Journal of American College Health最新文献

Objective: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts are important at university campuses, especially preparing students for the workforce. This study aimed to identify perceptions of DEI among seniors related to their major curriculum and at the university.

Participants: In Spring 2021, 101 graduating seniors, who are future health professionals, completed an online survey.

Methods: Open-ended and multiple-choice survey items were analyzed. Thematic coding for open-ended questions and SPSS was used for the quantitative analysis.

Results: Analyses revealed the university kept students informed of DEI activities; however, more could be done. In the department, participants reported that classes focused on DEI activities; however, some faculty entered classrooms without evaluating their own implicit biases. Future suggestions include creating a DEI-focused course and increasing faculty and student representation from underrepresented backgrounds.

Conclusions: Findings from this study can be used to inform DEI-related courses as well as faculty hiring and student recruitment guidelines.

Introduction: This study examined the relationship between stress and pre-gaming (i.e., drinking prior to going out to an event) in female college students. Methods: Thirty-four female college students were grouped as pre-gamers or non-pre-gamers based on self-reported drinking patterns. They completed surveys about alcohol use and mental health and provided a set of salivary cortisol samples upon waking, 30 min later, and at 10am on the same day. Results: Pre-gamers and non-pre-gamers did not differ on demographics or psychosocial variables. Pre-gamers reported riskier drinking overall and had greater endorsement of social, coping, and enhancement drinking motives. Pre-gamers also had lower cortisol levels 30 min after waking and exhibited attenuated CAR. Conclusions: Female collegiate pre-gamers may differ from their peers not only in terms of alcohol consumption and drinking motives, but also on attenuated CAR, a physiological biomarker associated with stress dysregulation and vulnerability to addictive behaviors.

Objective: Examine undergraduate students' perceptions of the connections between alcohol consumption and sexual violence, associated campus-based prevention efforts, and recommendations for improvements. Participants: Undergraduate students (n = 244) at three large public universities. Methods: Qualitative thematic secondary analysis was conducted using data from 86 in-depth interviews and 27 focus group discussions conducted January - June 2019. Results: Student responses depicted complicated connections between alcohol use, consent, and sexual violence. Students indicated confusion about consent when both parties were intoxicated and stated that existing prevention programming was inadequate. Students recommended integrating elements of consent into campus alcohol prevention and information about alcohol's effects into sexual violence prevention programming. Conclusion: This study centers undergraduate students' perceptions of the connection between sexual violence and alcohol, and their recommendations on how to address the often-co-occurring harms. Universities must integrate alcohol and sexual violence prevention programming to respond to the realities of undergraduate students more effectively.

Objective: This study explores rates and correlates of NSSI and suicidality of women college athletes, taking into consideration sport competition level (i.e., intramural, club, varsity). Participants: Data were drawn from self-identified women college athletes (n = 8,842) who participated in the Healthy Minds Study. Methods: Mental health correlates of NSSI and suicidality were assessed with logistic regression. Results: Approximately 19%-24% of the women college athlete sample reported past-year engagement in NSSI; 8%-10% reported suicidal ideation; 3%-4% reported suicidal planning; and 0.8%-1% reported attempted suicide. Rates of NSSI and suicidal ideation were relatively higher for club sports women college athletes. Clinical mental health concerns, substance use concerns, positive mental health, and interpersonal concerns were correlates of NSSI and suicidality, with variations observed across competition level. Conclusions: Findings spotlight the urgency to intervene in NSSI and suicidality among women college athletes while being informed of demographic, sport, and mental health risk factors.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had important implications for college students' socioemotional and academic well-being. Sleep problems were common during this time, which may have further impacted well-being. Methods: Five hundred and fifty-two college students (M_age = 19.81; 58% female; 42% White) completed a survey in Fall 2021 reflecting on behaviors/emotions (sleep, depressive symptoms, loneliness, academic engagement) experienced during the first peak of COVID-19 and over the past month. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify subgroups of sleepers during peak-COVID in relation to well-being during and after the initial peak. Results: Four sleep profiles were identified: Optimal (49%), High Latency/Medicated (23%), Average/Fair (16%), Low-Duration (12%). During peak-COVID, depression and loneliness were highest in High Latency/Medicated and Low-Duration subgroups; academic engagement was highest for Optimal sleepers. Following peak-COVID, academic engagement was highest for Average/Fair sleepers. Conclusions: Findings highlight heterogeneity in students' sleep patterns during the initial peak of COVID-19 and their relation to well-being during and post-peak-pandemic.

