Precollege Exposure to Racial/Ethnic Difference and First-Year College Students’ Racial Attitudes

Background/Context Despite burgeoning racial and ethnic heterogeneity within the United States, many students grow up in racially homogeneous schools and neighborhoods. This lack of interracial interaction appears to play a substantial role in shaping students’ racial attitudes and world views upon entering college. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The aim of the study was to examine the relationships among multiple forms of precollege exposure to racial/ethnic diversity and racial attitudes (e.g., perceptions of workplace discrimination) upon entering college. Research Design A quantitative survey examined attitudes, precollege environments, and other indicators among 3,924 entering first-year college students (with approximately equal numbers of Asian Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites) at 28 U.S. colleges and universities. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted on the full sample as well as several racial/ethnic groups separately. Conclusions/Recommendations Findings indicated that exposure to racial/ethnic difference in students’ precollege neighborhoods and schools predict high school interracial friendships, which in turn predict their complex racial attitudes. The multigroup analyses further demonstrate that the relationships between interracial friendships and multiple racial attitudes are nonsignificant among White students, but significant for all other groups. These findings have implications for the promotion of meaningful curricular and cocurricular diversity interventions both before and during college.

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Potential differences between the political attitudes of people with same-sex parents and people with different-sex parents: An exploratory assessment of first-year college students

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0246929 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. e0246929

Author(s):

Andrew R. Flores ◽

Maisy Morrison

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

College Students ◽

The United States ◽

The Political ◽

First Year ◽

Same Sex ◽

Same Sex Couples ◽

First Year College ◽

First Year College Students ◽

Same Sex Parents

Children were often near the center of public debates about legal marriage recognition for same-sex couples. Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the case that resulted in legal same-sex marriage recognition, stressed the importance of these children as one of many factors compelling the opinion. Estimates indicated same-sex couples were raising 200,000 children in the United States. Children raised by same-sex couples may be politically socialized in distinct ways compared to children of different-sex couples because lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals tend to hold distinct and progressive political viewpoints on a wide variety of issues. What are the political attitudes of people with same-sex parents? In this exploratory study, we analyze a large, representative survey of first-year college students across the United States; we find few differences between people with same-sex and different-sex parents, and some of those differences may be attributable to households and respondent characteristics. When on the rare occasion a difference exists, we find that people with same-sex female parents are more progressive, but people with same-sex male parents are more conservative. Gender differences also emerged, with some distinctive patterns between males with same-sex parents and females with same-sex parents.

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Know Your Safe Drinking Skills: Adaptation Strategies for the College Effect

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci11010018 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 18

Author(s):

Carolyn A. Lin ◽

John L. Christensen ◽

Anne Borsai Basaran

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

The United States ◽

First Year Experience ◽

First Year ◽

Alcohol Prevention ◽

Post Intervention ◽

College Life ◽

First Year College ◽

First Year College Students ◽

Drinking Frequency

Objective: The current study investigates the effects of an alcohol-prevention program delivered to college students in a formal classroom setting. Participants: The sample comprised 231 first-year college students who enrolled in a multisection “First Year Experience” course at a large northeastern university in the United States. Method: A naturalistic experiment was conducted, with a baseline evaluation at the beginning of the semester and a post-experiment evaluation near the end of the semester. Results: Social drinking attitudes, proximal drinking norm and the college effect are significant predictors of pre- and post-intervention episodic drinking frequency. The intervention reduced episodic drinking frequency as well as perceived distal and proximal drinking norms. It also increased drinking attitudes and did not change perceived efficacy or drinking-outcome expectancies. Conclusions: Practitioners could consider implementing a similar intervention to allow students to learn and practice safe drinking skills in the first year of their college life.

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Development and Evaluation of the Inventory of New College Student Adjustment

Journal of College Student Retention Research Theory & Practice ◽

10.1177/1521025118759755 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 425-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Joshua C. Watson ◽

A. Stephen Lenz

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

College Student ◽

Convergent Validity ◽

The United States ◽

First Year ◽

Student Adjustment ◽

Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽

First Year College ◽

College Student Adjustment ◽

First Year College Students

The Inventory of New College Student Adjustment (INCA) was developed to assist college student personnel in assessing adjustment difficulties experienced by first-year college students. A sample of 474 first-year college students (282 women, 59%; 192 men, 41%) enrolled in a first-year seminar course at a medium-sized 4-year university in the central southern region of the United States completed the INCA. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed a two-factor scale explaining 47.17% of the variance in scores. Convergent validity analyses support the INCA as a sufficiently valid measure suitable for use as a brief screening tool in both research and practice settings.

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Impact of Study Skills and Parent Education on First-Year GPA Among College Students With and Without ADHD: A Moderated Mediation Model

Journal of Attention Disorders ◽

10.1177/1087054715594422 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 334-348 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Matthew J. Gormley ◽

Trevor Pinho ◽

Brittany Pollack ◽

Kristina Puzino ◽

Melanie K. Franklin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Service Utilization ◽

Study Skills ◽

Parental Education ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

First Year ◽

Mediation Effects ◽

First Year College ◽

First Year College Students ◽

The Relationship

Objective: To test if the relationship between ADHD and academic achievement is mediated by service utilization and/or study skills, and if these mediation effects are moderated by parental education level. Method: A bootstrapping method within structural equation modeling was used with data from 355 first year college students meeting strict criteria for ADHD or clearly without ADHD to test the mediation and moderation effects. Results: Study skills, but not service utilization, significantly mediated the relationship between ADHD status and GPA; however, this relationship was not significant among students with at least one parent holding a master’s degree or higher. Conclusion: Among first year college students study skills may be a more salient predictor of educational outcomes relative to ADHD status. Additional research into support services for college students with ADHD is needed, however, results suggest interventions targeting study skills may hold particular promise for these students.

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Social media intensity and first-year college students’ academic self-efficacy in Flanders and the United States

Communication Quarterly ◽

10.1080/01463373.2019.1703774 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 68 (2) ◽

pp. 115-137

Author(s):

Jenna McNallie ◽

Elisabeth Timmermans ◽

Elizabeth Dorrance Hall ◽

Jan Van den Bulck ◽

Steven R. Wilson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

College Students ◽

Social Media ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

The United States ◽

First Year ◽

First Year College ◽

First Year College Students ◽

Academic Self Efficacy

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Suicide Risk Among College Student

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000340 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (6) ◽

pp. 416-423 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Richard Shadick ◽

Faedra Backus Dagirmanjian ◽

Baptiste Barbot

Keyword(s):

Sexual Minority ◽

Students Of Color ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Suicide Risk ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

First Year ◽

Chi Square ◽

First Year College ◽

Marginalized Groups ◽

First Year College Students

Abstract. Background: Research on young adults in the general population has identified a relationship between sexual minority identification and risk for suicide. Differential rates of suicidal ideation and attempts have also been found across racial and ethnic groups. Aims: This study examined risk for suicide among university students, based on membership in one or more marginalized groups (sexual minority and racial minority identification). Method: Data were collected from first-year college students (N = 4,345) at an urban university. Structural equation modeling was employed to model a suicidality construct, based on which a "risk for suicide" category system was derived. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were then conducted to estimate the relationship between the background variables of interest and suicide risk. Results: Students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) were associated with higher suicide risk than their heterosexual peers. Students of color were slightly less at risk than their heterosexual peers. However, LGB students of color were associated with elevated suicide risk relative to heterosexual peers. Conclusion: Results indicate that belonging to multiple marginalized groups may increase one's risk for suicide, though these effects are not simply additive. Findings highlight the complexity of the intersection between marginalized identities and suicidality.

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