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Objective: Assess physical activity (PA) and nutrition recommendation knowledge in college students. Participants: 71 students (n = 41 females; 18 to 22 years) measured in May of 2014. METHODS: Knowledge of existence and accuracy of PA and nutrition recommendations were assessed via a verbal survey. Results: Most (67.6%) were aware PA recommendations exist, but only 26.8% could accurately report them. Almost all (91.5%) were aware nutrition guidelines exist, but no higher than 23.9% answered any specific recommendation correctly. There were no significant associations between sex or body mass index (BMI) and either awareness or accuracy of PA or nutrition recommendations. Non-Kinesiology majors were 3.3 times more likely to answer that they were not aware of the existence of PA recommendations, compared to Kinesiology majors. Conclusions: Accurate knowledge of the PA and nutrition recommendations are very low and given that the majority of participants were categorized as overweight or obese, teaching these guidelines needs to be the priority.

This paper examines student-faculty communication by email and the lack of clear guidelines that leads to misuse of email in student-faculty interaction, whereby status-incongruent pragmatic markers are employed, resulting in impoliteness and inappropriateness. The main objective is to bridge the gap in research on other than requestive speech acts in this particular type of e-interaction, taking into account various pragmatic markers and cultural determinants of the subjects' email communication styles. The main purpose of the study was to determine whether and to what degree the use of pragmatic markers by students is congruent with the English netiquette in this specific domain. Moreover, the aim was to investigate the relation of the usage of speech acts and pragmatic markers by students to politeness, as well as to cross-culturally compare the data obtained. The research questions were as follows: Which pragmatic markers distinguish students of different nationalities and in different university settings? What are other than requestive purposes for which students deploy email communication? Which pragmatic markers, in general, are associated with student-faculty email? Is there a correlation between the three countries represented in the corpus and (im)politeness based on the data found in all the emails? What are the implications of the study for computer-mediated language learning? The corpus consisted of 1,200 student-faculty emails written in an academic domain by university students from a German university, a Saudi Arabian university, and two Japanese universities (400 emails per country). The research method employed was of mixed qualitative-quantitative nature, with the focus on pragmatic analysis of speech acts with their illocutionary force and functions, as well as on their impact on the receiver (perlocution). It was determined that the impolite acts occurred most frequently in the corpus. This shows that students appear not to be aware of the role their email messages play in creating an impression on faculty and that structured instruction in email writing is required to improve the situation. The lack of pragmatic competence was found in all three groups of students, independent of the proficiency level and seniority; whereby explicit course guidance in email writing and its netiquette had a clear positive effect on the student-faculty interaction in terms of appropriateness and the level of politeness.

Career assessment has advanced on several fronts, enabling a CAPA integrative online system for exploring college majors with unprecedented precision and utility. The key inventories in the system are the CAPA Confidence Inventory (CCI), with its 6 general and 27 specific scales, and the CAPA Interest Inventory, with its 6 general and 35 specific scales. Results for these inventories are displayed online when they are completed, enhanced with extensive interpretive materials. With regression models, college major clusters with best fit are displayed based on high scores on the specific confidence and interest scores. Several studies of the inventories and the CAPA assessment system with several thousand college students have demonstrated their validity and utility. (Contains 4 figures.)

This study indicates that the social self-efficacy of 203 Chinese and Taiwanese international students was significantly higher when they were asked to consider their interactions among fellow native language speakers than when they were asked to imagine themselves interacting in English-speaking settings. And in fact, the social self-efficacy of these students in native language settings was as high as the highest levels of social self-efficacy found in African American students in a previous sample of college students. Other findings show that social self-efficacy in the English setting was significantly and positively related to English proficiency, length of residence in the United States, and unconditional self-regard and was negatively related to acculturation stress. Regression analyses indicate that social self-efficacy in English settings and unconditional self-regard were related to acculturation stress, accounting for 38% of the variance in stress. Implications for the adjustment and counseling of international students studying in the United States are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article extends recent work on the relationship between personality and career self-efficacy by examining relationships across two new inventories with scales for identifying human strengths. The Healthy Personality Inventory (HPI) has 17 content scales tapping an array of positive personality measures. The CAPA Confidence Inventory (CCI) has 6 broad, 27 basic, and 6 engagement styles measures of career self-efficacy. In a sample of college students, hypothesized correlations between personality and self-efficacy were generally confirmed. A number of unexpected relationships also were found, such as the HPI Creative scale predicting social and enterprising confidence. These inventories show promise for continued research, theory development, and assessment practice. (Contains 6 tables.)

