In the context of university higher education at undergraduate level, the model of student-institution integration, proposed by Tinto & Cullen and later refined in some of its parts, has often been used to explain the process of dropout/persevere, and even to anticipate such events. This paper approaches the evolution of the Tinto's model since its proposal and reports an analysis of versions of the model found in the literature. The conducted analysis was directed with focus on how to make the model operational, in a way that it could be implemented by universities as an academic computational support system for predicting dropouts. Aiming at its future computational implementation, the analysis approaches the model in relation to its lack of precise definitions of some concepts employed, the loose specification of both, variables and processes involved and questions the extreme importance given to the social integration aspect experienced by students, for explaining dropout.

This research examines the effects of COVID‐19 perceptions and negative experiences during the pandemic time on parental healthy eating behavior and whether these relationships interact with a parent’s gender. We ran a survey of parents who had at least one child aged 3 to 17 years old living in the United Kingdom. We received 384 valid responses, which were analysed via a variance‐based structural equation modeling approach to test our hypotheses. The results revealed that COVID‐19 perceptions effects were Janus‐faced. While they indirectly and negatively impact healthy eating behavior mediated by triggering negative experiences during the pandemic, COVID‐19 perceptions, however, directly get parents, especially fathers, more engaged into healthy eating behavior – making COVID‐19 perceptions total effects positive on healthy eating behavior. This explorative model is novel in the sense that it is the first of its kind to cast light on how parental healthy eating behavior can be shaped in pandemic time. The research is particularly timely due to the uncertain times in which the research is situated, that is, the worldwide pandemic (also termed COVID‐19); the paper highlights how family eating practices can undergo dramatic shifts during acute crises.

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