scholarly journals College Students, Motivation, and Success

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Becky J. Cox

Many people spend a large portion of their lives striving to be successful, chasing success. But what is success? Success means different things to different people. How do we get to be successful? Why do some young adults choose to go to college? Does graduating from college offer a better opportunity for being successful? What motivates college students to go to class day after day, to complete hours of assigned work? What motivates us to be successful? This article reviews the parameters of motivation and what motivation means to different honors-level college students. Additionally, students are asked to determine why they make the choices they do. These topics were the focus in the motivational speech “Think – Understand - Succeed” utilizing the #1 National Bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell (2008) as a main reference point. Comparisons were made between real-life situations and those found in Outliers.   Keywords: College Students, Success, Motivation, Culture, Family

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Ferguson ◽  
Stephanie M. Rueda

This article explores commonly discussed theories of violent video game effects: the social learning, mood management, and catharsis hypotheses. An experimental study was carried out to examine violent video game effects. In this study, 103 young adults were given a frustration task and then randomized to play no game, a nonviolent game, a violent game with good versus evil theme (i.e., playing as a good character taking on evil), or a violent game in which they played as a “bad guy.” Results indicated that randomized video game play had no effect on aggressive behavior; real-life violent video game-playing history, however, was predictive of decreased hostile feelings and decreased depression following the frustration task. Results do not support a link between violent video games and aggressive behavior, but do suggest that violent games reduce depression and hostile feelings in players through mood management.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2199413
Author(s):  
Byron Miller ◽  
Savanah Catalina ◽  
Sara Rocks ◽  
Kathryn Tillman

Although attitudes toward interracial romantic relationships (IRRs) have generally improved over the years, many Americans still disapprove of their family members being in IRRs. Prior studies have examined correlates of individual-level attitudes about interracial romance, but less is known about whether family members’ attitudes are directly associated with young people’s decisions to date interracially. Using data collected from 790 romantically involved college students at two large public four-year universities, we find that young adults who believe their siblings, parents, and grandparents approve of IRRs have greater odds of dating interracially. Compared to Whites, Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be interracially involved but their decision to do so is much less dependent on the approval of their parents and grandparents. We also find young adults are more likely to date interracially if they have five or more relatives with IRR experience themselves. The findings and their implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
Ieuan Evans ◽  
Jon Heron ◽  
Joseph Murray ◽  
Matthew Hickman ◽  
Gemma Hammerton

Experimental studies support the conventional belief that people behave more aggressively whilst under the influence of alcohol. To examine how these experimental findings manifest in real life situations, this study uses a method for estimating evidence for causality with observational data—‘situational decomposition’ to examine the association between alcohol consumption and crime in young adults from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Self-report questionnaires were completed at age 24 years to assess typical alcohol consumption and frequency, participation in fighting, shoplifting and vandalism in the previous year, and whether these crimes were committed under the influence of alcohol. Situational decomposition compares the strength of two associations, (1) the total association between alcohol consumption and crime (sober or intoxicated) versus (2) the association between alcohol consumption and crime committed while sober. There was an association between typical alcohol consumption and total crime for fighting [OR (95% CI): 1.47 (1.29, 1.67)], shoplifting [OR (95% CI): 1.25 (1.12, 1.40)], and vandalism [OR (95% CI): 1.33 (1.12, 1.57)]. The associations for both fighting and shoplifting had a small causal component (with the association for sober crime slightly smaller than the association for total crime). However, the association for vandalism had a larger causal component.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-24
Author(s):  
Danielle Vaclavik ◽  
Kelly Velazquez ◽  
Jakob Carballo

Interactions with adults may play a crucial role in youths’ religious identity development. However, who these adults are and how they are influential is under explored. Twelve Catholic and twelve former Catholic college students were interviewed about their experiences growing up Catholic focusing on influential adults. Interviews were analyzed using modified grounded theory. Adult type categories were identified. Implications and future studies are discussed.


Author(s):  
Linda Brooks

Linda Brooks examines the impact of the current government austerity measures experienced at a local charity based in the borough of Castle Point in Essex. Linda draws from first-hand experience of working with young adults to provide valuable insights into the direct impact of austerity measures as lived under social suffering. She employs ethnographic and biographical approaches to show real life examples of the impact of government austerity measures, which increase social disadvantage for young people within the local communities.


