This study has presented a comprehensive overview of the context and significance of changes in attitudes and levels of engagement in Ball State University’s BIO 100 class which is taught using the blended learning method. The evidence suggests that this method exhibits no significant overall change in attitudes or levels of engagement over the course of the semester. Several individual question couplets exhibited positive change. The combination of no significant overall change and positive couplet changes suggests that this method is a viable alternative to more traditional methods. In addition students overwhelmingly agree that this method of education should be used in other classes. Future research is needed to confirm the effects of this method. It is also paramount that as this method becomes implemented on larger scale training and coaching be available for students and faculty members. These services are necessary in order to achieve maximum method effectiveness.

Little research has been published addressing college students’ use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and their attitudes toward CAM. This study measured the prevalence and type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among a sample of college students, assessed college students’ attitudes toward CAM, and investigated the relationship between select social-cognitive constructs and demographic variables as predictors of CAM use among the college population. A modified web based survey instrument originally developed by Nowak and Dorman (2008) was used to sample a cohort of college students attending Ball State University in the fall semester of 2011. Findings show high rates of CAM use and an overall positive attitude toward CAM from this sample. Observational learning, outcome expectancies, gender, and age were identified as significant correlates of CAM use. Having a better understanding about college students’ use of CAM and attitudes toward CAM can help impact the future of healthcare services and health education in United States (U.S.) universities. / Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Research has shown that college students understand the risks associated with risky sexual behavior, but make up to close to 50% of new STI cases every year. Previous research suggests that lower perceived susceptibility to negative consequences, extroversion, openness, and neuroticism are all related to risky sexual behavior. Three hypotheses are proposed. Hypothesis one proposes that men and women will have significantly different levels of perceived susceptibility. Hypothesis two proposes that perceived susceptibility, extroversion, openness, and neuroticism predict sexual risk taking. Finally, hypothesis three proposes that perceived susceptibility will be negatively correlated with sexual risk taking, whereas extroversion, openness, and neuroticism will be positively correlated with sexual risk taking. Hypothesis one was not supported, hypothesis two was supported, and hypothesis three was only partially supported. Future directions in safe sex education are suggested. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Poor sleep quality can lead to physical illness as well as cognitive and emotional impairment (National Sleep Foundation, 2011). Previous research on sleep hygiene and sleep interventions has resulted in mixed and relatively weak findings, indicating a need for a better understanding of the causes of sleep habits. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) has been used to predict intentions and behavior in many health-­related domains. The purpose of the current study is to determine if obtaining 7-8 hours of sleep nightly can be predicted from the TPB model. Participants engaged in a weeklong recording of their sleep habits as measured by sleep diaries and actigraphy. The TPB predicted 63% of the variability in intentions to obtain 7-8 hours of sleep. Intentions predicted 18% and 14% of the variability in sleep diary and actigraph sleep duration, respectively. For both sleep diary and actigraphy measures, perceived behavioral control predicted approximately 9% of additional variability in sleep duration beyond intentions. / Department of Psychological Science

In recent years, adults beyond the traditional college ages of 18-22 have been returning to higher education in record numbers. At most colleges, these students, along with their younger counterparts, are required to take two or three terms of freshman composition. Although returning students may be apprehensive at first, their teachers report that many are highly motivated and perform successfully in these required writing courses. To investigate this phenomenon, I studied the attitude and performance of returning adults (defined here as 25 years old and over) who were enrolled in traditional freshman composition classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago during the fall quarter of 1983.Specifically, I studied the attitude and performance of four case study subjects by conducting interviews, administering Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Test, collecting writing samples, and obtaining audiotaped composing-aloud protocols. My assessment of the data was informed by Daly's Taxonomy of Attitudes and Beliefs about Writing, Wilkinson's Stylistic, Cognitive, Affective, and Moral Scales, and Faigley and Witte's Taxonomy of Revision Changes. I present my findings in four narrative case histories.In addition, I conducted a group study of the attitude and performance of 44 returning students enrolled in required composition courses at U.I.C. during the fall quarter