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The problem of this study is to determine the stability of interest of male and female students at the various age levels in the School of Education of North Texas State Collage, Denton, Texas. To be more specific, the problem is to determine the relationship of age, sex, or both upon stability of interest.

Previous research on academic dishonesty in colleges and universities has consistently shown unacceptable rates of cheating, yet inconsistent reports of sex differences in cheating. Sex differences in cheating were studied in relation to sex role orientation and attitudes towards cheating, and in light of a distinction between two types of cheating; cheating to benefit oneself and cheating to benefit another. 256 undergraduate students completed anonymous surveys to tap their sex role orientation, attitudes towards cheating, and reported frequency of cheating. Although females reported having more disapproving attitudes towards cheating than males, they reported engaging in cheating just as much as males. Sex role orientation was not directly related to cheating, but female-associated characteristics were related to attitudes towards cheating, which, in turn, were strongly related to cheating behavior. It was also found that participants reported engaging in more cheating to benefit another person than cheating to benefit themselves. / Department of Psychological Science

This study is an attempt to analyze some of the social psychological underpinnings of the contemporary trends in postponement of marriage and possible increase in singlehood in the U. S. Recent census data, for 1970-78 specifically, and for 1960 to date generally, show marked increases in that direction among the young marriageables 18 to 34 years old. / After reviewing the available literatue, we have identified three loosely defined categories of writings that exist on the topic, namely, "psychological-ideological", "structural", and "social psychological." For reasons of parsimony, as well as in view of other theoretical considerations, we favor the social psychological analyses as a source of our hypotheses in this study. Therefore, utilizing primarily social psychological theory and research we have proposed a model relating the peer group, the family, and selected personality variables to traditionalism in individual sex role perceptions and to singlehood predispositon, and stated thirteen hypotheses which were tested from empirical data gathered for the study. / The data were gathered by the use of a questionnaire which was administered to a probability sample of some four hundred and fifty undergraduate students on the campus of a small, private, independent, midwestern university in the fall of 1976. The actual sample size used in the analysis consisted of 394 students (233 males and 161 females): some 56 questionnaires had to be rejected for various reasons such as those with incomplete responses, or those completed by married or divorced individuals, etc. / The data tended to support some of our hypotheses and indicated rejection of others thus providing only selective support for our over all model. Our central hypothesis positing a negative correlation between the degree of traditionalism in individual sex role perceptions and singlehood predisposition was supported by our data for males only even though we obtained a somewhat low correlation (Gamma = -.130). For females we found a relatively stronger positive association (Gamma = +.37). It is our interpretation that the more the females perceive traditionalism in societal sex role definitions the more they are likely to choose the singlehood alternative. / It seems that future work and career plans may be important factors in current marriage postponement among the college females studied. We found a strong association between future work and career plans and singlehood for females (Gamma = +.622). Marriage interest in general is still very high in this generation and all but a small minority intend to marry ultimately. There is also strong attitudinal support for the "liberal" view of sex rule definitions in general. / Our most significant findings were in the area of male-female differences where we frequently found correlations in the opposite directions for the two sexes. The study found the males to be a bit more likely to uphold traditional view of sex roles. Whereas personality variables (assertiveness and dependence) appeared to be unrelated to the degree of traditionalism in individual sex role perceptions and to singlehood predisposition, happiness and conflict in the family of orientation seemed to influence marriage decisions. Males from happy families and females from unhappy families of orientation were somewhat more likely to choose marriage; at the same time there is low positive correlation between family conflict and choosing marriage for males and negative correlation for females in this respect. / We find it challenging to extrapolate from our data and analysis the implication that those men who marry or those who prefer to remain single choose those states for different, even opposite, reasons from those of the females. What meaning this has for the marriages of those who do marry and for the sex role relationships of those who remain single is an intriguing question somewhat beyond the scope of our present study.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the methodology that is used to assess the relationship between student perceptions of the college environment and student attrition. The population of the study was 329 students from a metropolitan community college who took the Student Opinion Survey, a publication of the American College Testing Service. Data on course withdrawals and non-return in a subsequent long semester were collected for the student population. The data results were analyzed statistically using analyses of variance, Pearson product moment correlation, multiple regression analysis using step-wise procedures, and factor analysis. Data were considered statistically significant at the .05 level in relation to seven hypotheses on combinations of variables that include areas of student satisfaction with the college environment, student background data, course withdrawal, and non-return in a subsequent long semester.

