Young adulthood is an important period in the development of obesity. Undergraduate students are particularly at-risk since they gain more weight than those not attending university. As students transition from high school to university, they often adopt unhealthy lifestyle behaviours which are thought to lead to weight gain. On average, students gain three to five pounds (1.4-2.3 kg) during their first year of undergraduate education. However, less is known about how body composition changes throughout the four-year course of undergraduate education and what causes these changes. We thus conducted a systematic review to synthesize a comprehensive list of factors associated with obesity traits (e.g. body mass index, body fat percentage, muscle mass) in undergraduate students. Two hundred thirty-eight studies were included (175 cross-sectional, 49 cohort, 11 interventional, 3 qualitative). We identified age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, diet, eating habits, physical activity, sedentary activity, sleep, stress, university campus life, alcohol use, smoking, psychiatric disorders, body image, eating attitude, eating regulation, personality, and social/cultural influences as factors which are associated with obesity traits. These factors guided the design of the Genetic and EnviroNmental Effects on weight in University Students (GENEiUS) study, a prospective observational study which investigates the genetic and environmental determinants of body composition in undergraduate students over four years. The GENEiUS study will recruit 2500 multiethnic first- year undergraduates aged 17–25 years and will follow them every six months for four years. Primary outcomes are body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, body fat mass and body fat percentage. This study will help design obesity prevention programs in universities. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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Development of a college level freshman biology course was undertaken in response to government reports that American students have fallen behind students of other countries in the area of the sciences. Teaching strategies were investigated to accomplish two objectives, to define essential academic material to include in the course and to investigate teaching techniques that would increase deep processing of the information. An active process that consisted of applying the cognitive information to solving problems or developing answers to questions was defined as critical thinking. Critical thinking was incorporated into the course by the use of case studies.

The purpose of this investigation is to determine the factors that are associated with freshman students who make superior marks in freshman college English and with students who make failing marks in freshman college English.

The problem of this study was to analyze the perceptions held by the following three groups concerning orientation criteria for public junior colleges: (1) a random sample of authorities in the field of orientation, (2) a random sample of public junior college presidents, and (3) a random sample of orientation directors of public junior colleges.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / The purpose of this study is to attempt to determine the effect of different types of leadership for freshman orientation groups at Boston University School of Education

Many students enter college underprepared for the rigors of college-level reading, and these students are often placed in developmental courses. Furthermore, many students, with and without the developmental label, face challenges when reading online and in print, and research shows that these reading processes are not exactly the same. Research into new literacies finds that online reading comprehension gaps exist that are different from print reading. Varying reading strategies as well as metacognitive strategies can help assist students in successfully comprehending texts at the college level. This study investigated how explicit instruction in new literacy strategies impacts a reader’s ability to comprehend as well as their self-concept. The seven participants were 18-19-year-olds in a developmental college reading course at a Historically Black College and University in the Mid-South region. This university setting had elected to use all digital texts for courses. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, and screencasts. The analysis of data shows that students need explicit instruction and practice in using new literacy strategies before, during, and after reading as well as instruction in digital platform navigation. Furthermore, students need opportunities to practice metacognitive strategies while reading online.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between freshmen's use of microcomputers and their social and intellectual development in a university environment. A review of related literature describes the theoretical foundation of this research and identifies questionnaire items for measuring the critical variables of microcomputer use and student development. To conduct the study, data obtained from 400 freshman students prior to entering Utah State University (USU) in the fall of 1996 were compared to data collected from the same students during Spring Quarter of 1997. Correlational analysis was used to study changes in freshman students' use of microcomputers and variables known to predict students' social and academic integration into the institution. Regression analyses were used to identify variables and dimensions of microcomputer use that contributed to and detracted from students' intellectual and social development.

Problem The purpose of this study was to identify, implement, and evaluate a program of counseling intervention which could be described as preventative or developmental as opposed to remedial. An important consideration was the possibility of intervening with the student, the student's primary or associational groups, or the institutional groups that influence his behavior. A program of freshman orientation and career articulation was identified through institutional research, a review of literature, and the work of a student steering committee. Method An experimental population of 100 and a control population of 100 were selected from the 1971-72 entering freshman class at Weber State College. The experimental subjects were assigned to small groups (9-15) with a group leader. The experimental groups were then processed through a set of behaviorally defined steps with the goal of personalizing orientation and enabling them to determine a feasible career choice. A programmed rational decision-making model was used as the mode for articulating the career choice and establishing long-range plans for achieving that goal. This model required participation throughout this quarter. The control subjects were processed through the traditional large group, auditorium orientation. This treatment consists of three sessions of some three to four hours in length. Various administrators present information on WSC policies and practices followed by a tour of the campus. Main Findings The experimental small group process was preferred much more than the large group process and allowed students to feel that their individual needs were better met. Students in this experimental group also reported their treatment to be much more "helpful", "useful", and "informative." The time spent with experimental subjects exceeded the time spent with control subjects by 3 to 1, yet the experimental subjects indicated that the time spent was "about right" while control subjects reported their presentations were "too long". Experimental subjects reported that they were better informed about college services and policies than were control subjects. Attitudes of general satisfaction with the college as a whole were not significantly improved by the experimental treatment. Experimental subjects reported substantial gains over the control subjects in deciding a major or confirming previous plans and attributed these gains to their small group work with the decision-making model. After the experimental subjects were processed through the decision model they reported that they were more certain of their choice of major than were the control subjects. At the end of two quarters no statistically significant differences were determined about retention of subjects although approximately 16% more of the experimental subjects were still enrolled. Conclusions The review of literature presented a generally dismal picture as to the potential good to be derived from any orientation program. It was indicated that at best it may serve as a public relations function. To the contrary, the data and experience from this study indicate that orientation may be much more meaningful to participants than previous evidence would indicate. Indeed, it is believed that the introduction of career selection through a rational, sound, and logical process probably strikes at the heart of what orientation could and possibly should be about.

This study attempted to create experimentally the Hawthorne effect in a freshman general psychology class at Utah State University during tall quarter of 1967. It also attempted to discover the differential effect of cueing, sex, and relevance on the experimental creation of the Hawthorne effect as measured by six general psychology criterion tests. The design of this study included a control group and three experimental groups. The following five hypotheses were postulated: The experimental groups will show greater influence from the Hawthorne effect than the control group. Within the three experimental groups there will be an increasing Hawthorne effect with the least effect in the subject-object cue group and the greatest effect in the subject-object-observer group as compared to the control group. The females in all experimental groups will show significantly greater Hawthorne effect than males within the same groups. The group rating high on the Relevance scale will show significantly greater Hawthorne effect than the groups rating low in relevance. There will be sufficient interactive effects between factors to the extent that some will reach significance. The hypotheses were tested by means of analysis of covariance with ACT predicted grade point average as the covariate. None of the differences were significant at the .05 level. It was concluded that the Hawthorne effect does not exist as a potent enough variable to distort the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable in educational and psychological investigations of short duration involving freshman university students. It was also concluded that the variables of Cueing, Sex, and Relevance are not functionally related to the creation of the Hawthorne effect and, therefore, need not be controlled.