To determine how early "the stuttering stereotype" is assigned, 160 university students rated a hypothetical vignette depicting either a 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-year-old with or without the statement "He stutters". A factor analysis of the semantic differential scale showed a three-factor solution comprised of 17 of the 25 bi-polar adjective pairs. The factor labeled personality showed significantly more negative ratings for 2-, 4-, 5-, or 6-year-old children based on the inclusion of the "He stutters" sentence. There were no differences between male and female raters. A significant difference was found between raters who were knew someone who stuttered and raters who did not know someone who stuttered on the personality factor. Raters who were knew someone who stuttered were significantly more likely to assign more positive ratings to the children. Learning outcomes: Readers should be able to learn and understand: (1) the research describing the negative stereotypes associated with stuttering; (2) the vignette method used to evaluate stereotypes in children and youth; (3) the negative perceptions of the sentence "He stutters" on raters' perception of personality, sociability and speech for children as young as 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-year-olds; and (4) the familiarity with a person who stutters and raters' perceptions of children who stutter.

The present study, based on a sample of 220 African American college students, sought to examine the utility of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE) for African Americans. Values of coefficient alpha indicated reliability similar to that found in predominantly White samples. A four-factor structure best represented the data, with a large first factor emphasizing information gathering and decision making. However, the factor structure could also be interpreted relative to time orientation, from most immediate tasks ("choose a major") to those further away temporally ("choosing a career," "interviewing for a job," and "changing jobs if needed"). The students studied herein reported higher levels of career decision self-efficacy than found in previous samples, but cautions in interpreting this finding are suggested. Overall, more research on both measuring career decision self-efficacy and providing career decision interventions within African American samples is recommended. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

The present study, based on three samples of college students totaling 1,832 participants, resulted in the conclusion that a 5-level response continuum for the short form of the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE) proved at least as reliable and valid as the 10-level continua used in normative studies. Values of coefficient alpha ranged from .78 to .87 for the 5-level continuum, in contrast to .69 to .83 for the 10-level continuum. Criterion-related validity correlations with career indecision and vocational identity were comparable for the two response continua. Validity with respect to the scales of the Career Decision Profile was examined, as was construct validity with respect to measures of hope, goal stability, and positive and negative affect. Overall, the study suggests the psychometric quality of the CDSE when 5-level response continua are used and adds to knowledge of the nomological network of the construct.

The present study indicated that both attachment bonds and self-rated attachment style were significantly related to fear of commitment and, to a lesser extent, career decision-making self-efficacy. Given previous research showing that fear of commitment is related to career indecisiveness and "floundering," the possible importance of attention to attachment bonds and styles in career counseling is suggested. (Contains 2 tables.)

This study examined the test-retest reliability and the concurrent validity of the 17-scale Expanded Skills Confidence Inventory in samples of 321 and 175 college students. Retest values over a 3-week interval ranged from .77 to .89, with a median of .85. Using Brown and Gore's C-index, evidence for the concurrent validity of confidence score patterns relative to college major choice was found. Specifically, the values of C describing the congruence of the three-letter Holland code derived from the 17 confidence scores with the Holland code of college major choice were significantly higher than the theoretical mean and were comparable in size to values found in samples of employed adults. Higher congruence scores were found among students majoring in enterprising and secondarily, investigative areas.

Results of the Self-Confidence Inventory, Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and Self-Efficacy Rating Scale for 399 students indicated the subscales were reliable for both African-Americans and European-Americans. There were few racial but significant gender differences regarding Holland's occupational themes. The scales had different degrees of convergent and discriminant validity. (Contains 28 references.) (SK)

Examines models of self-efficacy and self-esteem pathways to depression in 405 college students. Both models showed excellent fit to the data. The more parsimonious model indicated that efficacy and esteem variables were related to depressive symptoms indirectly through their relationships to the intermediate adjustment variables of career indecision and shyness. The strongest predictor of depressive symptoms was global self- esteem. (Contains 68 references and 4 tables.) (GCP)

College women (n=24) with moderate Realistic career interests and low Realistic confidence took part in an intervention focused on building, repair, and construction activities. Compared with 30 controls, the treatment group had a statistically significant increase in confidence regarding Realistic occupations. (SK)

