FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CHEATING AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: A Review

A review was conducted of the results of 107studies of the prevalence and correlates of cheatingamong college students published between 1970 and 1996.The studies found cheating to be more common in the 1969-75 and 1986-96 time periods thanbetween 1976 and 1985. Among the strongest correlates ofcheating were having moderate expectations of success,having cheated in the past, studying under poor conditions, holding positive attitudes towardcheating, perceiving that social norms support cheating,and anticipating a large reward for success. However, animportant limitation on the conclusions drawn from this research is that many variables wereincluded in only one or a few studies. A model of theantecedents of cheating is proposed and the implicationsof this model for the identification of students at risk for cheating and controlling cheatingare discussed.     

The Reality of Sustaining Community-Based Sport and Physical Activity Programs to Enhance the Development of Underserved Youth: Challenges and Potential Strategies

Many community-based sport and physical activity programs take a positive youth development approach when operating in underserved communities around the world (Forneris, Whitley, & Barker, 2013). However, one of the biggest challenges for these programs is sustainability (Lindsey, 2008). The purpose of this article is to present the 3 authors’ experiences related to program sustainability when working with community-based sport and physical activity programs using a positive youth development approach in underserved communities. The authors describe the challenges faced with program sustainability, including ineffective development approaches, building strong relationships with community partners, knowledge translation, and securing funding. Also described are the strategies used to overcome these challenges, such as planning, capacity building, recruitment, and evaluation. This article is intended to stimulate more open and honest discussions about the realities of positive youth development program sustainability around the world.     

A Test of Activation as a General Factor in Strength Performance

Abstract

A test was made of the general activation concept as it relates to strength performance. No difference in grip strength was found between an experimental group (N = 35), who performed maximal leg strength exercises between grip trials (in an attempt to raise their level of activation through induced muscular tension), and a control group (N = 35) who read between grip trials. Also, there was no difference in grip strength performance over trials for both groups. Intercorrelations of strength scores between limbs for the experimental group showed more specificity than generality. While these results fail to support a generalized activation effect in the static strength performance context, they do provide additional evidence of neuromuscular specificity in motor ability.     

Childhood and Modernity: Dark Themes in Carol Ann Duffy’s Poetry for Children

Carol Ann Duffy’s three volumes of children’s poetry are important and interesting because they emerge from the work of a writer whose adult poetry has persistently associated childhood with dark and difficult areas of experience. This article explores what happens to such challenging material when a poet of major significance changes the focus of her work to address child readers directly. Since these areas of experience are bound up with issues that have made the meaning of childhood particularly problematic within contemporary society, Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry may be read as an oblique commentary on the condition of childhood within late modernity. The author focuses on strategies used by the poet in representing both romantic love and disturbing emotions for a child readership, assessing the roles played by distancing and estrangement devices in mediating such experience. David Whitley is Lecturer in English in the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University, where he teaches English Literature, Film and Children’s Literature. He is particularly interested in film, poetry and environmental perspectives on the arts. He has published a number of articles, especially on Aesop’s Fables, and has recently completed a book on Disney animation.     

Sustainability behaviors among college students: an application of the VBN theory

While Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory has been widely applied to various populations, it has seldom been tested on college students. This study extends VBN theory to examine what socio-psychological factors influence sustainability behaviors among university students. Undergraduate students are an interesting and novel population, as they are still forming their values and beliefs, and therefore may be more open to engage in sustainability efforts. This study assessed five sustainability behaviors: (a) support for political candidates who say they will strengthen environmental policies, (b) recycling, (c) electricity use, (d) food selection, and (e) transportation choices. Findings support the notion that one’s values matter in environmental decision-making, but that different values are associated with different behaviors. Those who adhere to biospheric and altruistic values were more likely to engage in a range of sustainability behaviors whereas those who adhere to egoistic values were less likely to engage in most behaviors. Those who adhere to traditional or openness to change values showed mixed results. We discuss the theoretical application, practical recommendations for behavior change campaigns, and offer suggestions for future research.     

Transforming Universities: National Conditions of Their Varied Organisational Actorhood

Despite major changes in the governance of universities overtly intended to transform them into authoritatively integrated collectivities, the extent of their organisational actorhood remains quite limited and varied between OECD countries. This is because of inherent limitations to the managerial direction and control of research and teaching activities in public science systems as well as considerable variations in how governance changes are being implemented in different kinds of states. Four ideal types of university can be distinguished in terms of their strategic and operational autonomy and capability: Hollow, State-contracted, State-chartered and Private-portfolio. These become established under different proximate and background conditions such that relatively high levels of organisational actorhood are unlikely to be achieved in many OECD countries without major shifts in state structures and policies.     

Sounding Sense: The Place,Problems and Potential of Performance in Poetry

Drawing on a strand of findings from the Cambridge Poetry Teaching Project, a small-scale research study co-ordinated through the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, this article examines contemporary understandings of poetry performance in teaching contexts. Positioning these understandings in relation to past practices, we contend that within contemporary English teaching, the experience of performance is now largely separated from knowledge of poems developed through detailed analysis. Through an examination of theories of poetry and language more generally, we argue that performance should be more fully integrated into poetry teaching, and suggest ways in which a consideration of principles and choices relating to performance has the potential to cultivate the resources of the inner ear and to instantiate a kind of knowledge whose educational value should be given equal status with the analytical understanding of poems that currently drives the examination system.     

Psychological distress in grandmother kinship care providers: the role of resources, social support, and physical health

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate predictors of psychological distress in grandmother kinship care providers. More specifically, it was hypothesized that social support, family resources, and physical health would predict psychological distress in grandmothers raising grandchildren. METHOD: One hundred and two grandmothers raising grandchildren in parent-absent homes completed the Brief Symptom Inventory, Short Health Form-36, Family Resource Scale, Family Support Scale, and a questionnaire requesting background and demographic data. RESULTS: Results indicated that psychological distress was predicted by family resources, participants' physical health, and to a lesser extent, social support. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that family resources, social support, and physical health affected psychological distress in grandmothers raising grandchildren. Grandmothers who reported fewer resources, less social support, and poorer physical health tended to experience higher levels of psychological distress. This study suggests that greater attention be given to interventions aimed to decrease psychological distress and improve the financial resources and physical health of grandmothers raising grandchildren.