scholarly journals Do University Students Base Decisions to Engage in Sustainable Energy Behaviors on Affective or Cognitive Attitudes?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10883
Author(s):  
Piyapong Janmaimool ◽  
Jaruwan Chontanawat

It is essential to understand the determinants of university students’ decisions to engage in sustainable energy behaviors, as this understanding has implications for the development of communication and education strategies to promote sustainable energy behaviors. The present study aims to investigate the impacts of affective and cognitive factors on sustainable energy behaviors among university students. It will explore the affective factors of self-responsibility and social norms and the cognitive factors of environmental concerns, perceived self-efficacy, perceived self-benefits, and action knowledge about sustainable energy behaviors. A simple random technique was used to select participants from undergraduate students at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) in Bangkok, Thailand. Questionnaire surveys were completed by 426 participants in May and June 2020. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the ability of affective and cognitive variables to predict university students’ participation in sustainable energy behaviors. The results revealed that participation in sustainable energy behaviors was significantly impacted by the perceived benefit of sustainable energy behaviors, students’ concerns about climate change, perceived self-efficacy, and social norms; self-responsibility and action knowledge had no significant impact. These findings indicate that communication that focuses on climate change and approaches that enhance students’ self-efficacy and the perceived benefits of sustainable energy behaviors could help promote such behaviors among university students. The sustainable energy behaviors of other social groups, including students’ family members and colleagues and the general public, are also influential as they can motivate students to change their behavior.

2021 ◽  
pp. 089484532110055
Author(s):  
Michaël Parmentier ◽  
Thomas Pirsoul ◽  
Frédéric Nils

This study used a person-centered approach to investigate university students’ profiles of career adaptability and determine whether different combinations of concern, control, curiosity, and confidence could be identified. We also explored the relations of these profiles with emotional intelligence, anticipatory emotions, and career decision-making self-efficacy. We found six distinct profiles of career adaptability among 307 university students who differed both on their level and on shape. Emotional intelligence was associated with profiles displaying higher levels of career adaptability. Furthermore, profiles of career adaptability significantly displayed differences in terms of positive anticipatory emotions at the prospect of the school-to-work transition and career decision-making self-efficacy but not in terms of negative anticipatory emotions. These results highlight that differentiating profiles of career adaptability provide insights for the design and the implementation of career-related interventions among university students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah F ◽  
Draman S ◽  
Abd. Aziz KH ◽  
Zainuddin NA ◽  
Muhammad NA

Introduction: Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), sexual intention is determined by three main socio-cognitive factors which are permissive attitudes, social-norms and self-efficacy in performing premarital sexual activity. Premarital sex associated with increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases and detrimental social implications. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation of the socio-cognitive factors in predicting intention to engage in premarital sex amongst late adolescents in Kuantan government secondary schools. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 466 pre-university students aged 18-19 years from nine government secondary schools in Kuantan district. A self-administered validated Youth Sexual Intention Questionnaire (YSI-Q) was used. Statistical analyses were done using IBM SPSS version 22.0. Results: Permissive attitude (r=0.579, p<0.001), perception of social-norms (r=0.513, p<0.001) and perceived self-efficacy (r=0.253, p<0.001) were positively correlated with the sexual intention towards premarital sex. The higher the permissive attitude, social-norms and perceived self-efficacy, the higher the sexual intention score. There was a significant difference in the level of sexual intention between male (35.6%) and female (64.4%) with mean (SD) score of 10.54 (3.8) and 7.3 (2.9) respectively. Students with premarital sex experience (1.5%) showed significantly higher score in sexual intention than student without premarital sex experience (t=4.54, p<0.001). Conclusion: This study confirmed permissive attitude, perception of social-norms and perceived self-efficacy were positively correlated with sexual intention towards premarital sex among the late adolescents. Therefore, it is important to consider this TPB theoretical framework in designing sexual abstinence intervention to curb the unsafe sexual behaviour.


