NUR 590 Dishonesty And Impacts On Nursing And Health Care Essay
Assignment: Summarize 3 articles (attached) in order to draw conclusions about how academic dishonesty affects nursing/client care.
- APA (7th edition) format, double spaced, 12 font Times New Roman, minimum 1.5 pages – maximum 5 pages, not including references page.
- After reading the articles, select your top three sources, cite each in APA style, and construct a paper summarizing each article and reflecting upon how the article relates to how academic dishonesty affects nursing/client care.
Dishonesty: Testing a New Mediation Model in Young Adults Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 2019, Vol. 35(1) 21 –35 ©
Abstract Researchers increasingly recognize that biological risk factors contribute to the development of antisocial behavior. Although academic dishonesty is a pervasive problem, this type of antisocial behavior has not been investigated in biosocial research.
This article addresses this limitation by examining the relationship between academic dishonesty and resting heart rate in a sample of undergraduates (N = 149, 65.69% female, M age = 19.62 years). Subjects completed self-report academic dishonesty questionnaires, and heart rate was measured during a resting period. Low resting heart rate was associated with more frequent and varied academic dishonesty in females, but not in males.
Self-control and sensation seeking, but not fearlessness, mediated this relationship in females. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine a biological risk factor for academic dishonesty. This is also the first study to examine self-control as a possible mediator of the resting heart rate–antisocial behavior relationship in adults. Findings suggest a potential pathway in young adults through which low resting heart rate may affect antisocial behavior. Keywords academic dishonesty, resting heart rate, autonomic, self-control Studies have estimated that more than 50% of students engage in academically dishonest behavior at some point in their academic careers (Pino & Smith, 2003).
As a result, researchers and professionals across educational disciplines are interested in identifying the risk factors for academic dishonesty to develop appropriate prevention measures (Ballantine, Larres, & Mulgrew, 2014; Laduke, 2013; Nonis & Swift, 2001). Despite its prevalence, relatively little research has examined individual-level risk factors for academic dishonesty. To date, researchers have identified present time perspective (Orosz et al., 2016), low self-esteem (David, 2015), narcissism (Brunell, Staats, Barden, & Hupp, 2011), and blame externalization (Callender, Olson, Kerr, & Sameroff, 2010; Stanculescu, 2013) as risk factors for cheating behavior.
Low self control (Callender et al., 2010) and higher levels of sensation seeking (Deandrea, Carpenter, Shulman, & Levine, 2009; Etter, Cramer, & Finn, 2006) have also been associated with cheating and attitudes toward academic dishonesty, although some results have been mixed (Martin, Rao, & Sloan, 2009). To our knowledge, no research has examined whether biological factors are associated with academic dishonesty.
This is despite the fact that biological factors have been associated with several other types of antisocial behavior, including aggression, offending, and nonviolent delinquency (Portnoy & Farrington, 2015). One biological factor that may be of particular relevance is low resting heart rate. Heart rate is dually innervated by the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system.
A recent meta-analysis of 114 reports and 115 independent effect sizes yielded a random effects summary effect size (Cohen’s d) of −0.20 (SE = 0.04, p < .001) for the relationship between resting heart rate and antisocial behavior (Portnoy & Farrington, 2015). Under the random effects model, the summary effect size was unmoderated by sex, age group, or recruitment (clinical/institutional vs. community).
Results also did not differ across types of antisocial behavior, although no studies reviewed examined academic dishonesty. Importantly, the effect size was also unmoderated by study design (prospective vs. concurrent). This suggests that a low heart rate could precede the onset of antisocial behavior, rather than result from antisocial behavior. Consistent with this, an analysis of 411 males participating in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development found that resting heart rate at age 18 years predicted convictions for violence up to age 50 years (Jennings, Piquero, & Farrington, 2013).
Results were largely unchanged after controlling for numerous covariates, including sports participation, impulsivity, binge drinking, and body mass index (BMI). These results suggest that the relationship between resting heart rate and antisocial behavior is unlikely to be the result of confounding variables. More recent research has bolstered the strength of research linking resting heart rate to antisocial behavior.
In a study of more than 700,000 Swedish men, low resting heart rate in late adolescence predicted violent and nonviolent criminal convictions in adulthood, even after adjusting for physical, cardiovascular, psychiatric, social, and cognitive covariates (Latvala, Kuja-Halkola, Almqvist, Larrson, & Lichtenstein, 2015). These robust findings raise the important question of why low resting heart rate is associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior.
