Evaluations and expectancies of alcohol and marijuana problems among college students.

Two studies examined the associations between evaluations (good-bad) and expected likelihood (likely-unlikely) of alcohol- and marijuana-related problems and hazardous consumption and problems among college students. Participants provided data on alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, and expectancies and evaluations of alcohol problems; marijuana use indices, marijuana-related problems, marijuana effect expectancies, and likelihood and evaluations of marijuana problems. Evaluations of alcohol problems were positively related to the number of binge drinking occasions and alcohol-related problems. The interaction between evaluations and expectancies was significant in predicting the number of binge drinking occasions. Expectancies demonstrated a curvilinear relationship with binge drinking and alcohol-related problems. Marijuana users evaluated marijuana-related problems as less negative and less likely to occur than did nonusers. Expectancies, but not evaluations, of negative consequences were significantly associated with marijuana use intensity. Expectancies of problems demonstrated a curvilinear relationship with marijuana-use intensity and marijuana problems. Men evaluated alcohol and marijuana problems less negatively than did women. In summary, the expected likelihood of alcohol-marijuana problems and the evaluation of such problems represent a vulnerability factor associated with increased liability for hazardous alcohol and marijuana use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response expectancies and interpretations as determinants of hypnotic responding.

Ss rated the extent to which they expected to respond to each of the suggestions on a hypnotizability scale both before and after the administration of the preliminary hypnotic induction procedure. After the induction, Ss also rated the extent to which they planned to respond actively and passively to each suggestion. Contrary to strong versions of response-expectancy theory, the extent to which Ss planned to adopt an active interpretation predicted behavioral and subjective indexes of hypnotizability even after controlling for the effects of postinduction expectations. In addition, an active interpretation significantly predicted response to suggestion for which Ss held weak and uncertain expectations. The relationship between expectation and hypnotizability was found to be fan-shaped rather than linear. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational determinants of heavy drinking among college students.

The situations associated with excessive drinking among college students were investigated. 78 undergraduates completed an assessment of their recent drinking patterns and the Inventory of Drinking Situations (IDS). In comparison with light and moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers were more likely to report excessive drinking in situations involving social pressure to drink, pleasant times with others, pleasant emotions, and physical discomfort. Heavy drinkers were no more likely than light and moderate drinkers to drink excessively in response to unpleasant emotions, testing of personal control, or urges and temptations to drink. The findings suggest that the IDS is a promising assessment tool for identifying triggers of excessive drinking among at-risk college student drinkers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol-related expectancies predict quantity and frequency of heavy drinking among college students.

Alcohol-related expectancies covary consistently with consumption patterns; limited research also suggests that expectancies can predict future drinking behavior. However, the ability of expectancies to predict high-risk drinking has not been evaluated among college students. Participants were 140 undergraduates who completed an alcohol use assessment at 2 points in time, separated by. 1 month. Using multiple regression analyses, the author determined that alcohol-related expectancies accounted for a small but significant percentage of variance in each of 2 alcohol consumption variables. Global positive expectancies predicted maximum daily quantity, and sexual enhancement expectancies predicted the frequency of intoxication, even when controlling for baseline levels of both variables. These findings support alcohol abuse prevention efforts designed to modify cognitive expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancies for negative mood regulation, coping, and dysphoria among college students.

Participants (N?=?222) completed measures of negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies, negative life events, coping responses, dysphoria, and somatic symptoms. After 6 to 8 wks, they completed the same questionnaires except that daily hassles in the previous month were assessed instead of negative life events. In cross-sectional analyses and with stable variance in coping and symptoms controlled, NMR expectancies were positively related to active coping and negatively related to avoidant coping and symptoms. Changes in NMR expectancies and dysphoria were correlated. Time 1 dysphoria was positively related to daily hassles at Time 2, which in turn was associated with changes in coping and dysphoria from Time 1 to Time 2. Implications for counseling and stress-management interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smoking expectancies as mediators between dietary restraint and disinhibition and smoking in college women.

Women's beliefs about the appetite and weight control properties of cigarette smoking, dietary restraint and disinhibition, and smoking status were examined. As hypothesized, dietary restraint and disinhibition predicted appetite and weight control expectancies and smoking rate, such that women higher in dietary restraint and disinhibition reported stronger beliefs in the appetite and weight control properties of cigarettes and were more likely to be smoking than those lower in dietary restraint and disinhibition. Consistent with previous research, smoking expectancies for appetite and weight control predicted smoking status and smoking rate. Smoking expectancies for appetite and weight control were found to mediate the relationship between dietary restraint and smoking, and between disinhibition and smoking. This relationship between smoking and dietary constructs should be considered in smoking cessation and dietary interventions with young women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pain expectancies, pain, and functional self-efficacy expectancies as determinants of disability in patients with chronic low back disorders

This study tested the relative predictive power of self-efficacy expectations of physical capabilities (functional self-efficacy [FSE]), expectations of pain, and expectations of reinjury on physical function in chronic back patients. Before behavioral assessment of function, 85 patients rated their abilities to perform essential job tasks (FSE) and the likelihood that their performances would be accompanied by pain and reinjury. Partial correlations revealed that FSE was significantly related to function when reinjury and pain were partialed out. Neither reinjury nor pain expectancies correlated significantly with function when FSE was partialed out. Further support for an FSE approach came from regression analyses that found pain intensity, gender, and FSE--not expected pain or reinjury--related consistently with physical performance. Thus, performance-specific cognitions may have greater explanatory power over disability than pain-specific ones.     