Author(s):  
Mona Saad Alamri

Online learning has unquestionably shaped contemporary education. The emergence and spread in recent months of the COVID-19 virus, with the attendant preventative implementation of social distancing, has significantly enhanced online learning’s influence. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where strict social distancing precautions were implemented early in the pandemic, thousands of college students were rapidly shifted from conventional to online instructional environments. Now that these students have a semester of experience with online learning, the time is propitious to explore these students’ online learning experiences. One concept in connection with which students’ online learning experiences have not been extensively studied is that of academic self-efficacy. The present study seeks to investigate Jeddah University students’ experiences with online learning in light of their assessments of their academic self-efficacy. Employing a combined descriptive/correlational research design organized around a pair of survey instruments—one designed to query students’ online learning experiences and a second designed to measure their senses of their academic self-efficacy—the present study investigates attitudes of a population of 1,167 Jeddah University undergraduate students randomly selected from the available pool of 16,893 individuals. The study finds that student attitudes with respect to both online learning and self-efficacy are high. It shows, furthermore, significant statistical correlation between students’ highly positive experiences with online instruction and their high senses of their academic self-efficacy. By developing the understanding regarding student attitudes and self-efficacy, this research opens avenues for further research into the connections between online learning and students’ self-perceptions. Moreover, the study’s findings hold significant implications for bettering Saudi Arabian e-learning, an outcome fully in keeping with the policy goals outlined in the 2030 vision.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-430
Author(s):  
Hayley Love ◽  
Ming Cui ◽  
Jeffery W. Allen ◽  
Frank D. Fincham ◽  
Ross W. May

This study examined two potential mechanisms, competence and self-efficacy, that might account for the relationship between helicopter parenting and anxiety symptoms among female university students, and whether any mediating effects differed by parent gender. Structural equation modelling of data collected from 473 undergraduate students showed that both competence and self-efficacy mediated the association between paternal helicopter parenting and female university students’ anxiety symptoms. No mediation effect was found for maternal helicopter parenting. A comparison between paternal and maternal effects revealed that they differed significantly from each other. Specifically, associations between helicopter parenting and female university students’ competence and self-efficacy were much stronger for fathers than for mothers. Implications of the gender-specific findings are discussed in this article, and their importance for prevention and intervention are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Daniela Acquadro Maran ◽  
Tatiana Begotti

The climate crisis poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of individuals. For many, climate change knowledge is derived from indirect exposure to information transmitted through the media. Such content can elicit a variety of emotional responses, including anger, sadness, despair, fear, and guilt. Worry and anxiety are especially common responses, usually referred to as “climate anxiety”. The main objectives of this study were to analyze how exposure to climate change through the media relates to climate anxiety and individual and collective self-efficacy, and to evaluate the relationship between climate anxiety and efficacy beliefs. A total of 312 Italian university students (aged 18–26 years) participated in the research by filling out an anonymous questionnaire. Participants reported being exposed several times per week to information about climate change, especially from social media, newspapers, and television programs. Moreover, the results showed that the attention paid to information about climate change was not only positively related to climate anxiety, but also to individual and collective self-efficacy. Most notably, participants’ efficacy beliefs were found to be positively related to climate anxiety. This somewhat controversial finding stresses that, in the context of pro-environmental behavior changes, a moderate level of anxiety could engender feelings of virtue, encouraging people to rethink actions with negative ecological impacts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
María del Carmen Hidalgo Villodres ◽  
Fernando Casado Castro ◽  
Patricia García-Leiva

Research on climate change highlights the need to develop more effective campaigns to increase citizens’ awareness of this issue, increase their willingness to accept the measures necessary to halt this phenomenon and change their behaviour. This paper describes a study which analyzed the effectiveness of an advertising message that combined informative and motivational variables on proenvironmental attitudes and intended behaviour. The study sample consisted of 180 university students, divided into two equivalent groups. The results supported the initial hypothesis,the participants in the group that received specific behaviour guidelines (to increase perceived control) together with information on economic savings (motivational variable) displayed more changes in self-efficacy, pro-environmental attitudes and intention of behaviour than the group that did not receive this information.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin N. Glozah ◽  
Joyce Komesuor