The Skills Confidence Inventory and the Task Specific Self Efficacy Scale were completed by 324 college students. Construct validity of both measures was upheld, and the relationship between similarly named subscales was high. A significant relationship was found between self-efficacy and interpersonal and social dimensions of career indecision. (SK)

Investigated the relationships of self-efficacy (via the Holland themes) to dimensions of personal style and personality. Examined correlations (1) Skills Confidence Inventory (SCI); (2) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; and (3) Strong Interest Inventory. Findings support the validity of the SCI and, therefore, of all three instruments. (Author/EMK)

One group of 113 college students took the Skills Confidence Inventory twice in three weeks; 218 took it once. Test-retest reliability and content validity were supported by the results. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested the inventory's fit with Holland's six-factor structure. (SK)

Examined relationships of emotional self-disclosure, self-esteem, and relationship satisfaction and the role of gender as moderator of those relationships in college students (n=200) involved in serious dating relationships. Found that emotional self-disclosure was related to relationship satisfaction in male and female college students. Self-regard was related to relationship satisfaction among females. (Author/NB)

Examined degree to which gender moderates relationship of stress and social support to strain among 115 college students. Found that stress, social support, and their interaction accounted for 18-29 percent of variance in physical symptomatology in women but nonsignificant amounts in men and that there were differences in the predictive utility of different kinds of social support. (Author/PVV)

Examined utility of fear of commitment in understanding differences between career undecidedness versus more complicated and chronic career indecisiveness in three studies targeting undecided and decided college students (N=707). Found fear of commitment related to state and trait anxiety, self-esteem, and was significantly higher in undecided versus decided college students. Discusses implications for understanding career indecisiveness. (Author/PVV)

Examined student (N=188) responses to measures of Expectancy and Valence to six male- and six female-dominated careers. Found that Expectancy X Valence interaction for occupation accounted for variance in choosing occupation; gender differences were marked and consistent across expectancy, valence, and likelihood of choosing occupation, varying with traditionality of occupation. (Author/PVV)

Examined utility of gender, traditionality of choice, and gender role identification as moderators of interest-field congruence and ability-level realism of academic major and occupational preferences in college students (N=592). Found traditionality of choice and gender role unrelated to interest-field congruence. (Author/NB)

Undergraduate students (N=109) completed measures of competence and level and strength of perceived self-efficacy in response to 18 situations with potential to elicit agentic behaviors. Results indicated that subjects gave only minimally competent responses to situations, with competence varying across situations. Levels of perceived efficacy were relatively high, strength of efficacy beliefs was relatively weak. (Author/NB)

This study investigated the relationship between mathematical performance and mathematics self-efficacy, attitudes toward mathematics, and the choice of mathematics-related majors by college women and men. Performance and self-efficacy correlate positively with attitudes, masculine sex-role orientation, and a mathematics-related major. (Author/DC)

Subjects, (N=134) female and (N=101) male undergraduates, were asked to indicate their perceptions of their capabilities to successfully complete the educational requirements and job duties of each of 10 traditionally female and 10 traditionally male occupations. Results indicated sex differences in self-efficacy with regard to traditional versus nontraditional occupations. (Author)

Investigated factors related to math anxiety in college students. Results indicated math anxiety occurs frequently and is more likely to occur among women and students with inadequate high school math backgrounds. Higher levels of math anxiety were related to lower mathematics achievement test scores and higher levels of test anxiety. (Author/BEF)

Female undergraduates listened to audiotaped recordings of a counseling interview between an experienced male counselor and a female client. Subjects rated counselor's expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness, and generated written responses to self-disclosing or self-involving counselor statements. The self-involving counselor was rated as more expert and trustworthy than the self-disclosing counselor. (Author/BEF)

Compared college women's scores for criterion-related validity and sex balance on the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory and UNIACT. On both inventories, scores on Enterprising, Conventional, Artistic and Social themes were most consistent with occupational choices. Subjects choosing Investigative and Realistic occupational areas obtained correspondent Holland theme scores less. (Author/ JAC)

Developed a measure of self-efficacy expectations with regard to 50 behaviors required in career decision making and examined the relationships of career decision-making self-efficacy to several components of vocational indecision for 346 subjects. Results indicated that college students expressed considerable confidence in their ability to make career decisions. (Author/RC)