touching (OR = 4.3; p = .0004). Lesbian/bisexual women were significantly more likely to report past suicidal ideation than were heterosexual women (OR = 3.7, p = .03). Gay/bisexual men were more likely to report unwanted sexual touching than were heterosexual men (OR = 5.1, p = .04), but the men did not report significantly higher rates of past suicide ideation or suicide attempts. Sexual orientation and a past history of child sexual, physical, and emotional abuse could be compounding risk factors for suicidal ideation among college students.     

Predictors of well-being among college students

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Identification of health-related risk behaviors associated with well-being in college students is essential to guide the development of health promotion strategies for this population. The purposes were to evaluate well-being among undergraduate students and to identify health-related risk behaviors that predict well-being in this population. Methods: A cross-sectional Web-based survey of undergraduate students was conducted at a metropolitan university in the Southeast United States. A total of 568 students responded (response rate 14.2%). Data were collected on health-related risk behaviors using the National College Health Assessment II. Results: Controlling demographic characteristics, the best predictive model included physical activity, current tobacco user, depression, ever received mental health services, and sleep quality, which was the strongest predictor (β = .45, p < .001). This model explained 35% of the variance in well-being. Conclusions: Interventions that promote sleep quality among college students may be most beneficial in improving well-being.     

Victimization and suicidality among female college students

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the predictive role of victimization in suicidality among college women. Participants: Female respondents to the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II (N = 258). Methods: Multivariate logistic regression analyses examined the relationship between victimization and suicidality. Results: Emotional victimization (odds ratio [OR] = 11.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.43, 57.19, p < .01), physical victimization (OR = 6.10, 95% CI = 1.49, 25.08, p < .05), and sexual victimization (OR = 7.53, 95% CI = 2.06, 27.50, p < .01) were all significantly associated with an increased odds of suicidality even after considering the role of depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusions: Victimization is a significant and independent predictor of suicidality among college women. Controlling for relevant psychological health–related variables, college women who reported any of the 3 types of victimization had more than 8 times the odds of suicidality compared with nonvictims.     

Indonesian civic engagement among college students

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze the overall picture of Indonesian civic engagement, particularly among Palangka Raya university students. Through a quantitative approach and survey method, the population and sample of the research include the students who were on their fourth (2015/2016) and second (2016/2017) semester about 2,422 students. The answers were then divided into three categories: good, moderate, and poor. As for the civic attitude and civic behavior variables, the maximum value is 5 and the minimum 1, and then the answers were divided into five categories: very high, high, moderate, low and very low. Findings reveal (i) the similarity of civic engagement in each faculty and level of the students who are on their fourth and second semester is in moderate category in terms of their knowledge based on identifying the governmental process, rights, and duties of citizens in terms of laws and politics, as well as the lecturers; (ii) the similarity of the high category of their attitude based on the values of humanity, empathy, openness, tolerance, ethics, and social responsibility; (iii) the difference of civic engagement between the second semester students who are low and the fourth semester who are high in terms of their behavior is determined by learning experience where the fourth semester students are more experienced in coping with the problems in community than the second semester counterparts. Recommendation for future research is the exploration of the reason behind the emerging unsynchronized results between the Indonesian civic knowledge, attitude, and behavior.     

Sexual compulsivity among heterosexual college students

A growing body of literature suggests that an association exists between sexual compulsivity and participation in sexual behaviors that are high risk in terms of HIV/STD infection. In most of these studies, sexual compulsivity has been measured using the Sexual Compulsivity Scale. As yet, sexual compulsivity has only been assessed with this scale among individuals who are members of high risk groups for HIV infection or who are HIV-positive. In this study, we found support for reliability and construct validity of the SCS in a sample of 876 heterosexual college students, a group not yet examined in the sexual addiction and compulsivity literature. Construct validity was substantiated by the presence of significant relationships of sexual compulsivity with frequencies of sexual behaviors and numbers of sexual partners. The scale was also related to gender and age. Sexual compulsivity scores were associated with frequency of risky sexual behaviors. The relationships between sexual compulsivity and solo, partner, public, and risky sexual behaviors remained significant when we controlled for demographic variables. Although we found support for construct validity of the SCS in our sample, it is not clear whether the scale distinctly measures sexual compulsivity or taps into other constructs, such as sexual desire and sexual exploration.     

Sexual compulsivity among heterosexual college students

A growing body of literature suggests that an association exists between sexual compulsivity and participation in sexual behaviors that are high risk in terms of HIV/STD infection. In most of these studies, sexual compulsivity has been measured using the Sexual Compulsivity Scale (SCS; Kalichman & Rompa, 1995). As yet, sexual compulsivity has only been assessed with this scale among individuals who are members of “high risk” groups for HIV infection or who are HIV‐positive. In this study, we found support for reliability and construct validity of the SCS in a sample of 876 heterosexual college students, a group not yet examined in the sexual addiction and compulsivity literature. Construct validity was substantiated by the presence of significant relationships of sexual compulsivity with frequencies of sexual behaviors and numbers of sexual partners. The scale was also related to gender and age. Sexual compulsivity scores were associated with frequency of risky sexual behaviors. The relationships between sexual compulsivity and solo, partner, public, and risky sexual behaviors remained significant when we controlled for demographic variables. Although we found support for construct validity of the SCS in our sample, it is not clear whether the scale distinctly measures sexual compulsivity or taps into other constructs, such as sexual desire and sexual exploration.     

