There is a significant gap between the numbers of college students who experience a diagnosable psychological problem and those who seek psychological treatment for these problems. One explanation for this gap may be that many college students may be unaware of free mental health services available at the university counseling center on campus. Thus, use of these resources is not a viable option. These concerns were addressed in the current study via a posttest-only experimental design by creating a video in line with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985; 1991) and assessing its effects on college students attitudes towards psychological help seeking (PHS), subjective norms associated with PHS, perceived behavioral control over PHS, and PHS intentions. Mixed support was found for the video’s impact on TPB variables in a PHS context. In addition, the utility of the TPB model for explaining PHS in college students was examined. Based on model fit statistics the TPB adequately explained PHS in college students, but only after modifications were made to the measurement model. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of two different types of alcohol education interventions on the attitudes about alcohol consumption in college, knowledge about alcohol, and self-reported alcohol consumption behavior of college students. The educational interventions were a student-centered CD-Rom interactive program, and a teacher-centered motivational speaker. Each intervention took approximately 60 minutes. The research was conducted at a small public university in Northern New York. Nine classes with a total enrollment of 360 students were randomly selected for the research. The demographic makeup of the sample was similar to that of the overall university population, including gender, class level, membership in Greek organizations and age. Three classes were randomly assigned to the CD-Rom program, three classes were randomly assigned to hear a motivational speaker, and three classes were randomly assigned to a control group. The instrument used was the Student Alcohol Questionnaire (SAQ). Students in all classes completed the SAQ four weeks after the Fall, 1999 semester began. The interventions were conducted the following week. The SAQ was administered again four, eight and twelve weeks post-intervention. Two measures of alcohol consumption behavior were used: A continuous variable measure of both amount of alcohol consumed and consequences related to intoxication, and a dichotomous variable for "heavy drinking," which is defined as more than five drinks in a row at least once a week. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to test for differences across attitude, knowledge and behavior and bivariate combinations of these outcome variables by group. No statistically significant differences were found on any of the post-interventions measures for any combination of aftitude, knowledge or behavior. Analysis of covariance was used to test for behavior difference alone, using the pre-intervention questionnaire results as the covariate. No statistically significant differences were found for behavior alone. Multiple regression techniques were used to determine if alcohol consumption behavior, as measured on the continuous scale, could be predicted by gender, grade point average, class level or religion. Gender (p .000) was the only predictor variable that was statistically significant, with men students consuming more alcohol than women students. / Graduation date: 2000

The problem of this study was to determine the relationships between student's self-perceptions and their perceptions of the teacher, and the students' ratings of teacher/course evaluations, utilizing the concept of Value Systems Analysis. To accomplish the purposes of this study, the following questions were examined: 1) What are the value systems of the students? 2) What are the relationships between the student's value systems and the student's perception of the teacher's value systems? 3) What are the relationships between the student's value systems and the student's rating of the teacher/course evaluation? 4) What are the relationships between the student's perception of the teacher's value systems and the student's rating of the teacher/course evaluation? This study concludes that the use of the Coping Systems Inventory, a Teacher Assessment Form, and a Teacher/Course Evaluation Form to determine the relationships between student value systems and student evaluations of teachers has produced a sufficient number of positive relationships to recommend that the use of the three instruments together be further researched.

M.Ed. / Students who are being trained as teachers for the primary school must undergo subject-didactical training in mathematics. The attitude of these students towards mathematics is apparently not always positive. A survey of the literature indicates a universal concern of teacher-trainers, namely that it is precisely these future teachers who have to teach mathematics to the pupil in his formative years, who demonstrate a negative attitude towards the subject. It is imperative that those who develop a subject-didactics curriculum for mathematics at a college of education should determine in a scientifically responsible manner what the nature and extent of the students' attitude towards mathematics is. Attitude is a determining factor in each of the principles in curriculum design. An empirical investigation was conducted with first year students at the Goudstad College of Education as respondents. Their attitude towards mathematics in general and towards certain dimensions of mathematics in particular was measured by means of Visser's attitudinal scales. It was found that there is no meaningful difference in attitude towards mathematics between man and woman students, but a meaningful difference was found between students who had a matriculation qualification in mathematics and those who did not. The former group indicated a more positive attitude towards mathematics than the latter. The attitude of students who are prepared to teach mathematics as a school subject in the future is significantly more positive than that of those who are not prepared to do so. Negative attitudes towards mathematics appear particularly in relation to a person's self confidence and motivation to be involved with mathematics. The most important implication of this investigation for the design of a subject-didactics curriculum is that it should be borne in mind that certain groups of students reveal clear negative attitudes towards mathematics. The total curriculum should be directed to developing positive attitudes where necessary and to improving and strengthening existing positive attitudes.