The problem of this study concerned illicit psychoactive drug use among community college students. A non-experimental design methodology, a survey, was used in this study. The population consisted of 149 students at 14 randomly selected public community college institutions throughout the United States. Three waves of mailings took place to increase response rate. Community college students appear to be knowledgeable regarding the deleterious physical and mental impact upon those who use drugs. Community college students appear to have a negative attitude toward drug use and toward those who use them. Community college students have an aversion to actual drug use. The illicit psychoactive drug of choice among community college students is marijuana.

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This study examined differences between Extenders (students who extended their continuous full-time enrollment beyond eight semesters) and Completers (students who completed their degree within eight semesters of continuous full-time enrollment). Student perceptions of the influences of faculty on the enrollment pattern of students were also investigated. Subjects included 81 Extenders and 211 Completers enrolled in a large research university in the southeastern United States. Demographic independent variables included student gender, ethnicity, verbal and math Scholastic Achievement scores, and college affiliation. Measures of student environmental press, characteristics of faculty, student-faculty interaction, and faculty concern for teaching and student development were independent perceptual variables. Other independent variables related to development of a major, average weekly out-of-class faculty contact and career orientation of students. The dependent variable was pattern of enrollment (Extender/Completer). / Ed. D.

Understanding how prospective students make their final choices of colleges or universities is important to students, their parents, and to the institutions. When it comes to academically advanced students, or Honors students, there is a question as to whether the same factors are influential to their higher education decisions. The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of Virginia Tech Honors students with current literature to determine the influences associated with college or university selection between the two data sets. The methodology used in this study included qualitative focus-group interviews of Virginia Tech Honors freshmen who had been admitted into the Program for the fall semester of 1992 and had remained Honors eligible for the spring semester of 1993. six interview sessions were arranged for 50 students. An interview protocol was designed to ask six questions to the participants, focusing on how they made their final decisions to attend virginia Tech. Thirty-six students actually participated in the interviews. Six conceptual categories emerged from the interviews. These categories included: (1) Academic Programs; (2) Campus Atmosphere/Life; (3) Influential People; (4) Location; (5) Money; and (6) Recruitment. Seven conceptual categories were discovered in the literature. These categories were discovered included: (1) High School Grade Point Average; (2) Tuition; (3) Geographic Location; (4) Parental, Peer, and Alumni Influence; (5) Academic Reputation; (6) Job Placement; and (7) Campus Visit. The results from the study indicated that most students, regardless of their status, consider similar factors in their choices of colleges. Most important among the factors included the cost, campus visit, and reputation. / Master of Arts

The decline of trade unionism is a well-documented phenomenon. Possible causes for this decline include the changing demographic composition of the workforce and effective anti-union campaigns by employers. Unions and employers share several common avenues in their respective efforts (1.c., increasing union membership and continuing effective anti-union efforts) including issues of importance to employees and socializing new labor market entrants. Such issues of importance include employment rights issues (e.g., drug testing, polygraphs, privacy, and scheduling work). Such groups of new labor force entrants include forthcoming college graduates. This study, therefore, investigates employment rights issues and attitudes toward unions in a sample of college students. More specifically, the study is formulated as a test of the classic Fishbein and Ajzen theory of beliefs and attitudes. Fishbein and Ajzen proposed that one’s attitude regarding an issue (e.g., drug testing) or object (e.g., unions) is a function of one’s factual knowledge regarding that issue or object and one’s socialization experiences regarding that issue or object. Thus, attitude toward unions is a function of factual knowledge about unions and socialization experiences. This study extends this model by proposing that attitudes toward employment rights issues should be related to attitude toward unions, such that individuals valuing employee rights should be more pro-union or view unions as protectors of employee rights. In this sample, factual knowledge about unions was not found to be related to attitude toward unions. However, personal experience with activities such as drug use was found to be inversely related to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in activities such as drug or polygraph testing. Furthermore, work experience was found to be negatively related to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in typical business activities such as scheduling work and determining pay. Factual knowledge regarding the legality of employer activities was also found to be negatively related to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in personal inquiries. Finally, consonance between attitude toward unions and attitude toward employee/employment rights issues was demonstrated with respect to attitude toward an employer’s right to engage in activities such as personal inquiries and employer’s right to engage in normal business activities. / Master of Science