Peer model and experimenter expectancies about appropriate response as determinants of behavior in the hypnotic setting.

Conducted 2 studies with undergraduates (N = 180) to analyze the behavioral effects of the variables "peer model behavior" and the "E's statement of his own expectancy" on the application of hypnosis. The 2 sources of social influence were established prior to induction of hypnosis. The sources were studied for their effects within the framework of a factorial design in which model and hypnotist expectancies about appropriate hypnotic response were manipulated simultaneously, in harmony and in opposition to each other. Exp I established the accuracy of the expectancy manipulations. Exp II analyzed the consequent effects of such manipulations and predicted a positive relationship between hypnotist-expectancy effect and Ss' susceptibility to hypnosis. As predicted, both variables effectively shaped Ss' hypnotic response. The level of susceptibility of Ss to hypnosis was significantly related to the strength of influence of the hypnotist's expressed expectancy. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventive resources and emotion regulation expectancies as mediators between attachment and college students' stress outcomes.

In this study the authors examined both preventive psychological coping resources and negative mood regulation expectancies as potential mediators between parental attachment and two types of stress outcomes: stress symptoms and stress-produced emotions. Data were collected from 390 college students and separate structural equation models were tested for the outcomes of stress symptoms and emotions. Results suggested that for both models, as hypothesized, preventive resources and negative mood regulation expectancies functioned as mediators. Further, there was evidence that these results were similar for the model in which stress symptoms were used as an outcome, as well as the model in which stress-produced emotions were used as the outcome. Implications for a more complete understanding of psychological resources promoted by secure attachment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of self-disclosure in college students.

Administered a battery of tests and a self-disclosure task to 14 male and 24 female undergraduates to determine correlates of initial level of self-disclosure. Among the results it was found that Ss with higher needs for social approval were more evasive, and that sex was significantly related to self-disclosure. Males were less open and less prone to report negative characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication with college students.

Discusses the problems of communication with college students which are part of the alienation pattern that developed during the 1960s. Many Ss now actively distrust psychological tests and experiments; and neither these Ss nor the compliant Ss who want to give the investigator whatever he wants can be a source of objective data. To remedy this alienation requires better methods of communication. Conspicuous among the forms of "metacommunication" which undermine the communicative process are the deception of Ss and artificially controlled experiments on human affective states (e.g., frustration). Methods for restoring communication with students should include the reinstatement of interviews in test designs, awareness of the changing values of Ss and appropriate modification of assessment procedures, and the development of better theories of communication, since most communication models of the past have been too objective, ignoring intrapersonal processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The UCLA Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale: Documenting the complex determinants of condom use in college students.

Describes the development and validation of the UCLA Multidimensional Condom Attitudes Scale (MCAS). The relationships between the MCAS and gender, sexual experience, intentions to use a condom, and past condom use were assessed. The MCAS has 5 distinct factors: (1) Reliability and Effectiveness of condoms, (2) the sexual Pleasure associated with condom use, (3) the stigma attached to persons who use condoms (Identity Stigma), (4) the Embarrassment About Negotiation and Use of condoms, and (5) the Embarrassment About the Purchase of condoms. Results strongly suggest that condom attitudes are multidimensional and thus cannot meaningfully be summed to a single global score. Results further indicate that men and women hold very different attitudes toward condoms. Implications of scale multidimensionality and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational determinants of curricular choice in college males.

Studied the relationship of achievement-related motivational variables and subjective probability of success to curricular choice in college males. 142 male management school students completed the Cue Interpretations Test (a projective measure of need for achievement), the Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test, Debilitating Anxiety scale, and a curricula questionnaire. When the fear of failure was greater than the need for achievement, Ss chose majors with either a low or high probability of success, regardless of how probability of success was judged. When need for achievement was the greater of the motives, results depended on how probability of success was determined. Ss chose majors with a low or high probability of success when the self was used as the standard of judgment but chose majors with an intermediate probability of success when others were used as the standard. Results are discussed in terms of J. Atkinson's model of risk taking and the significance of the method of determining probability of success is stressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian ideology in Negro college students.