An investigation of attitudes toward selected international problems and issues, and the relationship between attitudes and some independent variables was conducted among 234 graduate and undergraduate students in the College of Education at North Texas State University, Denton, Texas. Attitudes toward Chauvinism, World Government, Cooperation, War, and Human Rights were measured by thirty-two Likert-type items developed by Educational Testing Service. The 234 returned, useable responses were tabulated according to each attitude scale and educational level. The attitude scales enumerated above were all correlated with students' backgrounds, educational experiences, and political attitudes.

This study assessed the prevalence of unwanted early sexual experiences (UESE), of the first year psychology students at the University of Fort Hare, in East London. Of the participants, 65 (31 percent) indicated that they had been exposed to some form of non-contact (56.9percent) or contact (22.3 prercent) UESE before the age of 16 years. It was found that more male (42.5 percent) than female (25.2 percent) students reported being exposed to an UESE. The most common perpetrator reported by the majority of the participants were friends (52.4 percent). Most respondents reported that they were only exposed to the UESE once (55.6 percent). The study found that females were significantly more bothered than males both at the time of the UESE and at the time of completing the questionnaire. Both male and female participants were more bothered by the UESE at the time of the event than they were at the time of completing the questionnaire, which indicates an abatement of symptoms over time. The results indicate that flashbacks of the UESE were the most bothersome experience for both male and female participants at the time of completing the questionnaire.

M.A. / This study emerged out of the understanding that xenophobia has become a contentious issue in South Africa. International migrants have increasingly become victims of xenophobia at the hands of South African citizens. It was anchored by a commitment to shed some light on the nature of xenophobia in South Africa by examining the experiences of international students in Johannesburg. There is, indeed, evidence of some tension between a fraction of the South African population and international migrants from other African countries. In examining the experiences of international students and their views about xenophobia, the study concluded that the country’s segregated history was a contributing factor to the negative behaviour of citizens towards non-citizens. Although international students have the potential to strengthen both the development of South African institutions of higher learning and the economy at large, they are, instead sometimes regarded as being here to disrupt the social order. Even though all international students share the same sense of need to meet and get along with others in the new country, African students endure special difficulties. For, whatever unfortunate reasons, some universities seem not to be doing much to enlighten their local students about other African countries, cultures and histories. Students from elsewhere in Africa often find their South African classmates to be rather uninformed when it comes to appreciating their heritage. This lack of knowledge often sets the stage for xenophobic sentiments between the locals, international migrants in general, and international students in particular. / Prof. P. Alexander

Young women today are anticipating involvement in both career and family. The competing demands of family and work often result in work-family conflict. A survey was administered to 124 female college students exploring the importance they place on work and family roles, the expectations they have for combining these roles, and their attitudes toward planning for multiple roles. Identity theory provides a foundation for understanding the choices women make regarding their anticipated participation in work and family roles. The results suggest that although college women are expecting to have demanding careers and involved family lives, they are not planning realistically in order to facilitate the combining of career and family roles with a minimum of conflict.

Research has linked rape victim-blaming attitudes (VBAs) with gender role stereotyping, negative peer attitudes towards women, and acceptance of interpersonal violence. The current study analyzed longitudinal questionnaire data of college men (n=166) from White and Smith's (2001) study of college student victimization. Results indicate that VBAs can be conceptualized as either overt or covert, and that the covert VBA was more strongly correlated with alcohol use, sexualized peer attitudes, traditional gender stereotypes, need for sexual dominance, and perpetration of dating aggression. The covert VBA was also correlated with rape proclivity one year later, and partially mediated relationships between earlier variables and later rape proclivity. Additionally, endorsement of chivalry moderated the relationship between traditional gender stereotypes and the covert VBA, casting new perspective on the role of chivalry. Overall, results demonstrate the importance of targeting subtle expressions of VBAs in educational programs, and the need for longitudinal studies on rape attitude development.