Search

Colleges and universities have increasingly worried in recent decades about college students' well-being, with the COVID-19 pandemic aggravating these concerns. Our study examines changes to undergraduate emotional sentiments and psychological well-being from before to after the onset of the pandemic. In addition, we explore whether certain risk factors (i.e., prior mental health impairments, trait emotional stability) and protective factors (i.e., subjective socioeconomic status, parental education, household resources) predicted students' emotions and their intraindividual changes due to the pandemic onset. We compared experience sampling method data from 120 students from before and after the pandemic onset, examining intraindividual trajectories. There was only little change in students' emotions. Prior mental health impairment and trait emotional stability predicted students' emotions, averaged across time points, but not emotion changes. Few associations with emotions were found for subjective socioeconomic status and parental education, but study-related household resources predicted levels and changes in emotions.

Students compare their achievement to different standards in order to evaluate their ability. We built on the theoretical frameworks of situated expectancy-value theory, dimensional comparison theory, and the big-fish-little-pond effect literature to examine the role of social and dimensional comparisons for ability self-concept and subjective task value (STV) in secondary school and university major choice. We used two German longitudinal data sets from different cohorts with data collection in 12th grade and 2 years after high school graduation (Study 1: N = 2,207, Study 2: N = 1,710). Dimensional and social comparisons predicted students' self-concept and domain-specific STV in school: Individual achievement was positively related to ability self-concept and STV in the corresponding domain and negatively related in the noncorresponding domain. School-level mean achievement was negatively related to ability self-concept and STV in the corresponding domain. Dimensional comparisons were directly related to university major choice, social comparisons were only indirectly related.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were forced to adopt a remote learning model, which introduced a number of stressors into college students' everyday life and study habits. The current study investigates if students' study-related stress increased after the pandemic's onset and how individual and contextual factors moderate this potential stress increase. Longitudinal survey data about students' stress levels and self-efficacy in self-regulation were collected before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at a public university (N = 274). Regression analysis results show an overall increase in study-related stress levels after the onset of the pandemic. Students with self-efficacy in self-regulation reported lower stress increases; students with higher mental health impairment and limited time for coursework reported larger stress increases. To address students' stress levels and strengthen coping resources, universities should consider providing students with resources to improve their self-regulation and time-management skills.

In recent years, the Black Lives Matter movement, growing environmental challenges, a public health crisis, and pronounced political polarization, among other things, have shaped the normative assumptions of stakeholders about what should be measured in higher education. The recent work of the Postsecondary Value Commission, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and organized by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, illustrates well how social factors affect the scope of undergraduate measurement. To support the goal of broadening consideration of the purposes of undergraduate education, the commission reached out to a diverse set of researchers to expand their efforts. This included outreach to the article's authors, who make up a group at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) which had received funding in spring 2019 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a state-of-the-art undergraduate measurement system to track undergraduate experiences, trajectories, and outcomes. The research group was commissioned to articulate a measurement framework based on their measurement project. The measurement framework includes six dimensions: (1) cognitive ability and intellectual dispositions; (2) development of identity and adaptive life-course agency; (3) self-regulation skills; (4) social capital; (5) civic engagement; and (6) mental health and psychological flourishing. In this article, the authors discuss these dimensions and how they are measured.

Which factors help young adults choose educational pathways leading to higher educational attainment? Academic self-concept (ASC), achievement, and socioeconomic background have all been found to be important predictors of postsecondary educational choices and success. Although research has shown that student composition in secondary school may affect some of these predictors, only a few studies (mostly from the United States) have investigated the effects of student composition on postsecondary educational outcomes. The results showed that students with similar individual achievement had lower postsecondary educational attainment if they graduated from secondary schools with higher mean achievement. It has been proposed that social comparison processes explain this negative context effect (big-fish-little-pond effect [BFLPE]). In contrast, students with the same individual socioeconomic status (SES) had higher postsecondary educational attainment if they graduated from secondary schools with a higher mean SES. In the present study, we investigated the effects of achievement-related and socioeconomic student composition on subsequent educational outcomes using data from a longitudinal study in Germany. Contrary to previous studies, our results showed that student composition had little relevance for later educational pathways. There was a small, long-lasting, indirect BFLPE of achievement-related composition in secondary school on postsecondary educational outcomes through students' ASC. Furthermore, individual SES was strongly related to postsecondary educational outcomes, whereas being in an academic-track school with a higher or lower mean SES was not relevant for postsecondary educational pathways.

Self-concept in mathematics (MSC) and interest in mathematics are important predictors of whether a student will choose to major in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field at university. Research on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) has shown that both predictors are affected by the achievement composition of students in schools. That is, given the same individual ability, students in higher achieving schools exhibit lower MSC and interest in mathematics than students in lower achieving schools due to social comparison processes. The BFLPE has been replicated in high school settings many times, but less is known about the long-term effects of this context effect. In the present study, we investigated the long-term effects of the BFLPE on the aspiration to major in and the actual decision to major in a STEM field at university. We used data from a German longitudinal study. The results showed no direct BFLPE on the aspiration to enroll in a STEM major at the end of high school or on actual enrollment in a STEM major 2 years after graduating from high school. However, small negative indirect effects of the BFLPE via MSC and interest in mathematics on the aspiration to and enrollment in a STEM major occurred. In sum, the longitudinal BFLPE on STEM major choice was small.

