<p> The purpose of this study was to analyze factors that predict marijuana use and grade point average among undergraduate college students using the Core Institute national database. The Core Alcohol and Drug Survey was used to collect data on students&rsquo; attitudes, beliefs, and experiences related to substance use in college. The sample used in this study was delimited to include only full-time undergraduate students (N =111,664) and data were collected from 2011 to 2015. Six research questions provided the foundation of the study, which was operationalized by Astin&rsquo;s (1993) input environment outcome model (IEO).</p><p> Descriptive analysis was conducted to describe the sample in terms of individual and institutional characteristics, campus experiences, and substance use. Comparative analyses including one-way analysis of variance and two-way analysis of variance were conducted to determine statistical significance of differences between groups for gender, ethnic origin, marijuana use, and grade point average. Effect sizes were calculated for each ANOVA to determine the magnitude of the effect and practical significance for the population. Finally, inferential analyses using hierarchical, multiple regression were conducted to predict marijuana use. The regression model was also used to explore factors predicting medical marijuana and recreational marijuana use among students in the 2015 cohort. Statistically significant results were reported for each regression model. Statistically significant at p &lt; .001, the factors that explained 42.2% of the variance in the final model included: gender, ethnic origin, age, institutional control, campus locale, intercollegiate athletics, social fraternities and sororities, music and performing arts, alcohol use, illegal drug use change, perceived risk of harm from trying marijuana once or twice, and perceived risk of harm from smoking marijuana regularly. Implications for policy, practice, and future research regarding marijuana use and academic performance are included.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

With less than a decade of experience as a compulsory graduate discipline, Physical Therapy (PT) is a relative newcomer to the culture and expectations of graduate faculty roles. Legitimacy as a graduate discipline and progress in development of a cogent professional science depend on the extent to which PT faculty members fulfill their roles as scholars. The purpose of this study was to understand how individual, environmental, career and work factors influence the publishing and other scholarly productivity of faculty members in PT education programs. I conducted a survey of faculty members in accredited entry level PT programs in the United States. The survey was administered electronically via the Internet with follow up to nonrespondents via standard mailing. Survey data included sociodemographic characteristics, career factors, environmental factors, and measures of scholarly productivity. Following cleaning and coding of data and descriptive analysis, I constructed blocked hierarchical regression models to investigate factors that explain or predict productivity in publishing and other forms of scholarship. I obtained a total usable response rate of 520, or 58% of faculty surveyed. The sample obtained was representative of faculty by sex, institutional type and academic credentials. There are relationships among factors such as gender, highest degree, discipline of highest degree, work preference, work allocation and scholarly productivity. The regression models explain half the variance in career publishing productivity and 28% to 44% of the variance in productivity in presentations and grants. Career factors such as appointment, rank and degree, and work factors such as work preference and time allocation explain the majority of the variance for most models. The negative relationships between gender and a variety of career, environmental and productivity factors suggest a pattern of cumulative disadvantage for women that are important for this majority-female profession to recognize and address. Gender issues as well as the important career and work issues highlighted by the results require the attention of the national leadership, academic administrators and individual faculty members in PT if the profession is to move forward with its scholarly agenda.

The purpose of this study was to describe through a series of in-depth phenomenological interviews the nature and quality of physical education teacher educators' work experiences, and to understand the meaning they make of their professional lives. In one of the most important reviews on teacher education of this decade, Lanier and Little (1986) emphasized that we know very little about teacher educators. As pressures are generated by current reform proposals for teaching and teacher education, it seems appropriate to try to understand as much as we can about the people who educate teachers. Phenomenological interviewing was used to collect material about the experiences of 15 teacher educators in physical education. Eight women and seven men in early and late career stages, from both university and college settings (primarily in the northeastern states), were interviewed on three different occasions for 60 to 90 minutes each time. The audio taped interviews were transcribed verbatim, producing approximately 100 pages of material for each participant. Pseudonyms were used as an attempt to protect the identity of the participants and their institutions. From transcripts, eight to twelve page profiles were constructed using the participants' own words. The researcher also identified themes which connected the experiences among the participants. Thematic descriptions included how participants perceived their work tasks, how they associated with other faculty, how they related to school-based colleagues, and how they interacted with their students. Major themes from these interviews include participants' emphasis on teaching and interacting with students as the most rewarding aspect of their work; differences between junior and senior faculty members' views about research; perceptions about the low status of physical education; and clear gender differences in attitudes toward work roles and salary.

