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Two primary purposes were attendant to the study. The first purpose was to identify(from a list of support elements for black student retention deemed important from a study of the literature) the support elements present at 400 predominantly white colleges as perceived by the directors of their minority affairs/student affairs departments. The population for the study was colleges and universities with at least 1000 students and at least a 2% and no more than a 12% black student population. From the population a random sample of 400 colleges were selected from the 48 states in the continental United States. The minority/student affairs personnel from this sample were polled.A secondary purpose was to have these same personnel give their opinions as to the effectiveness of each support element and to rank them as to their effectiveness. The following findings were noted:1.Eleven of the elements listed were represented as part of the retention program for black students at 50% or more of the respondent colleges and universities.2. Those retention elements which numbered in the top five in importance to black student retention, that received the most responses were presidential commitment, black faculty members at all levels, committment to multiculturalism, increased financial aid, faculty/peer counselling and deal quickly with racism. Presidential committment was listed as among the five most important elements 9ltimes or 55.4% of the returns.3.When the percentages of weight that these respondents gave to cultural vs academic support was averaged, academic support was considered more important (63.0272) thancultural support (36.1967).4. There was a significant correlation at the .003 level between the number of retention support elements utilized by each respondent college and the retention rate of black students at the end of the student's first year. / Department of Educational Leadership

African-Americans are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. Previous research has shown that many African-Americans endorsed HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs. However, no previous research has investigated the relationship of these beliefs to attitudes about condom use among African-American college students. This study was designed to determine if there was a relationship between conspiracy beliefs about HIV/AIDS to attitudes about condom use in African-American college students. A convenience sample of 93 African-American college students (aged 18 to 31; 68.8% female) from student based organizations at a Midwestern University participated in the study. A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used. A written self-report, 20-item questionnaire was completed by the participants (Bogart & Thorburn, 2005). From the analysis of the data it was determined that there was no statistical significant correlation between HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs and attitudes toward condom use in this population. Findings suggest that African-American college students are less likely to endorse HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs, thus making HIV prevention programs likely to be more effective with this population. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 247-264). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, November, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-126). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008. / Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Prepared for: Dept. of Psychology. Bibliography: leaves 144-159.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.