Condom use among Latino college students

Recent reports indicate that Latinos, the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the United States, are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. College health professionals, therefore, should understand current sexual behaviors and risk factors among Latino youth. The authors assessed students' condom use at their most recent sexual encounter by using data from those students who reported oral, vaginal, or anal sex during the last 30 days. Fewer than half of recently sexually active Latino students had used condoms during their last oral (4.9%), vaginal (41.3%), or anal (27.8%) sexual encounter. Predictors of condom use varied according to the type of sexual activity. Findings from this exploratory study offer current information about condom use and sexual behaviors among Latino college students and suggest that prevention interventions and messages should be tailored to students' gender and types of sexual activity.     

Measuring gambling outcomes among college students

The present research describes the proposal and validation of three gambling outcome measures, the Gambling Quantity and Perceived Norms Scale (GQPN), the Gambling Problem Index (GPI), and the Gambling Readiness to Change Questionnaire (GRTC).The study consisted of 560 undergraduate college students who completed a survey including the newly constructed measures and other measures designed to assess convergent validity. Results confirmed good reliability and convergent validity of all three measures. Implications for evaluating efficacy of treatment and prevention interventions are detailed.     

Prevention of shape and weight concerns among college students: An examination of education status variables

Objective: The current study examined whether overlooked aspects of the postsecondary student experience predicted individuals’ body-related concerns, beyond the influence of demographic factors that have upheld explanatory power in past research. Participants: Undergraduate and graduate students (n?=?3,259) took part in the multi-institute Healthy Bodies Study during the 2015 academic year. Method: Participants completed an online survey that assessed their undergraduate/graduate statuses, academic majors, extracurricular involvements, and body-related concerns. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were run to answer primary study questions. Results: Gender, body mass index (BMI), undergraduate/graduate student status, being a male graduate student, major, and extracurricular activities predicted shape concern (SC), weight concern (WC), and whether these concerns increased since students began at their universities. The addition of the student-specific variables uniquely contributed to the variance in body-related concerns. Conclusions: Further research on the body-related discontent of the identified student groups should be conducted to elucidate potential campus-based treatment targets.     

Adverse childhood experiences,post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms,and self-reported stress among traditional and nontraditional college students

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD-S), and self-reported stress among college students. Participants: A total of 236 undergraduate students enrolled in nursing courses participated. Method: Using a correlational design, participants completed questionnaires online. To examine PTSD moderation between ACE and self-reported stress, multiple regression was employed. Stress outcomes were examined using a 4-group variable. Mean differences in stress response between these four groups were examined. Differences in ACE, PTSD-S, and stress response between traditional and nontraditional students were also examined. Results: PTSD-S moderated the relationship between ACEs, and self-reported stress. This indicates that students who report PTSD-S following childhood adversity perceive higher levels of stress. Nontraditional and traditional students differed in their responses to the ICLRE scale. Conclusion: Individuals who report PTSD-S following childhood adversity perceive higher levels of stress later in life. Stress reduction programs may be beneficial for students.     

Examining residence status as a risk factor for health risk behaviors among college students

Objective: The current study is aimed to evaluate college student residence as a unique risk factor for a range of negative health behaviors. Participants: We examined data from 63,555 students (66% females) from 157 campuses who completed the National College Health Assessment Survey in Spring 2011. Methods: Participants answered questions about the frequency of recent use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and illicit drugs, as well as sexual risk behavior in the last 30 days. Sexual risk behaviors were operationalized as having unprotected vaginal sex (yes/no) and the number of sexual partners. Results: Logistic regression analyses revealed that living off-campus is a unique predictor of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and illicit drug use, as well as engaging in unprotected sex and a greater number of sexual partners (all ps <. 01). Conclusions: Students living off-campus exhibit more substance use and sexual risk behaviors than students living on-campus, independent of gender, age, or race.     

Increased risk of alcohol abuse among college students living on the US-Mexico border: implications for prevention

Alcohol abuse is a serious problem for students on college campuses. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study to (1) compare measures of alcohol-risk behaviors among college students attending a university on the US-Mexico border with other students and (2) identify factors associated with risk behaviors among border students. They used a self-administered survey to collect data from 286 freshman and sophomore students. Rates of binge drinking were higher among study respondents than among respondents in a national survey of freshman and sophomore college students (46% vs 42% to 45%, respectively). Drinking in high school and drinking in Mexico were significantly associated with all outcomes (binge drinking, drinking and driving, and riding with a drinker). The findings underscore the need for targeted prevention programs among this high-risk population.