Through experience-based learning courses students deepen and possibly alter presently held understandings and assumptions when such classroom experiences allow students to practice skills and reflect on behaviors, actions and activities that simulate "real world" situations (Andresen, Boud & Cohen, 2000). Engaging in "real-world" situations exposes students to the type of emotion-laden interactions that are encountered upon entering the workplace. To date, little research has been conducted that investigates the relationship between experience-based learning courses, reflection and emotional competency. Therefore, this research explored new ground, opening up further discussions as to the role of experiential learning in developing students' emotional intelligence. Sport Event Management, a course conducted at a University in the North Eastern US region with 25 undergraduate and graduate students, was the setting for this empirical investigation into the impact of an experience-based learning course on students' emotional competency. Specifically, a quasi-experimental, mixed methods design was used to determine if students' emotional competency could be developed over the course of one semester when students were not formally trained or instructed in emotional intelligence theory. To aid in the examination of the impact on students' emotional competency development, differences between the experience-based learning course, Sport Event Management, and two courses using more traditional teaching methods were investigated. Differences between experimental and comparison group students' emotional competency were investigated at the conclusion of the spring semester using quantitative (ECI-U) and qualitative (Critical Incident Interview and exit interview) methods. Results from the quantitative measure (ECI-U) supported the contention that an experience-based course can positively increase students' emotional competency over the course of one semester but for graduate students only. However, qualitative results suggested that for both undergraduate and graduate students the impact of an experience-based learning course was more conducive than traditional courses to fostering the social and emotional learning that contributes to emotional competency development. Specifically, the experience-based learning course contributed to students' development of emotional competencies related to self-understanding and their ability to understand and interact with others in an organizational setting.

One student learning goal for social diversity courses is to help students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to take action against policies and practices in society that are antithetical to a diverse democracy. This democratic outcome is described in the literature as social action engagement (Hurtado, Nelson Laird, Landreman, Engberg, & Fernandez, 2002). Previous studies have found that enrollment in a diversity course positively influences the importance students' place on social action engagement, their commitment and confidence to engage in social action, and their motivation to promote social justice. However, there is a dearth of research that examines which course processes and activities in diversity courses students believe affect their readiness to engage in actions that will interrupt and eradicate social oppression in society. Readiness in this study refers to a person's competence and desire to engage in a specific task (Hershey, 2004). The primary method for this assessment is an analysis of 60 students responses to a series of two vignettes administered at the beginning and end of a social diversity course that describe a situation involving a social justice issue. In addition, six students were interviewed to provide data in their own words about the course processes and activities they believe are most effective in increasing their readiness for social action engagement. Students did not identify or analyze the problem accurately on most vignettes over time. However, students were less likely to deny that a problem existed in the incidents described in each scenario on the post-test. Students maintained their motivation to take action in the scenarios over the course of the semester and their ability to identify action strategies and potential risks. In addition, students showed increased confidence and intention to engage in social action by the end of the course. Students who responded to the sexism vignette showed the most change over time in comparison to the other vignettes. Six themes emerged from the interviews. The themes derived from the interview data are lived experiences, perspective-taking, critical thinking, empathy, personal awareness and self-confidence.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134). Also available in print.

<p> Nearly half of all college students in the United States begin at community colleges, including higher numbers of students coming from backgrounds which have been historically underrepresented in higher education. Despite record numbers of new students enrolling at community colleges, the number of students who are retained at the institution long enough to be deemed successful, either through transferring or graduating remains largely unchanged and is inadequate to reduce the achievement gap. One theory is that some students enter college with little confidence in their ability to be successful and faculty members are in a unique position to impact student self-efficacy, which ultimately may impact student success. A literature review explores the different ways self-efficacy is tied to college student success and ways the classroom can be used before quantitatively assessing whether a relationship exists between confirmation behaviors employed by faculty members in the classroom and changes in reported academic self-efficacy of students. The research was conducted through a causal comparative matched pair design with Midwestern community college students during their first semester. The results support a relationship between change in self-efficacy and perceived faculty confirmation (r_s= .212, n=70, p=.039^*), particularly for female students (r_s=.331, n=35, p=.026^*) and for those students where neither parent completed a degree higher than high school (r_s=.316, n=46, p=.016^*).</p>