Shifts in Spiritual and Religious Self-Perceptions in the First Year of College

This study draws on an original national and longitudinal survey to examine patterns and predictors of change in religious and spiritual self-perceptions among over seven thousand college students in their first year on campus. The chapter identifies the personal characteristics, institutional contexts, and collegiate experiences that shaped students’ perceptions of themselves in relation to religion and spirituality. Twenty-eight percent of first-year students changed their self-perception in the first year of college; a switch to “spiritual but not religious” was the most common type of change. The study illuminates parallel reactions to religious and spiritual descriptors among certain groups. For example, both atheists and evangelical Christians were less likely than mainline Protestants to adopt the “religious but not spiritual” and “spiritual but not religious” labels. Lived experiences in the first year of college made a notable impact on students’ self-perceptions of spirituality.

Is Choosing a Major Choosing a Career or Interesting Courses? An Investigation into College Students’ Orientations for College Majors and Their Stability

Students’ orientations towards choosing their college majors lead them to make different major choices with long-term stratification implications. In this paper, we investigate what orientations students use to choose their majors, how these orientations vary by student characteristics, how stable orientations are across the first year of college, and what mechanisms might explain how orientations change. We use mixed-methods data from an original longitudinal survey (N=1,117) and longitudinal in-depth interviews with 50 first-year students at UNC-Chapel Hill (N=146 interviews). We find that students rely on many different orientations, including learning interesting things and helping others, and that their most important orientations frequently change during the first year of college. These findings challenge the existing assumption that major orientations are stable and suggest the need to incorporate changing orientations into models of the major decision process if we hope to successfully intervene to disrupt inequality reproduction.

Eating Behavior during First-Year College Students, including Eating Disorders—RUVIC-RUNEAT-TCA Project. Protocol of an Observational Multicentric Study

(1) Introduction: Changes in eating behavior and eating disorders are especially common in young people, especially teenage and college women. The first year of college is a critical period, as students acquire freedoms that can lead to poor eating habits. During this first year, students usually gain weight. The aims of this project are to analyze the risk of developing eating disorders, the composition and dietary intake and the changes in the body composition of two groups of college students (independent from the family nucleus or still living within the family) in the first year of college. (2) Material and Methods: Multicentric prospective observational study protocol in which first-year students at the Universidad Europea del Atlántico and Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya voluntarily took part in the study. The students will be divided into two groups, independent and those residing in the family home, and the evolution of both groups will be compared at the beginning and at the end of the school year by performing anthropometric measurements, tests on lifestyle and eating habits (Test of Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, MEDAS-14; Emotional Eater Questionnaire, EEQ), validated questionnaires on eating disorders (Eating Attitude Test, EAT26; Teen Figure Drawing Scales; SCOFF, Eating Behavior Test; Bulimia Investigatory Test Edinburgh, BITE) and their intake will be evaluated through 72 h dietary records. (3) Discussion: Determining the risk of suffering eating disorders of alimentary behavior, knowing eating consumption, perception of the corporal image and body composition through the first year of college will be decisive in establishing alimentary education strategies to prevent possible eating disorders in young students.

Change in Perceived Stress and Health Behaviors of Emerging Adults in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented disruptions, restrictions, and concerns about physical and mental health. Emerging adulthood, including the first year of college, is associated with declines in healthy eating and physical activity, as well as possible heightened distress. The impact of COVID-19 may exacerbate these concerns. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine changes in health behaviors and perceived stress in emerging adults over the first year of college and to determine whether prepandemic health behaviors were protective for mental health and stress during the initial changes after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods First-year college students (N = 234, 58.6% female) completed three surveys during their first year of school, the third being after the onset of COVID-19 and during a stay-at-home order. At Time 3, we also assessed symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results Using linear mixed modeling, sedentary time increased and physical activity decreased over time, but 20%–35% of students reported improvements in these behaviors. Dietary changes appeared mixed, with some improvements noted early during COVID-19. Perceived stress increased over time. Multiple regression indicated that of the health behaviors examined for protective effects on mental health and stress during the pandemic, only diet quality emerged as a significant predictor. Conclusions Although notable declines in some health habits were observed over time, including following COVID-19 disruptions, some students reported improved health behaviors. Efforts should be directed at identifying and intervening with students most at risk for poor functioning.

Variability in STEM Summer Bridge Programs: Associations with Belonging and STEM Self-Efficacy

To address the challenges facing racial minority students majoring in STEM during the transition from high school to college, NSF funded Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) programs throughout the country implement summer bridge programs. Bridge programs vary in their focus on professional development, academic support, research experiences, social activities, and in other areas, but all share an intention to support students during their transition to college. Beyond retention, little is known about how these varied summer bridge experiences impact student outcomes in the first year of college. This study first describes the variability in the summer bridge programs in the Alabama LSAMP Alliance and then examines how differences in students’ satisfaction with their experiences are associated with feelings of belonging and STEM self-efficacy, two factors associated with STEM retention. Students (N = 145) who attended an LSAMP summer bridge program were surveyed at three time points over the first year of college. Findings indicated that bridge programs varied in their offering of academic classes, academic support (e.g., study skills), research experiences, professional development, and planned social activities. Students attending HBCUs scored more favorably than students at PWIs on some measures; however, these differences could be accounted for by satisfaction with bridge experiences. Satisfaction with specific aspects of the bridge programs, especially orientation activities and getting to know other students, were associated with feelings of belonging and STEM self-efficacy. These relations were stronger for belonging. Over the course of the academic year, the relations between bridge satisfaction and belonging and self-efficacy weakened.