Behavioral Rigidity between Traditional and Nontraditional College Students

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 995-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Panek ◽  
Christie I. Partlo ◽  
Nanette Romine

The Test of Behavioral Rigidity was administered to a group of Traditional (age ≤ 22 years) and Nontraditional (age ≥ 25 years) college students to assess the significance of mean differences in rigidity scores between the groups. Analysis indicated significant differences between the groups on Personality-Perceptual Rigidity and the Composite Rigidity Quotient, with the Nontraditional students scoring as less rigid (more flexible). Within each group, women were significantly less rigid (more flexible) on Psychomotor Speed Rigidity and on the Composite Rigidity Quotient. Results argue against the belief that Nontraditional students find it difficult to adjust readily to new situations and tasks and that rigidity increases with age. Further, within both groups of students women scored as more flexible than men. Implications of these results for higher education are discussed.

1990 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-165
Author(s):  
John C. Elliott

In the past 20 years, there has been a significant increase in the number of older returning students in the undergraduate population. From 1974 to 1980, the total representation of students at least 25 years old increased from one-fourth to onethird of the undergraduate enrollment (Kasworm, 1980). In this article, these students are referred to as nontraditional students.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne Arbuckle ◽  
Darwin Gale

Data collected during new-student orientation on nontraditional-age freshman and traditional-age freshman students, who had never before attended an institution of higher education, indicated that there were more psychosocial similarities than differences between them. This research suggests that first-entry nontraditional students experience some of the same needs and concerns in higher education as do their younger peers. Referrals to existing advising services may help these students overcome discouragements and barriers to success in their educational endeavors.


2000 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall Prisbell ◽  
Michael L. Hilt

Reported differences between 83 traditional and 44 nontraditional college students on immediacy were nonsignificant.


JCSCORE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-41
Author(s):  
Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero

Race has been one of the most controversial subjects studied by scholars across a wide range of disciplines as they debate whether races actually exist and whether race matters in determining life, social, and educational outcomes. Missing from the literature are investigations into various ways race gets applied in research, especially in higher education and student affairs. This review explores how scholars use race in their framing, operationalizing, and interpreting of research on college students. Through a systematic content analysis of three higher education journals over five years, this review elucidates scholars’ varied racial applications as well as potential implicit and explicit messages about race being sent by those applications and inconsistencies within articles. By better understanding how race is used in higher education and student affairs research, scholars can be more purposeful in their applications to reduce problematic messages about the essentialist nature of race and deficit framing of certain racial groups.


Author(s):  
Jennifer Morton

Upward mobility through the path of higher education has been an article of faith for generations of working-class, low-income, and immigrant college students. While we know this path usually entails financial sacrifices and hard work, very little attention has been paid to the deep personal compromises such students have to make as they enter worlds vastly different from their own. Measuring the true cost of higher education for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, this book looks at the ethical dilemmas of upward mobility—the broken ties with family and friends, the severed connections with former communities, and the loss of identity—faced by students as they strive to earn a successful place in society. The book reframes the college experience, factoring in not just educational and career opportunities but also essential relationships with family, friends, and community. Finding that student strivers tend to give up the latter for the former, negating their sense of self, the book seeks to reverse this course. It urges educators to empower students with a new narrative of upward mobility—one that honestly situates ethical costs in historical, social, and economic contexts and that allows students to make informed decisions for themselves. The book paves a hopeful road so that students might achieve social mobility while retaining their best selves.


NASPA Journal ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tam M. Spitzer

Traditional (age 23 and under) and nontraditional (age 25 and over) full-time undergraduates were assessed on five personal dimensions, two learning dimensions, and two collegiate goals (GPA and career decidedness). Multiple regression assessed which dimensions predicted the two collegiate goals. Significant predictors were generally the same for both traditional and nontraditional students. Academic efficacy, self-regulation, and social support were positive predictors of GPA. Career decisionmaking self-efficacy and social support were positive predictors of career decidedness. Nontraditional students and females had higher GPAs and greater decidedness. Academic performance and career development were seen as concurrent but largely separate processes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Huang ◽  
Panpan Yao ◽  
Fan Li ◽  
Xiaowei Liao

AbstractThis paper documents the structure and operations of student governments in contemporary Chinese higher education and their effect on college students’ political trust and party membership. We first investigate the structure and power distribution within student governments in Chinese universities, specifically focusing on the autonomy of student governments and the degree to which they represent students. Second, using a large sample of college students, we examine how participating in student government affects their political trust and party membership. Our results show that student government in Chinese higher education possesses a complex, hierarchical matrix structure with two main parallel systems—the student union and the Chinese Communist Party system. We found that power distribution within student governments is rather uneven, and student organisations that are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party have an unequal share of power. In addition, we found that students’ cadre experience is highly appreciated in student cadre elections, and being a student cadre significantly affects their political trust and party membership during college.


2021 ◽  
pp. 074171362110275
Author(s):  
Stephanie J. Babb ◽  
Katrina A. Rufino ◽  
Ruth M. Johnson

The current study sought to measure how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health and well-being of college students, particularly nontraditional students. Participants ( n = 321) completed a series of surveys assessing their level of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, insomnia, and well-being. Participants also indicated their nontraditional student characteristics, level of resilience, and additional life stressors due to the pandemic. Statistical analyses found that participants reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and insomnia, with corresponding lower levels of well-being across all students, compared with prepandemic levels. Results showed that while nontraditional students indicated an increased number of life stressors during the pandemic compared with their traditional peers, nontraditional students also demonstrated higher levels of resilience. Nontraditional students appear to be more successful at managing stressful life events due to the increased resilience that comes with age and experience, which can better prepare them to persevere and overcome challenges.


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