The mechanism underlying the low resting heart rate–antisocial behavior relationship is not yet fully understood, although two prominent theories have been used to explain this relationship: Portnoy et al. 23 fearlessness theory and sensation-seeking theory (Raine, 2002, 2013). According to fearlessness theory, low resting heart rate is associated with increased levels of antisocial behavior, because low autonomic nervous system arousal may reflect a relative lack of fear, which could facilitate antisocial behavior by impeding early fear conditioning to socializing punishments and reducing fear of the negative consequences of the antisocial act (Raine, 2002, 2013).
Alternatively, sensation-seeking theory argues that reduced autonomic nervous system arousal is an unpleasant psychological state, leading those with low resting heart rates to engage in stimulating behaviors, including antisocial behaviors, to increase their level of arousal to a more optimal level (Quay, 1965; Raine, 2002, 2013). Recent studies have provided support for a sensation-seeking explanation of the low heart rate–antisocial behavior relationship. A study of 335 adolescent boys participating in the Pittsburgh Youth Study found that sensation seeking, but not fearlessness, mediated the relationship between heart rate and aggression (Portnoy et al., 2014).
In a study of males and females, Hammerton et al. (2018) found that sensation seeking at 14 years of age explained the relationship between low resting heart rate at age 11 years and antisocial behavior at age 15 years. Sijtsema et al. (2010) found that sensation seeking at ages 13.5 and 16 partially mediated the relationship between heart rate at age 11 and rule breaking at age 16 in boys. This study also examined low behavioral inhibition as a mediator of this relationship in adolescents and preadolescents, but did not detect a significant mediating effect.
To our knowledge, Sijtsema et al. (2010) is the only study to examine behavioral inhibition, a construct closely related to self-control, as a possible mechanism linking low resting heart rate to antisocial behavior. This is despite the fact that low self-control is associated with both autonomic activity (Mathias & Stanford, 2003) and higher levels of antisocial behavior (Vazsonyi, Mikuška, & Kelley, 2017). At least three studies, however, found that the relationship between heart rate and antisocial behavior remained significant after controlling for a measure of self-control (Armstrong, Keller, Franklin, & Macmillan, 2009; Boisvert et al., 2017; Cauffman, Steinberg, & Piquero, 2005).
These studies did not, however, test for the possibility that low self-control might partially underlie the relationship between low heart rate and antisocial behavior, even if full mediation is not present.
To our knowledge, no research has examined whether self-control or fearlessness mediates the association between heart rate and antisocial behavior in an adult sample, leaving unknown whether these mechanisms explain this relationship in adults. Given these limitations, the purpose of this article is to examine whether a biological risk factor is associated with academic dishonesty in male and female undergraduates.
We test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Low resting heart rate will be associated with academic dishonesty in both male and female undergraduates. Hypothesis 2: Self-control, fearlessness, and sensation seeking will partially mediate the relationship between resting heart rate and academic dishonesty. 24 Journal of Contemporary
Criminal Justice 35(1) Method Participants and Procedures Subjects consisted of N = 149 male and female undergraduates attending a private university recruited through an undergraduate psychology subject pool. Analyses were conducted using the 137 subjects with complete data (65.69% female, 38.0% White, 39.4% Asian). Subjects had a mean age of 19.62 years (SD = 1.168 years, range = 18-33 years).
During the study session, subjects completed self-report behavior and personality questionnaires. They then participated in a series of tasks during which psychophysiological data were recorded. Psychophysiological Testing Procedure Heart rate was measured continuously during an initial 2-min resting period. During this period, participants were seated and told that for the next few minutes, nothing would happen and they should sit still with their eyes closed. Electrocardiograph (ECG) was continuously recorded axially on the left and right ribs at the level of the heart using silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) adhesive disposable electrodes. Prior to attaching electrodes, skin was prepared using NuPrep abrasive skin prepping paste.
Biopac isotonic recording gel was used as the electrolyte medium. Impedance for ECG was kept below 10 kΩ. Data was recorded using a bandpass of 0.5 to 35 Hz and a 60 Hz notch filter, and the recording was digitized at 1,000 Hz. ECG data were cleaned for artifacts manually after using AcqKnowledge analytic tools to identify unusually large changes in heart rate. Heart rate was then quantified using AcqKnowledge analytic tools. Average heart rate for the rest task was calculated by averaging heart rate over four 30-s epochs. Academic
Dishonesty Academy dishonesty was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Subjects indicated the number of times in their entire life they had engaged in a series of nine academically dishonest behaviors (e.g., “cheated on an exam,” “made up or altered data in an experiment or study”). We created academic dishonesty and frequency measures. To create the variety scale, scores on each item were coded as 0 if the subject had never engaged in the behavior and 1 if the subject had engaged in the behavior at least once.
