Premarital Sex in College Students: Factors that Influence Their Attitudes and Practices

Sex education continues to be a controversial topic in the United States. This study examines the relationship between sex education styles and actual sexual practices of students from several Midwest universities (n=1042). More specifically, this study looks at the difference in effectiveness between parent and teacher sex education, the effectiveness of safe sex education, and the sexual behavior perceptions of those who practice abstinence. Results showed that parents had a greater influence over their children than school-based sex education, that safe sex education promotes protected sex, and that the perceived acceptance of non-intercourse sexual behavior correlates negatively with abstinence education

The Political Affiliation Demographics of the Student Body

There is little question that higher education within the United States is largely perceived as a liberal organ. Indeed, within both the professorate and the student body, the liberal demographic has maintained a steady and often dramatic majority. A modest liberalization effect has been found among students across the nation, and those within the social sciences have exhibited greater-than-average liberal-to-conservative ratios. Stemming from both stereotypes and general data, many politically conservative affiliates have trumpeted their political ideologues as the alienated, maligned, and even persecuted minority. From accusations of liberal indoctrination to the dismissal of opposing views, many conservatives have heatedly spoken against the nationwide institution of higher learning. Naturally, like-individuals associate with one another, and quite predictably, collegiate learning has revealed an at times compact conservative minority within specific colleges and universities, even to the point of reaching a prominent majority within these few institutions. It was hypothesized that Cedarville University, consistent with data from 2004, would reveal a strong conservative majority. While results upon polling were relatively consistent with this hypothesis, the demographic spread was unexpectedly consistent with results revealed in the 2004 original study. Moreover, the recent data revealed several statistically significant trends that prompted multiple hypotheses. A biannual survey is encouraged for future research in order to comprehensively examine the political affiliation trends of a unique student body

Magical and Illusory Thinking in Protestant College Students

Abstract Scrupulosity (SC) is a subtype of OCD that manifests in religious obsessions and compulsions. Scrupulosity is associated with poorer prognosis and higher levels of magical ideation (MI), defined as beliefs that go against culturally accepted laws of causality. A new measure called the Illusory Beliefs Inventory was created to measure MI in scrupulous populations. However, the items on the spirituality subscale may fail to discriminate between pathological thinking and normal religious beliefs. The current study contained two purposes. The first purpose was to examine the psychometric properties of the IBI. The second purpose of the study was to clarify the relationship between scrupulosity and magical ideation in Protestant Christians. Higher scores on MI measures may simply reflect normally elevated levels for religious individuals produced by the IBI’s misdiagnosis of normal spirituality as “magical thinking.” We hypothesized that magical ideation as measured by the IBI will be high in our Protestant sample when including factor 2 (spirituality), but scores that remain high with the removal of factor 2 will correlate with higher scores on measures of OCD and SC. The final sample size included 517 undergraduate students with a mean age of 20. Complete data analysis is in progress, but preliminary analysis reveals significant elevation of mean scores on the spirituality subscale as predicted. Final results will be presented

The Relationship Between Music Preference, Moral Competence, and Spiritual Well-being in Christian College Students

In this survey study, we examined the effect of Christian music with lyrics versus secular music with lyrics (written as “Christian music” and “secular music”) on the moral competence and spiritual well-being of college students. These students were taken from the population of Cedarville University and were aged 18-25. We hypothesized that Christians who listen to mostly Christian music have higher moral competence and spiritual well-being than those who listen to primarily secular music. Tested through an online survey using the Moral Competence Test (MCT) and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB), this study found no gender differences, therefore the subsequent analyses combined both genders. A Pearson Correlation test revealed significant positive correlations between the percentage of time participants listened to Christian music, religious well-being, and existential well-being (p \u3c 0.05). However, the correlation between percentage of time spent listening to Christian music and the moral competence score was negative (p \u3c 0.05). The two groups were defined as those who reported listening to Christian music 50% of the time or less (“less” group), and those who reported listening to Christian music 60% or more (“more” group). An independent-samples t-test showed a significant difference between the religious well-being of the two groups, t (306) = -3.265, p = 0.001 (less group n=199, M=51.75, SD=8.42; more group n=109, M=54.42, SD=5.86). A significant difference was found between the existential well-being of the groups, t (304) = -2.641, p = 0.009 (less group n=202, M=46.47, SD=7.21; more group n=104, M=48.63, SD=6.56). There was no significant difference on the two groups’ moral competence. Overall the results indicated that students at Cedarville University who listened to secular music and who listened to Christian music were significantly different on their spiritual well-being and moral competence. Students who listened to Christian music have higher spiritual well-being scores than those who listened to secular music, but both group were in an average range for spiritual well-being. Both groups scored exceptionally high on their moral competence

Learned Helplessness: The Effect of Failure on Test-Taking

This study examined learned helplessness and its effect on test taking. Students were given one of two tests; the first began with extremely difficult questions and the other started with easy questions. We hypothesized that those who took the test beginning with difficult questions would become easily frustrated and possibly doubt their intellectual ability. This would result in the participants missing easy questions when compared to those who took the test which began with the easy questions. The result of the study confirmed our hypothesis. The results of this study could also be applied to other classroom tests and standardized tests where learned helplessness could negatively affect test scores

Evaluating the Concurrent Validity of Three Web-based IQ Tests and the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS)

In a double-blind study, 60 General Psychology students, selected in low, average, and high ACT ranges, were administered the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS). On a separate occasion, the students also completed web-based internet IQ tests from tickle.com, queendom.com, and iqtest.com. MANOVA results showed that ACT level had a significant effect on all four IQ scores combined (Wilk’s Lambda = .451,

A Comparative Analysis of the Attitudes Toward Women Managers in China, Chile, and the United States

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine if stereotypical perceptions of women as managers existed among men and women in three cultural settings: the U.S., China and Chile. Based on the extant literature, hypotheses were developed and tested. Design/Methodology Approach : Participants in our study were students enrolled in degree programs. The data was collected from the U.S., China and Chile. Using the women as mangers scale (WAMS), the study explores attitudinal dimensions. Further, gender and country effects were identified at both multivariate and univariate levels. Findings: The findings show that stereotypical perceptions of women as mangers exist among men and women in three cultural settings (the U.S., China and Chile). For instance, U.S. and Chilean men had more positive perceptions of women as managers than Chinese men. Further, Chinese men and women displayed the lowest perceptions of women as managers. Originality/Value : The results of this study build upon the extant literature and the WAMS scale offer interesting insights for international mangers on perceptions of women as managers in three distinct cultural settings and socioeconomic developments. Implications for research and practice in cross-cultural and international management shed additional light on this important topic

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data