Learning Processes and Study Strategies Influential to College Adjustment

This study investigated relationships between entry-level learning processes and study strategies and student adaptation to college. A regression model consisting of the Learning and Study Skills Inventory (LASSI; Weinstein & Palmer, 2002) subscales and GPA significantly predicted student adaptation to college as measured by the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1999). The attitude and anxiety subscales emerged as significant predictors in this model. Correlational results indicated that attitude and anxiety were significantly correlated with four specific aspects of college adaptation (i.e., academic, personal-emotional, or social adjustment; and institutional attachment). Attitude was most strongly correlated with academic adjustment. Anxiety was most strongly correlated with personal-emotional adjustment. Consideration of these findings provides practical insights into the college adjustment process. Implications are discussed and suggestions for orientation and retention programs are offered

Implementation Intentions and Cost in Prospective Memory Retrieval

Prospective memory (PM) involves the performance of a delayed intention. Implementation intentions are condition-action statements that can improve goal completion (Gollwitzer & Brandstatter, 1997). In spite of research suggesting that implementation intentions can improve PM performance in older adults, little work has been done to examine implementation intentions (and their necessary features) and PM in young adults. Gollwitzer (1999) suggested that implementation intentions may automatize performance of the desired behavior. The present study compared the effectiveness of different implementation intentions in a PM paradigm, using a costsensitive ongoing task, for focal and non-focal PM tasks. PM performance and cost were also examined with respect to the five factors of the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1989)