Thesis (D. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-254).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1994. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-182).

Thesis (M. A.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-164).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-244).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2000. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-244).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Feb. 17, 2009). PDF text: 144 p. ; 995 Kb. UMI publication number: AAT 3326857. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The Health Promotion Model provides a theoretical framework exploring the relationships between healthy lifestyle behaviours of individuals. The three behavioral determinants affecting healthy lifestyle behaviours as posited by the model are (i) individual characteristics, (ii) behaviour-specific cognitions and affects, and (iii) behavioural outcomes that promote health. Research indicates that a number of health risk behaviours are established in adolescence and affect health and well-being in later life. In South Africa where young people account for more than 9 million of the population, and with adolescence being a period where the development of health risk behaviours is prevalent, it becomes important to research the associations that aid in healthy lifestyle behaviours of adolescence in this country, particularly in rural communities where research on adolescents remains limited. This study therefore aimed to develop and test a model that examined the effects of the interaction between perceived parenting styles and adolescent decision making styles on healthy lifestyle behaviours of adolescents in the rural Western Cape. The study employed a mixed methodological sequential exploratory design, using (i) systematic reviews and (ii) a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional research design. Systematic reviews established the associations in existing empirical studies that examined the associations of parenting approaches with (a) healthy lifestyle behaviours and (b) decision making styles. Quantitative data was collected using a self-report questionnaire that consisted of four sections, demographical information, Parenting Style and Dimension Questionnaire, Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II and the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire among 457 Grade 9 learners in the Overberg Education District in the Western Cape, South Africa. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences V23 (SPSS) for descriptive and inferential statistics (correlations and multivariate analysis of variance) and the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The systematic reviews suggested that empirical studies have found parenting approaches to be associated with (i) healthy lifestyle behaviours and (ii) decision making styles of children and adolescents in existing literature. The quantitative studies showed that perceived authoritative parenting, vigilant decision making styles, and frequent engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours were the most prevalent among adolescents in the rural Western Cape. No significant main effects were established on the basis of participant gender or family structure. The model developed and tested, guided by the Health Promotion Model, suggests that a significant positive relationship exists between maternal parenting styles and decision making styles of adolescents. In addition, the findings demonstrated that paternal parenting styles positively affect the decision making styles of adolescents as well as their engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours. Overall, the study suggested the important role that parents play in adolescent decision making styles and healthy lifestyle behaviours, and even more the role of paternal parental figures in the development of children and adolescents.

Parenting is one of the most influential as well as modifiable factors influencing healthy child development (Grusec, 2011; Sanders, 2012). This dissertation includes two studies that were designed to broaden our understanding of parenting in developmental periods widely recognized to present parenting challenges: Study 1 focused on the toddler and preschool years (Crnic & Low, 2002; Kwon, Han, Jeon, & Bingham, 2013) and Study 2 focused on adolescence (Eisenberg et al., 2008; Laursen & Collins, 2009). Both studies involve analysis of data on self-reported parenting responses and parenting goals, as well as parent-rated child adjustment from community samples of mothers and fathers. In the first study parenting similarity in the parenting responses and parenting goals of mothers and fathers of toddlers and preschoolers were examined. As well, I examined whether these were linked to parents’ ratings of their children’s adjustment on the Child Behavior Checklist Preschool form (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). In addition, I examined whether there were differences between parenting situations involving child misbehaviour and child withdrawn behaviour. Participants were 148 families of children aged between 18 months and 60 months. Parenting similarity was found both for parenting responses and for parenting goals. However, neither similarity in parenting responses or parenting goals differed for situations involving child misbehaviour versus child withdrawn behaviour. Furthermore, parenting similarity in parenting responses and parenting goals were not found to be related to each other or to child adjustment. The second study was conducted with mothers and fathers of adolescents and was designed to extend on the work of Hastings and Grusec (1998). In this study I also examined parenting similarity in parenting responses and parenting goals. Participants were 285 parents of adolescents aged 14 to 17 years old (mothers n = 213, fathers n = 68, dyads n = 43). Parenting goals were influenced by characteristics of the situation, but not by parent or adolescent gender. Parenting goals were not related to parents’ ratings of their adolescent children’s adjustment on the Child Behavior Checklist School Age form (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). As in the first study, I found parenting similarity for parenting responses and parenting similarity for parenting goals, but the two types of similarity were not related to each other. The findings with respect to parenting goals indicate that there is insufficient evidence to justify future parenting goals studies given the limitations of the extant methodology for measuring them. Future parenting similarity studies that use statistical analyses, such as cluster analyses, that allow for the examination of the links between specific parenting similarity (e.g., having two parents that are authoritative vs. two that are authoritarian) and child adjustment hold promise for informing clinical practice with families.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Parental involvement during late adolescence has been confirmed by scholars as a major determinant in fostering the educational and psychosocial outcomes in the life trajectory of an individual. Certain bodies of literature, however, argue that parental involvement declines dramatically during adolescence, while others insist that parents merely employ more developmentally appropriate forms of involvement. Western-based parental involvement frameworks – while useful – have not sufficiently captured the contextualised perceptions, experiences and challenges of late adolescents in rural South Africa.