Following its outbreak, the COVID‐19 pandemic had strong negative effects on university students' stress and mental health worldwide. Using two longitudinal datasets from Germany (N = 504) and the U.S. (N = 893), we investigated how students' stress developed over the first two academic years during the pandemic. In both studies, we found elevated levels of students' stress at the beginning of the pandemic. In Germany, we found a significant intraindividual decrease in students' general stress experiences even before universities had returned to in‐person classes. When examining specific stress facets in the U.S., we found that students' academic stress increased during the first pandemic year with remote teaching and decreased significantly after the university resumed normal operations, that is, in‐person classes and on‐campus residence. Students' practical stress decreased towards all later time points compared to the onset of the pandemic, whereas health stress continuously increased until the university resumed normal operations. We report differences by students' demographic backgrounds (gender, college generation status, childcare status, ethnicity, academic year) and discuss our findings against the background of the course of the pandemic in the particular context in which both studies were conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid unprecedented political polarization, the United States continues to grapple with the simultaneous crises of COVID‐19 and systemic racism. We examine potential predictors of COVID‐19 mask wearing at the intersection of these crises, with particular attention to the behavior of conservatives and young people, who have resisted compliance with efforts to contain the spread of COVID‐19. Specifically, we investigate perceptions of racial/ethnic inequities in the healthcare system and civic values as predictors of COVID‐19 mask‐wearing frequency and potential moderators of the relationship between political orientation and COVID‐19 mask‐wearing frequency. Diverse college students at a university in southern California participated in our longitudinal survey, which was initiated prior to the COVID‐19 pandemic (N = 431). We found that perceptions of inequities and civic values predicted mask wearing, whereas political conservatism was negatively related to mask wearing. Further, conservative participants were more likely to wear masks if they reported greater perceptions of inequities. Our results provide a foundation for future research that may inform targeted public health interventions aimed at encouraging responsible COVID‐19 behavior and fostering dialogue on systemic equities in a contentious political environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Germany, male students are largely overrepresented in STEM majors at university. Gender differences in important predictors of major choices, namely self-concept and interest in math or science, have been discussed to explain the gender gap in STEM. For both self-concept and interest, social comparisons with peers are important (big-fish-little-pond effect - BFLPE). Recent findings have further shown indirect long-term BFLPEs in high school on STEM major choice at university through students' self-concept and interest. We built on these findings and investigated if differential BFLPEs on females' and males' self-concept and interest in high school could help understand gendered enrollment processes in math-intensive university majors. We used a subsample (N = 2182) of a German longitudinal study and used data from two measurement points (T1: 12th grade; T2: two years after high school graduation). Results showed gender differences in math self-concept, math achievement, and enrollment in math intensive university majors. The BFLPE on self-concept, interest and university major choice did not differ between female and male students. These findings point not only to gender differences in the means of relevant predictors of university major choice, but also to gender similarity in the underlying processes of self-concept formation and university major choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: understand and reconstruct the Subjective Theories from professionals in language schools in Chile about causes and treatment of Specific Language Impairment. Method: qualitative methods were used to recollect data in depth. The sample included four speech therapists and four psychopedagogists from four different language schools. Every participant was interviewed based on an individual, semi-structured interview. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed with the computer program Atlas.ti 5.0. The results were visualized in three models. Results: according to the speech therapists and the psychopedagogists, social factors within the families of the affected children are the main causes of specific language impairment. With regard to efficient therapy and the overcoming of this impairment, participants emphasized the importance of family support. Conclusions: the subjective explanations from the interviewed professionals regarding the cause of specific language impairment differ from the scientific explanations: While the participants of this study attribute social causes to specific language impairment, the scientific explanations focus on biological factors. This inconsistency should be investigated in future studies. The speech therapists and psychopedagogists indicate that certain circumstances in families as one of the main causes of the impairment. But at the same time they talk about the family support as a pivotal element in the treatment. As a result, they claim that if school and family work together SLI becomes a superable impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities were forced to adopt a remote learning model, which introduced a number of stressors into college students' everyday life and study habits. The current study investigates if students' study-related stress increased after the pandemic's onset and how individual and contextual factors moderate this potential stress increase. Longitudinal survey data about students' stress levels and self-efficacy in self-regulation were collected before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic at a public university (N = 274). Regression analysis results show an overall increase in study-related stress levels after the onset of the pandemic. Students with self-efficacy in self-regulation reported lower stress increases; students with higher mental health impairment and limited time for coursework reported larger stress increases. To address students' stress levels and strengthen coping resources, universities should consider providing students with resources to improve their self-regulation and time-management skills., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)