of 1983. To measure these students' attitude and performance, I administered Daly and Miller's Writing Apprehension Test at the beginning and end of the quarter and obtained final course grades.Although all four case study subjects expressed some initial writing anxiety, by the end of the quarter, three of the four had become confident and able student writers. Because of serious skill deficits, as well as high anxiety, the fourth student failed to complete the course. Contrary to expectation, the initial W.A.T. group mean was a moderate 66.22. An item analysis indicated that much of the anxiety expressed was situational. The low end-of-the-quarter mean (55.65) reinforced this impression. Apparently a quarter of composition instruction and writing practice reduced the situational apprehension of many. Moreover, the majority of these returning students performed successfully with 28 out of 44 earning an A or B in their freshman composition courses.In part, this high success rate was due to the population sampled. That is, few severely underprepared returning students begin their college work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Characteristics shared by these adequately prepared returning students included: high investment in writing. assignments; willingness to revise; interest in and acquisition of metacognitive skills; and use of life experience to enrich their writing.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of parental characteristics (i.e., marital status, parenting styles, parenting style congruence) and gender on the development of marital attitudes and fears of intimacy in young adults. A total of 326 undergraduate students (ages 18 to 25) participated in this study. After conducting prescreening procedures, 283 participants consisting of 241 women and 42 men were included in the final analyses.The aforementioned areas were investigated by analyzing surveys comprised of a demographic questionnaire, the Marital Attitude Scale (Braaten & Rosen, 1998), the Fear of Intimacy Scale (Descutner & Thelen, 1991), and the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1989). Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the ability ofparenting style congruence, parental marital status, and gender to predict marital attitudes and fear of intimacy. Paired samples t-tests were used to analyze the relationships between gender and marital attitude as well as gender and fear of intimacy. Finally, a series of MANOVAs were conducted to explore the effects of martial status, parenting style congruence, and mother and father's parenting styles on marital attitudes and fear of intimacy.In general, fear of intimacy and marital attitudes were related to parental marital status and gender, but not to parenting style congruence. Specifically, men endorsed a greater fear of intimacy than women, while women endorsed more positive marital attitudes than men. Adult children of divorce (ACD) feared intimacy more than adult children from intact families (ACIF), and ACIF were more positive in their marital attitudes than ACD. Fear of intimacy in women was not related to any of the parental factors examined. However, ACIF women endorsed more positive marital attitudes than ACD women, and women who described their parents as congruent in their parenting styles endorsed more positive marital attitudes than women who described their parents as incongruent.By integrating these areas, the current study addressed some of the inconsistent findings in the adult children of divorce literature. It also explored young adult development as it relates to the family life cycle, provided recommendations for future research, and discussed implications for real world application. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Studies on the effects of divorce on children often focus on the event of the divorce as being detrimental to the children. It is becoming more evident, however, that it is not the physical loss of a parent in itself that leads to later adjustment problems, but rather the type of environment in which the child lives. The present study examined the relationship between current and past familial conflict, as perceived by college students, and their current attitudes toward marriage. This study also explored the relationship between the family structure in which the students lived (intact vs. divorced) and their current attitudes toward divorce.Two hundred four students from a midwestern university participated in this study. Participants completed four questionnaires: (1) the Family Environment Scale -current; (2) the Attitudes Toward Marriage scale; (3) the Attitudes Toward Divorce scale; and (4) the Family Environment Scale - past. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) Students who perceived high levels of conflict in their families currently or while growing up will have less favorable attitudes toward marriage; (2) Students who experienced parental divorce will have more favorable attitudes toward divorce than students from intact homes. Analyses included multiple regression analyses predicting attitudes toward marriage and attitudes toward divorce from conflict and family structure.Contrary to expectations, perceived levels of conflict were not significantly related to attitudes toward marriage, and family structure was not a significant predictor of attitudes toward divorce. Compared to students from intact homes, students from divorced homes reported significantly higher levels of conflict in their homes while growing up. Implications of these findings and limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Physiology and Health Science