Likert-like opinion-attitude scales of anti-Negro and anti-white ideologies, the California E scale (anti-Negro subscale omitted), F scale, and a revision of the PEC scale were administered to Negro students in colleges with primarily Negro enrollment. Intercorrelations were moderate and positive. Mean scores indicated group tendencies to disagree with ethnocentric and anti-white ideologies but to agree with authoritarian, anti-Negro, and conservative ideologies. Concluded that Negro middle class attempts "to identify with stereotyped white middleclass values and to dissociate itself from other Negroes." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication effectiveness in psychosis-prone college students.

Studied 70 college students who scored deviantly high on 1 of 3 scales that are hypothesized to measure psychosis-proneness: the Physical Anhedonia Scale, Perceptual Aberration Scale, and the Nonconformity Scale. These Ss were compared with 26 controls on a word-communication task (S. Rosenberg and B. D. Cohen, 1966). Prior evidence supports this task as a measure of schizophrenic failure to self-edit utterances to facilitate communication. The perceptually aberrant Ss, especially those who also scored above the median on nonconformity, were inferior to controls on this task, but not on a vocabulary control task. Findings suggest that these perceptually aberrant nonconforming Ss may be at higher-than-normal risk for psychosis. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crisis and response in college students.

Assessed crises and subsequent behavioral responses in 69 male and 119 female undergraduates. It was possible to reliably sort both crises and responses into 3 distinct categories. 3 specific hypotheses relating crisis to response were then tested, with 2 supported by chi-square analyses. Frustration most often was resolved by changing goals. External pressure produced active coping behaviors. Conflict appeared to be the most difficult crisis to solve. There was no significant difference in pattern of response due to sex. Implications for crisis intervention and personality theory are noted. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of conformity in unsocialized college students.

Identified 130 male undergraduates (from a total sample of 594) whose scores on the Socialization scale of the CPI matched those of 119 incarcerated delinquents. It was hypothesized that these poorly socialized but apparently nondelinquent Ss were, as a group, relatively empathic and that this empathic disposition compensated for their poor socialization. Evidence is presented which supports this explanation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of college performance in older students.

Asked 543 middle-aged undergraduates (over 35 yrs old), entering or returning to a university, to take a precollege aptitude test battery (Washington Pre-College Test). Of these students, 100 women and 53 men volunteered to take the test but did not differ on any of 9 comparisons from middle-aged nonvolunteers. Compared to university freshmen, median scores for older students were above the 75th percentile for freshmen on vocabulary and spelling and below the 25th freshman percentile on quantitative tests. On the other tests, they were not significantly different from younger students of the same sex. Predicting grades in humanities, social science, natural science, and business, as well as cumulative grades and rate of progress, was best accomplished through multiple prediction using background factors in addition to test scores. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of feigned ADHD in college students.

Significant motivations and incentives exist for young-adult students to seek a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). With ADHD information readily accessible on the Internet, today's students are likely to be symptom educated prior to evaluation. This may result in false-positive diagnoses, particularly when students are motivated to convey symptoms. We evaluated the utility of ADHD symptom checklists, neurocognitive tests, and measures initially developed to detect feigned neurocognitive or psychiatric dysfunction (symptom validity tests [SVTs]). The performance of 31 undergraduates financially motivated and coached about ADHD via Internet-derived information was compared to that of 29 ADHD undergraduates following medication washout and 14 students not endorsing symptomatology. Results indicated malingerers readily produced ADHD-consistent profiles. Symptom checklists, including the ADHD Rating Scale and Conners's Adult ADHD Rating Scale–Self-Rating Form: Long, were particularly susceptible to faking. Conners's Continuous Performance Test—II findings appeared more related to motivation than condition. Promising results were seen with all cognitive SVTs (Test of Memory Malingering [TOMM], Digit Memory Test, Letter Memory Test, and Nonverbal–Medical Symptom Validity Test), particularly TOMM Trial 1 when scored using Trial 2 criteria. All SVTs demonstrated very high specificity for the ADHD condition and moderate sensitivity to faking, which translated into high positive predictive values at rising base rates of feigning. Combining 2 or more failures resulted in only modest declines in sensitivity but robust specificity. Results point to the need for a thorough evaluation of history, cognitive and emotional functioning, and the consideration of exaggerated symptomatology in the diagnosis of ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment and control in family and mentoring contexts as determinants of adolescent adjustment at college.

This study examined whether adolescents' perceptions of attachment security and behavioral and psychological control as experienced in family and mentoring contexts are predictive of their adjustment to college. One hundred fifty-eight academically at-risk adolescents (63 men and 95 women, 16–20 years old) completed questionnaires twice during their first semester: before and after they participated in a mentoring program. Analyses yielded 4 findings: (a) Paternal control was predictive of adolescent adjustment to college; (b) above and beyond perceptions of parental attachment and control, perception of a secure relationship with a mentor was predictive of adolescent adjustment; (c) this relationship was found to be stronger for adolescents who reported having high levels of security in the relationship with their mother; and (d) psychological control by both parents appeared to be a significant determinant of academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)