Thesis--Smith College. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

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Teenage pregnancy is a global public health problem, which results in inevitable interruptions in their education. In some instances, dropping out of school is temporary, but some of teenagers do not return to school. The dual responsibility of parenting and school work often results in poor scholastic performance, adding to the burden of a limited education and scarce employment opportunities. Since 2004, schools in Soshanguve have been requesting urgent preventive interventions regarding teenage pregnancy, which prompted the need for this study. The aim of the study was to determine the pattern of relationships, perceptions and the socio-cultural environments of pregnant teenagers in Soshanguve. A qualitative exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used for the study. Participants comprised teenagers from Soshanguve secondary schools, who visited the clinic for ante-natal or post-natal care. A purposive sampling method was used and the sample size was determined by saturation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 participants. Tesch’s approach, using open coding and a template analysis system, was utilised for data analysis. Teenagers lacked information about menarche and menstruation, leaving them unprepared for their pregnancies. Participants did not realise the consequences of their love and sex relationships. Circumstances around their lives and the socio-cultural environments contributed to their pregnancies, resulting in teenagers showing regret, shame, denial and some accepting their pregnancies. Communication about sexuality was lacking and teenagers had no risk perceptions teenage pregnancy is urgently needed.

The adolescent stage of development is particularly challenging. Because of the biological, cognitive, and social transitions of adolescence, this stage of development is seen as an important time for interventions promoting well-being (Steinberg, 1999). Recent research suggests that self-compassionate teens experience greater psychological health than those without self-compassion (Neff & McGehee, in press). To date, however, there have been no self-compassion interventions targeted at the adolescent population. This dissertation is a pilot study investigating the development, implementation and assessment of a self-compassion intervention for an adolescent population. The intervention took the form of a weekend “Self-Compassion Retreat” for high-school students, ages 14-17. Over a two day period, 17 subjects participated in the intervention focused on helping the students to understand and begin to incorporate the three dimensions of self-compassion – self kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. The intervention attempted to deepen student understanding of self-compassion by focusing on experiential and contemplative learning strategies (Kabat-Zinn, 1997; Hart, 2004). The 17 students were introduced to the concept of self-compassion through presentations, small group and contemplative exercises as well as individual interviews. The self-compassion intervention was assessed by testing participants along five different dimensions: self-compassion, depression, anxiety, social connectedness, and happiness at three different time points. The intervention was also assessed through individual interviews following the intervention. Though the quantitative results from the pilot study yielded no significant data for the current sample, the qualitative data provided promising information for future interventions aimed at increasing self-compassion. / text

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the differential gambling patterns of underage adolescents in order to identify the specific characteristics and determinants that influence the appeal of the lottery and their lottery playing behaviour. This study was an exploratory investigation of the structural characteristics of lottery products that are particularly appealing to youth (e.g., monetary value, attribute of the ticket, type of game, prize structure, advertisements, colour of ticket, etc.). / This research consisted of three phases. Phase I consisted of the inclusion of 5 focus groups (47 children, age 12--19) designed to provide qualitative information on adolescent lottery playing behaviour; Phase II included the development and validation of an instrument to assess lottery playing and gambling behaviour; and Phase III included the participation of a large community sample of youth in Ontario who completed the questionnaire assessing their gambling behaviour in general, factors influencing lottery playing behaviour (e.g., structural characteristics of lottery tickets), and severity of gambling problems. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Stress in sport is complex and can lead to a number of undesirable consequences such as burnout, performance difficulties, interpersonal problems, and injury. Lazarus’s (1991, 1999) Cognitive-Motivational-Relational model holds that stress is best understood as a transactional relationship between a person and their environment. Stress is a process which is influenced by appraisals and coping. Appraisals are influenced by personal factors as well as environmental demands and the availability of external resources. Coping involves constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage the perceived external and internal demands of a stressful situation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The present study examined how appraisal processes mediated (or were possibly moderated by) the effects of social anxiety and perceptions of teammate social support on how high school female soccer players thought they would cope with a hypothetical interpersonal stressor. The study also examined simple relationships among variables. The participants were 181 female high school soccer players from Greater Vancouver. The athletes first completed two questionnaires designed to measure social anxiety (Interaction Anxiousness Scale; Leary, 1983a) and perceived social support from teammates (modified Social Provisions Scale; Weiss, 1974). After reading the scenario, the athletes indicated their appraisal of threat and challenge (Stress Appraisal Measure; Peacock & Wong, 1990) and how they thought they would cope (Coping Functions Questionnaire; Kowalski & Crocker, 2001). . The initial findings indicated that challenge appraisals were moderately correlated with both emotion-focused (r = .41) and problem-focused coping (r = .51), whereas threat had a weak association with avoidance coping (r = .19). Using mediation analysis, the results indicated that challenge fully mediated the relationship between social support and emotion-focused coping, and partially mediated the relationship between social support and problem-focused coping. Threat appraisals mediated the relationship between social anxiety and avoidance coping. Contrary to hypotheses, there was no evidence that social anxiety or threat were related to emotion-focused coping. There was also no support that person variables (social anxiety, social support) moderated the effects of appraisal on coping. The findings suggest that challenge appraisals and social support were key predictors of coping with interpersonal stress in this population.

Over the past 10 years, internet use has become an integral part of adolescent socialization. Teenagers use the internet to communicate with known others as well as with strangers. They engage in online entertainment in the form of gaming and surfing the web. While adolescents mainly use the internet to maintain pre-existing friendships, some adolescents make close friendships online. They also encounter negativity online in the form of cyberbullying. Despite the pervasiveness of internet use, relatively little is known about long-term effects of internet activities on adolescent psycho-social adjustment. This group of studies aimed to identify change over time associated with various aspects of internet use. First, the long-term associations between different internet-based activities and adolescent social relationships were identified. Second, the differences between adolescents who form close internet-based friendships and those who do not were examined. Finally, the importance of internet-based bullying was identified. Overall, results suggest that while some internet-based activities are associated with increased positive effects, some internet activities are also associated with negative outcomes over the long term. Having close online friends as part of one’s peer group is associated with negative psychosocial factors. Cyberbullying was identified as a form of bullying that is associated with many important outcomes. The implications of these findings call for an increase in monitoring, involving not only supervision but direct communication, of adolescents’ internet activities, and increased communication in families about internet use. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-27 21:52:03.178

The overall purpose of this study is to describe the ways in which one school contributes to the healthy development of its students by providing an account of external developmental assets from the perspective of students and key staff informants. Specific goals of this study are: (a) to identify the principles and programs as well as the human and ancillary resources at one school whose explicit mission is to embed contexts and courses that contribute positively to the healthy development of young people; and (b) to compare perceptions among stakeholders about the external developmental assets of the school. This study gives voice to students and professionals to describe the extent to which they believe that a school‘s vision, program, and resources can impact the healthy development of young people. Researchers and theorists have encouraged academics to pursue qualitative research as an important step in elucidating the meaning of developmental assets in programs for young people, particularly in schools (Mahoney, Lafferty, & Nutter, 2003; Thurber, Scanlin, Scheuler, & Henderson, 2007; Scales et al., 2000), because, to date, developmental assets research has primarily focused on a quantitative inventory to assess youth resiliency and the efficacy of risk prevention programs. This case study contributes to the growing body of Canadian research on healthy youth development. The perceptions and ideas of participants could add to further understanding about healthy youth development, developmental assets, and the needs of learners in other educational settings. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-06-14 12:17:22.656

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