A Perilous Paradox: The Contraceptive Behavior of College Students

Abstract

Currently, college students live in a social environment where contraceptive technology is highly effective, contraceptive information and methods are widely available, and premarital sexual activity is generally condoned. Paradoxically, data indicate that these students are poor contraceptive users, and that pregnancy and abortion rates among college students are surprisingly high. Since these social conditions should result in adequate contraceptive usage, other less obvious and overtly less rational factors must be influencing the behavior of this population.

The objectives of this article are to a) describe more fully the paradoxical nature of the problem of contraceptive use among college students, in part by a review of the research on collegiate contraceptive and sexual behavior; b) examine theories which have been offered to explain contraceptive behavior in college populations; and c) discuss implications of existing data and theories for the contraceptive education of young adults. This is a topic which has been relatively neglected as attention has been focused on the sexual and reproductive behavior of younger adolescents. It is also an area where professionals have failed to incorporate the implications of theory and research to the actual delivery of contraceptive health services.     

An integrated and experience-based approach to social work education: The Newcastle model

This paper describes a unique social work education model developed by a group of social work practitioners, all but one of whom were new to academia. The University of Newcastle, in New South Wales, pioneered problem-based learning (PBL) in Australia. The social work programme adopted PBL and gave it a strengths focus, making experience and experiential learning central to its approach. Newcastle's model is based on the belief that learning to be good social workers is best achieved through learning by doing, working with students' experiences, integrating theory and practice, using a collaborative or small group approach, and locating these elements in a strong social justice context. The Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree is relatively new. Introduced in 1991, its first graduates entered the workforce in 1995. The Newcastle model provides a unique example of experience-based learning and an integrated approach to social work education.     

A Public Transportation Decision‐Making Model within a Metropolitan Area

Understanding the decision‐making factors associated with public transportation is essential in strategic development of public transportation to improve acceptance and utilization of mass transit systems. This research analyzes factors affecting attitudes toward public transportation and the choice of transportation mode by investigating the public transportation decision‐making process of working professionals using a survey methodology. The objectives of this research are to model the transportation decision‐making process of public transportation users in a metropolitan area and to determine key factors that affect the public transportation choices made by potential public transportation users. This study contributes to the literature by developing and testing an integrated theoretical framework for modeling an individual's public transportation decision‐making process using four independent variables: Perceived Public Transportation Security, Knowledge, Price, and Convenience. We develop the proposed theoretical framework based upon the extant literature and tested it using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM). Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and utility theory, we develop the factors and refine associated items using confirmatory factor analysis.     

Modeling Sequential Information Acquisition Behavior in Rational Decision Making

Most real‐life decisions are made with less than perfect information and there is often some opportunity to acquire additional information to increase the quality of the decision. In this article, we define and study the sequential information acquisition process of a rational decision maker (DM) when allowed to acquire any finite amount of information from a set of products defined by vectors of characteristics. The information acquisition process of the DM depends both on the values of the characteristics observed previously and the number and potential realizations of the remaining characteristics. Each time an observation is acquired, the DM modifies the probability of improving upon the products already observed with the number of observations available. We construct two real‐valued functions whose crossing points determine the decision of how to allocate each available piece of information. We provide several numerical simulations to illustrate the information acquisition incentives defining the behavior of the DM. Applications to knowledge management and decision support systems follow immediately from our results, particularly when considering the introduction and acceptance of new technological products and when formalizing online search environments.     

大学生诚信的实现路径——基于安徽工业大学电气信息学院诚信管理的实证分析

诚信课堂教育是实现大学生诚信的重要路径,其促进了学生形成正确的诚信认知,但要使诚信认知外化为诚信行为,需要主体的自觉。因此有必要在课堂教育的基础上,结合高校学生管理工作的实际,以网络为载体,对学生进行行为管理,通过制定相应的诚信评价标准及相关奖惩制度等,拓展实现学生诚信的途径,巩固诚信课堂教育的积极成果。     

公司治理、声誉机制和上市公司违法违规行为分析

本文首先通过建模分析了公司治理结构在约束上市公司违法违规行为中的作用,然后以我国上市公司在2001-2002年间受处罚事件为样本,用Logit模型检验了公司治理和声誉机制对上市公司违法违规行为的约束作用,发现公司第一大股东集中持股有利于约束违法违规行为,但是声誉机制的作用甚微。此外,以CROA为代表的公司业绩指标与上市公司违法违规概率之间存在显著负相关关系。     

文化对企业行为的影响研究--来自我国合资企业的实证研究

这项研究以898个中外合资企业为样本,其中包括海外华资和来自西方文化背景的投资所建立的合资企业,分析了企业层面上的数据.假设文化能够影响企业进入的时间、行为和经营成果.通过AVONs分析和回归分析,结果表明了文化和技术资源的影响.     

大学生诚信水平与诚信态度分析

对大学生诚信水平和诚信态度的研究结果表明：大学生总体诚信水平较好,大学生的诚信水平在学科、性别、年级、生源地、是否独生子女、父母文化程度、月支出额等特征上存在差异,大学生的诚信水平与其对社会和谐的认识和信心呈正相关。     

Impact of intervention on breastfeeding outcomes and determinants based on theory of planned behavior

Background

Breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived control are significant determinants of breastfeeding, according to the theory of planned behavior (TPB). However, evidence concerning the effectiveness of the TPB-based intervention in breastfeeding promotion is sparse. Meanwhile, the changes of these determinants with time have not been examined in previous studies.