Abstract Objectives The university students’ alcohol use behaviour and alcohol use self-efficacy data were collected among Ghanaian university students. This survey had two main objectives: (a) to examine the factorial validity, structure, and reliability of the 20-item alcohol abstinence self-efficacy scale among undergraduate students and (b) to examine the role of alcohol abstinence self-efficacy in the pros and cons of alcohol use. These two objectives have been published as separate research articles without the data (including data management) that were used for analyses. As the data are not already available as part of these published papers, this data note provides a composite and integrated data grounded on these published research articles with detailed information on the instruments used to collect data, raw data in statistical software, managed/coded data in statistical software, and generated correlation matrix used to perform complex analysis. Data description The data includes information on two major dimensions: (a) alcohol abstinence self-efficacy—negative affect, social interactions and positive states, physical pain/illness, and alcohol craving (thoughts about using) and (b) decisional balance—measuring the benefits (pros) of alcohol use and the costs (cons) of alcohol use. In addition, data were collected on socio-demographic characteristics of students including their age, sex, level/year in school, stream of study, place of residence and religious affiliation. The data collected is more representative of students in private universities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faiza Abdullah ◽  
Samsul Draman ◽  
Karimah Hanim Abd Aziz ◽  
Nurul Akmanidar Zainuddin ◽  
Noor Azimah Muhammad

Introduction: The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) states that behaviour is determined by four main domains of social-cognitive factors; attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy and sexual intention. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation of the socio-cognitive factors predicting sexual intention to engage in premarital sex amongst late adolescent in Kuantan government secondary schools. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 466 single students aged 18 to 19 years in nine government secondary schools in Kuantan district. A self-administered validated Youth Sexual Intention Questionnaire (YSI-Q) that measured permissive attitude, perception of social norms, perceived selfefficacy and sexual intention towards premarital sex activity has been used. Statistical analyses were done using IBM SPSS version 22.0. Results: There was a significant difference of sexual intention between male (35.6%) and female (64.4%) students with a mean(SD) of 10.54(3.8) and 7.3(2.9) respectively. Permissive attitude, perception of social norms (peer pressure) and perceived self-efficacy have significant positive correlation on sexual intention towards premarital sex with the value of (r=0.579, p<0.001), (r=0.513, p<0.001) and (r=0.253, p<0.001) respectively. Thus, the higher permissive attitude, social norms and perceived self-efficacy led to higher sexual intention. In addition, a student with premarital sex experience (1.5%) has significant higher sexual intention than student without premarital sex experience given by mean(SD); 14.43(2.5) vs. 8.25(3.6). Conclusion: The Theory of Planned Behavior has a positive correlation towards premarital sex among late adolescent. It might successfully guide the development of sexual abstinence intervention-based theory to reduce unsafe sexual behavior among adolescents.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiqing Zhang ◽  
Qian Lu

Self-efficacy and attributional feedback are important cognitive factors that influence the formation of motivation. This research examines the principle of motivation formation by subjects who have different levels of self-efficacy and who get different attributional feedback of ability. The 146 participants were Chinese undergraduate students. The result is: self-efficacy and attributional feedback have the main effects of regulation on motivation, and they also have important influence on the formation of motivation by interaction with each other.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-52
Author(s):  
Deniz Ateş ◽  
Gaye Teksöz ◽  
Hamide Ertepınar

AbstractRecent studies indicate that limited understanding about causes and its potential impacts of climate change and fault beliefs by people across different countries of the world including Turkey is a real challenge. Acceptance of climate change as a real threat, believing its existence, and knowing causes and consequences are very significant for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Therefore, exploring underlying factors shaping or affecting beliefs of people is needed for designing educational interventions for a change in individuals’ attitudes and behaviours. The main purpose of the present study was to explore how and to what extent future time perspective, perceived knowledge about global climate change, and environmental attitudes explain the university students’ beliefs about occurrence, causes and consequences of GCC. A quantitative research was conducted with the participation of one thousand, five hundred and eighty undergraduate students (n=1580) of METU and the data was gathered through Future Perspective Related Beliefs about Global Climate Change Scale. The study findings suggested that ecocentric attitude and perceived knowledge are mainly two influential factors for the undergraduate students’ beliefs about global climate change. Future time perspective’s contribution although low, was found to be significant in beliefs about GCC. The results of this study would shed light to evaluate and improve educational programs and curriculum in higher education, and can be a guide because Turkish literature does not serve any research that seek students’ future time perspective related to global climate change.


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