Scott C. Bates

Structural equation socialization model of substance use among Mexican-American and white non-Hispanic school dropouts

PURPOSE To test a socialization model of polydrug use among Mexican-American and white non-Hispanic school dropouts. METHODS A sample of 910 Mexican-American and white non-Hispanic school dropouts were surveyed regarding their use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs, and socialization characteristics that have previously been shown to be predictive of adolescent substance use. A structural equation model based on peer cluster theory was evaluated for goodness of fit and for differences in model characteristics by ethnicity and gender. RESULTS Results partially confirmed peer cluster theory among school dropouts in that association with drug-using peers was the most powerful direct predictor of substance use. The effects of a number of other socializing influences were indirect, mediated through association with drug-using peers. Some differences were present between Mexican-American and white non-Hispanic subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Results were similar to those obtained from previous tests of this model among youth who remain in school, suggesting that social influences on drug use are similar across students and school dropouts. Association with drug-using peers dominates the prediction of substance use among school dropouts. However, family communication of drug use sanctions helps to both limit substance use and strengthen family bonds. Prior school adjustment is likely to be an important protective factor in limiting substance use among Mexican-American dropouts.

American Indian adolescent alcohol involvement and ethnic identification

Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were used to explore the relationship between American Indian ethnic identification and alcohol involvement. The subject pool was comprised of 202 American Indian adolescents (114 females, 88 males). Measures of ethnic identity, frequency and style of alcohol use, peer alcohol associations, and family sanctions against alcohol were obtained through survey research. Results of the model analysis revealed that while peer alcohol associations significantly predicted alcohol involvement for both males and females, and family sanctions against alcohol were predictive for the females in the sample, ethnic identity did not predict alcohol involvement, directly or indirectly, for either males nor females. Results are discussed in terms of past theoretical explanations of American Indian youth involvement with alcohol.

The impact of computer versus paper-pencil survey, and individual versus group administration, on self-reports of sensitive behaviors

The purpose of this study was to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of both computer based and paper-pencil methods of sensitive data collection in various administrative settings. A total of 180 students signed-up for optional course-credit and were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire using either a paper-pencil, or a computer based method, and in one of the following administration settings: group, alone in a designated office, or being emailed/mailed the information and filling it out when/where they pleased. Results show that perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality were strongly correlated with self-reported accuracy. However, although perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality differed by condition, this had no statistically significant impact on responses. Though perceptions of anonymity and confidentiality differ between methods, neither method appears to be superior in the context of overall response bias.

True Confessions?: Alumni's Retrospective Reports on Undergraduate Cheating Behaviors

College cheating is prevalent, with rates ranging widely from 9 to 95% (Whitley, 1998). Research has been exclusively conducted with enrolled college students. This study examined the prevalence of cheating in a sample of college alumni, who risk less in disclosing academic dishonesty than current students. A total of 273 alumni reported on their prevalence and perceived severity of 19 cheating behaviors. The vast majority of participants (81.7%) report having engaged in some form of cheating during their undergraduate career. The most common forms of cheating were “copying from another students assignment” and “allowing others to copy from your assignment.” More students reported cheating in classes for their major than other classes. Males and females cheated at the same rates in classes for their major, and males reported higher rates of cheating than females in nonmajor classes. Respondents reported that their top reasons for cheating were “lack of time” and “to help a friend.”

Referent group proximity, social norms, and context: alcohol use in a low-use environment.

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived normative use of alcohol and reported consumption in an environment where relatively little alcohol use occurs. Participants: A total of 585 undergraduate students completed an online survey on alcohol use in March 2006. Methods: Participants reported personal alcohol use and perceptions of use by “friends,” “the average student,” and “the average student who drinks.” Results: Due to the large number of students reporting zero alcohol use, zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to analyze the data. Results showed that perceptions of use and beliefs about the acceptability of use by proximal groups were strongly and positively correlated with personal alcohol use. Perceptions of distal groups were either not correlated or were correlated negatively with personal use. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the use of distal referent groups for a social norms campaign in a low-use environment may have paradoxical effects.

Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Use among Migrant and Nonmigrant Mexican American Youth

Increase in smoking/tobacco-related diseases among the Hispanic population calls for an examination of its use among this population. This study examined the relationship between gender, level of cultural identification, migrant status, and grade level and tobacco use and perception of its harn among Mexican American youth. Results showed males more likely to use cigarettes (occasional and daily) and smokeless tobacco than females when grade, cultural identification, and migrant status of parents are held constant. No gender effect was found for lifetime cigarette use. The odds of using cigarettes and smokeless tobacco increase substantially across grades. Effects were foundfor Mexican American/Spanish and AnglolWhite American cultural identification and daily cigarette use. Youths who belonged to nonmigrant families or who identified with a traditional Mexican American/Spanish culture were more likely to consider regular tobacco use as harmful. These and other findings are discussed from the perspective offuture research and prevention and intervention efforts.