2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanshan He ◽  
Sandra Tsang ◽  
Caina Li

The Sexual Coercion in Intimate Relationships Scale (SCIRS; 34 items) assesses the severity of sexual coercion (SC) in committed intimate relationships, but it does not validly screen out valid target cases or accurately assess prevalence. This study aims to revise the SCIRS to facilitate research in China. There were 927 college students in active dating relationships, from 5 large Chinese cities, who participated in the study. The results showed that the revised SCIRS (33 items) measured 3 constructs—Emotional Manipulation (17 items), Defection Threat (7 items), and Violence Threat (7 items)—and that the reliability and validity properties were satisfactory. The advantages of the revision and the limitations of this study are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Lennie Donné ◽  
Carel Jansen ◽  
John Hoeks

Even though health campaign designers are advised to specifically focus on triggering conversations between people about health issues, there is still a lot unknown about what aspects of a conversation may contribute to safe sex behavior and intentions. Empirical research in this field so far has mainly focused on conversational occurrence rather than conversational content, and where content is taken into account, this mostly concerns self-reports. In this mixed method study, we looked into the quantitative effects of real-life conversations about safe sex, triggered by a safe sex message, on college students’ intentions related to safe sex. We then used a qualitative analysis to try and identify content-related aspects that may be related to the quantitative effects. Two weeks after filling in a questionnaire on their safe sex-related intentions, participants (N = 24) were instructed to watch and talk about a safe sex video with a conversation partner of choice, followed by filling in a questionnaire. The conversational data were analyzed qualitatively. The results suggest that the conversations increased safe sex-related intentions compared to pretest scores, and that content-related aspects such as conversational valence, type of communication behavior and behavioral determinants were related to these effects. Thus, our findings provide enhanced insight into the social norms and behavioral patterns related to safe sex, and indicate that it is important to look at conversational content in detail rather than to focus on mere conversational occurrence or quantitative effects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Karazurna ◽  
Caitlin Porter ◽  
Jesse Stabile Morrell ◽  
Sherman Bigornia

Abstract Objectives Evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acid (n-3 FA) and fish consumption may reduce the risk of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in older adults. We previously reported that MetS components are prevalent among college students. Identifying modifiable risk factors of developing MetS and its components in young adults will inform potential targets to reduce the risk of age-related health conditions. Our objectives were to measure the cross-sectional impacts of n-3 FA and fish consumption on ≥2 or ≥3 MetS criteria and individual criteria among college students. Methods The College Health and Nutrition Assessment Survey is an on-going cross-sectional study at a public New England college. We examined data from Jan 2008 – May 2017. After excluding those with missing data our final sample size was n = 4271 for n-3 FA & n = 2072 for fish intake analyses. Diet was assessed by a 3 day food record; MetS criteria were collected in fasted state. We expressed n-3 FAs as g/1000 kcals/d. Servings of fish/week was obtained via an online survey. Individuals were categorized as consuming ≥ 2 servings/week or not. MetS was defined as meeting ≥ 3 criteria: elevated glucose, triglycerides, blood pressure, waist circumference, and low HDL. Analyses were conducted by logistic regression. Results The average n-3 FA intake was 0.4 g/1000 kcal/d ± 0.25 & 40% consumed ≥ 2 servings of fish/week. Prevalence estimates for meeting ≥ 2 criteria was 18.8% and 4.8% for MetS. In sex- and energy- adjusted models, n-3 FA consumption was inversely associated with MetS (OR = 0.38; 95%CI: 0.20, 0.71) and ≥2 MetS criteria (OR = 0.67; 95%CI: 0.49, 0.91). Associations were no longer significant after considering additional confounders. Fish consumption was not significantly associated with MetS or ≥2 criteria in any model. Further n-3 FAs and fish consumption was not associated with any individual MetS criteria. Conclusions In this cross-sectional study among college students, n-3 FA and fish consumption were not significantly associated with MetS outcomes. Further research is needed in this population using longitudinal study designs to understand long-term impact of n-3 consumption on the development of MetS and associated cardio metabolic risk factors in young adults. Funding Sources New Hampshire Agriculture Experiment Station and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Project 1010738.


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