Objective: Framed in Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, this study examined the moderating effects of mindfulness and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on the relationship between behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity and psychological distress in college students. Participants: Undergraduate students (n = 183) at a large public university in the United States were included in the study. Methods: Self-reported BIS sensitivity, mindfulness, MVPA, and psychological distress were examined in November 2021. Results: Findings revealed a positive relationship between BIS sensitivity and psychological distress, however, this relationship was conditional on levels of mindfulness and MVPA. Specifically, increased reports of mindfulness and MVPA related to lower psychological distress for participants with higher than average BIS sensitivity. Conclusions: Mindfulness and MVPA are buffers for university students prone to psychological distress. Identifying diverse strategies that effectively lower psychological vulnerabilities in college students can be used to develop targeted interventions that reduce psychopathology and promote mental health.

Objective: To evaluate the hypothesis that social problem solving (SPS) moderates strong emotion reactivity (ER) to stressful events in predicting suicide ideation (SI). Participants: 200 college students: mean age = 20.33; 75% women; 58% white. Methods: Participants completed the following self-report inventories: Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation, Emotion Reactivity Scale, and Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised. Results: Regression and slope analyses found SPS to moderate the association between ER and SI. Specifically, (a) as ER increased, SI increased significantly less for average problem solvers as compared to ineffective problem solvers, and (b) SI increased only slightly for effective problem solvers as ER increased. A secondary exploratory analysis found 20 college students who previously attempted suicide reported more negative ER, less effective SPS, and higher SI, as compared to a group of 20 sex-and age-matched peers. Conclusions: Effective social problem solving serves to decrease the likelihood that college students will experience higher levels of suicide ideation even when their negative emotion reactivity is high. Clinical implications for treatment and prevention are discussed.

Objective: We examined how mentorship, remote participation, and COVID-19 challenges were associated with the mental health of college students participating in summer research programs. Participants: Participants were students participating in 78 National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) Sites during Summer 2022 (n = 516 students). Methods: We used multivariable generalized estimating equations that account for clustering by REU Site. Results: Students with more competent mentors had reduced depression severity. Students who spent ≥25% of their time doing remote research or ≥25% of their time in remote meetings and workshops had greater depression severity. Remote research was also associated with anxiety severity. Having a COVID-19 challenge that impacted students' research experience was associated with increases in depression and anxiety severity. Conclusions: Results suggest potential interventions: implement strategies to boost mentor competency and scaffold a support system into summer research programs to enhance student wellbeing. Additional research on remote engagement is needed.

Objective: The current study examines the relationship between polyvictimization and academic performance in college across gender and sexual identity. Participants: Participants were from the Spring 2019 administration of the American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment-II. Methods: Multinomial logistic regression models and negative binomial regression models with and without interaction terms were used to explore if gender and sexual identity are related to academic performance, and if they are differentially related to academic performance when experiencing polyvictimization. Results: The effects of polyvictimization on academic performance are largely similar across all groups, but those identifying as trans/non-binary + and those identifying as a sexual minority had the greatest probability of experiencing academic performance issues. When the effects are different, they show a stronger association for students who are heterosexual and students who are cisgender. Conclusions: These similarities suggest that a need exists to target all students at risk for polyvictimization for intervention efforts.

Objective: Using the social-ecological model of violence prevention, we examined the locations in which sexual harassment occurs and whether harassment differed in terms of target, harasser, relationship, and incident characteristics across locations.

Participants: A total of 246 mostly women, straight, White, and cisgender students at a large Midwestern university.

Methods: Students completed an online survey and reported information about sexually-harassing experiences from the last seven days.

Results: Students reported 821 instances of sexual harassment (M = 3.34 per student) over the past seven days; 74% of students reported any harassment. Using multilevel modeling, characteristics of harassers, incident characteristics, and the relationship between harassers and targets distinguished between harassment experienced across locations (i.e., housing, outside, online, public establishments, and academic buildings) more than did target characteristics.

Conclusions: These findings inform harassment prevention efforts at universities by suggesting interventions tailored to specific locations and inform debates about the proper scope of campus sexual harassment policies.