Visitor Assessment of the Mandatory Alternative Transportation System at Zion National Park

Transportation infrastructure in national parks has historically been designed for the automobile. With more vehicles in the parks, visitors found themselves in circumstances more reminiscent of a city than a park. Traffic jams, overcrowding, illegal parking, horn honking, and idling vehicles became common, creating stress and contributing to air and noise pollution, the very things visitors were hoping to get away from. Park managers began searching for alternatives, including shuttle systems. Many national parks have implemented optional shuttle systems, but relatively few have completely closed roads to vehicles, transporting visitors on mandatory shuttles. Zion National Park instituted a mandatory shuttle system in May 2000 to relieve crowding and congestion in the main canyon and to protect natural resources. Taking a longitudinal approach, attributes of the shuttle (e.g., crowding, accessibility, freedom, efficiency, preference, and success) were assessed with experiential park factors (e.g., scenic beauty, naturalness, solitude, tranquility, air quality, and soundscape) in 2000, 2003, and 2010 by surveying shuttle-riding park visitors. While visitors initially reported a few reservations about the shuttle system, by 2003, the majority rated the system successful. Ratings of all shuttle-related variables, except crowding, improved over the decade. Improvements were greatest for freedom, accessibility, and efficiency. Multiple regression found overall shuttle success to be mediated by preference, freedom, accessibility, efficiency, and comfort. Experiential variables assessing park conditions followed a similar pattern, with improved ratings as the decade progressed. Results provide important insights into the visitor experience with mandatory alternative shuttle systems in national parks.

Space psychology: natural elements in habitation design

‘‘Natural elements’’ include any design element that has a basis in nature. True natural elements, such as plant life, cross sense-domains meaning plants can be seen, felt, tasted, touched, and heard. The idea that natural environments, and natural elements in built environments, are important to people is not surprising. The varieties of humankind’s relationships with nature can be easily observed across cultures. For instance, among some groups of indigenous peoples, harmony with nature is clearly emphasized [27], while among other cultures nature generally, and wilderness specifically, is seen as something to be conquered [22]. The biophilia hypothesis in an attempt to make some sense of this; it proposes that humans are drawn to nature and natural elements and that this orientation is based on humankind’s evolutionary development. Edward Wilson originally defined biophilia as ‘‘the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes’’ [34]. Kellert [17] extended this idea to include that ‘‘human dependence on nature...extends far beyond the simple issues of material and physical sustenance to encompass as well the human craving for aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual meaning and satisfaction’’ (p. 20). From this perspective, given that humans developed in an natural environment and that that natural environment includes a variety of features that can support or harm the likelihood of survival, it follows that humans would likely prefer to be around particular aspects of nature. There is mounting evidence from various academic disciplines that nature, and experiences with nature have a restorative impact. Two theoretical supports for this idea have been generated. The first explanation was outlined by Ulrich et al. [33], who argued that specific natural settings foster ‘‘restorative responses.’’ Some of these ‘‘restorative responses’’ include stress reduction, anger reduction, and an overall restoration in energy and well-being. His theory of stress reduction was based on the concept of Biophilia and the notion that humans have a biologically based affinity toward nature. The second explanation was outlined by Kaplan and Kaplan [15], as well as Kaplan [14]. The couple argued that the restorative psychological benefits of nature is directly associated with attention restoration. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) states that human fascination of restorative environments has the potential to restore our ability to direct attention to challenges in our lives. In [12], Kaplan described the process by which humans restore their ability to concentrate to challenges. He explained that many of life’s challenges require a direct concentration or attention to complete. To accomplish the task, one must exert effort to maintain focus by ignoring distractions and gratification from emotions or other actions. Directed attention requires a tremendous amount of effort to maintain, sensitive to interruption and distractions, and difficult to recapture once lost. Following the completion of challenges, humans suffer from what is described by Kaplan as ‘‘directed attention fatigue’’ or mental exhaustion. Directed attention fatigue is a direct byproduct of prolonged, focused attention to the challenge. There are two important issues that frame our discussion of the impact that plants and other natural elements can S. C. Bates (&) J. Marquit Utah State University, 2810 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-2810, USA e-mail: Scott.Bates@usu.edu

Topical Coverage in Introductory Psychology Textbooks Versus Lectures

Because 98% of teachers use textbooks for the introductory psychology course and the majority of introductory teachers do not assign reading beyond the textbook, examining the topical coverage allocation pattern in introductory textbooks versus that in introductory course lectures is important for our understanding of how introductory students are being educated about our discipline. We examined this relationship by comparing chapter topical allocation findings for textbooks with lecture allocation findings based upon analysis of introductory course syllabi. The two patterns of topical allocation were very similar, indicating that, for the most part, teachers teach the text (allocate lecture time to chapter topics in proportion to the space allocated to them in introductory texts). The implications for textbook selection are discussed.

Effects of gender communication patterns on opposite gender attraction

extensive. Studies on personality characteristics (Regan & Joshi, 2003; Sprecher & Regan, 2002), evolutionary forces (Buss, 1989; Cramer & Schaeffer, 1996) and physical appearance (Kalof, 1999) have been used to define those factors which influence attraction. Self-report methods, commonly used to study attraction, have shown support for the subjective nature of attraction formation and the likelihood of dependence upon multiple factors for complete development (Regan & Joshi, 2003; Sprecher & Regan, 2002). Furthermore, different verbal communication styles are stereotypically associated with gender and differ in presentation (Edwards & Hamilton, 2004; MacGeorge, Graves, Feng, Gillihan, & Burleson, 2004; Tannen, 1990). The differences between these stereotypical gender communication patterns are important in understanding communication, but may also have a role in attraction (Feldstein, Dohm, & Crown, 2001; Montgomery, 1986). This study concerns the manipulation of these previously identified stereotypical communication patterns of the genders to find possible differences in attraction. Intrinsic Values and Attraction Various personality characteristics and intrinsic values (e.g., social skills, personality) have an impact on attraction between genders. Although there are many differences in attraction factors between the genders, personality characteristics like intelligence, ROBERT R. WRIGHT