Scores in this sample ranged from 0 to 8. Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was .66. Raw totals for each item were also summed to create an academic dishonesty frequency score. Scores ranged from 0 to 553. Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was .78. Self-Control Self-control was measured using the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS; Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004).1 The BSCS consists of 13 items (e.g., “I am good at resisting temptation”) that are rated by subjects on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = not Portnoy et al. 25 at all, 5 = very much). Higher scores indicate higher levels of self-control. The BSCS was developed and validated in an undergraduate sample (Tangney et al., 2004), and it had a Cronbach’s alpha of .87 in the current sample.
Sensation Seeking Sensation seeking was assessed using the impulsive sensation-seeking subscale of the Zuckerman–Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ; Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta, & Kraft, 1993). The Impulsive Sensation-Seeking Scale contains 19 items that assess a lack of planning, impulsive behavior, and the tendency to take risks in the pursuit of excitement or novelty (e.g., “I like doing things just for the thrill of it”).
Items were coded as 1 if the subject indicates the item is true and 0 if the item is false. Higher scores indicate a higher level of impulsive sensation seeking. The Impulsive Sensation-Seeking Scale has been shown to be reliable and valid (Zuckerman & Kuhlman, 2000; Zuckerman et al., 1993), and it had a Cronbach’s alpha of .83 in the current sample. Fearlessness Fearlessness was measured using the Fearlessness subscale of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996).
The Fearlessness subscale consists of seven items that reflect a lack of fear (e.g., “I occasionally do something dangerous because someone has dared me to do it”), with higher scores indicating a higher level of fearlessness. Cronbach’s alpha was .74 in the current sample. Covariates We controlled for several covariates in the regression and mediation analyses.
These included sex (0 = male, 1 = female), age in years, race (dummy coded with non-White, non-Asian as the reference category), BMI, and self-reported grade point average. Statistical Analyses Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Version 24 (Armonk, NY, 2016). We first examined whether resting heart rate predicted academic dishonesty variety using three-step ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models.2 Step 1 included only resting heart rate. Covariates were added in Step 2.
To test for sex differences in these relationships, in Step 3, we included the interaction term: sex × resting heart rate. We used an interaction term to test for sex differences as opposed to conducting analyses separately by sex to determine whether any sex differences were statistically significant. Resting heart rate was mean centered. Because academic dishonesty frequency was heavily skewed toward zero and had several high outliers, OLS regression was not appropriate.
To select the appropriate regression model for the academic dishonesty frequency outcome, we utilized a 26 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 35(1) variety of tests outlined by Rydberg and Carkin (2017). The distribution for academic dishonesty frequency demonstrated significant overdispersion and was characterized by excess zeros. A Vuong test with corrections for model complexity suggested a standard negative binomial regression was preferable to a model including a zero hurdle.
Therefore, the three-step regression analyses for academic dishonesty frequency were performed using negative binomial regression. We then used the SPSS PROCESS Macro to conduct mediation analyses (Hayes, 2013). To test the significance of the indirect effects, bias-corrected confidence intervals (CIs) for the indirect effects were generated using 10,000 bootstrapped samples.
A bootstrap approach was used as opposed to the more traditional Sobel test, because the bootstrap method has higher statistical power and makes more realistic assumptions about the sampling distribution of the indirect effect (MacKinnon, Lockwood, & Williams, 2004). We controlled for all covariates in mediation analyses. Because these analyses involved linear regression (Coxe & MacKinnon, 2010), mediation analyses were performed using the academic dishonesty variety score only.
Results Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1. Students engaged in an average of 3.42 types of academic dishonesty (SD = 2.02) and engaged in an average total of 32.42 acts of academic dishonesty (SD = 71.62). Frequency and variety of academic dishonesty did not vary by sex (p > .05).
Regression Analyses We first examined whether sex interacted with resting heart rate to predict academic dishonesty variety after controlling for covariates. As shown in Table 2, the sex × resting heart rate interaction significantly predicted academic dishonesty variety (p < .05). In females, resting heart rate was significantly negatively associated with academic dishonesty variety (B = −0.05, SE = 0.02, p < .05), whereas in males, this relationship was not significant
