This study investigated how social understandings influence, and often obscure, individual perception. As a replication ofLindblom's (2002) study conducted in Sweden, the aim of this project was to investigate how individuals, studying towards a health care degree such as psychology, handle the occurrence of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) when presented with it. To this end, participants were presented with a picture designed to represent CSA and were asked to interpret the nature of the picture. Following this, participants completed the Child Sexual Abuse Myth Scale (CSAMS) which served to highlight whether the three predominant social stereotypes surrounding CSA, namely, Blame Diffusion, Denial of Abusiveness and Restrictive Stereotypes, were influential in the interpretations participants offered surrounding the picture representing CSA. It was discovered that participants who scored significantly higher on the myth scale for the myths, Denial of Abusiveness and Restrictive Stereotypes, were more likely to misinterpret CSA when presented with it. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2004

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3 pp. / To understand children, their development, needs and uniqueness is vital for parents. This publication uses tables to outline the mental, social and physical development for each group of children from 4 to 8 year old.

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Using secondary analysis methodology - a statistical analysis of Police data - this study examines the annual incidence and patterns of child (0-14 years) death by homicide in New Zealand in the decade 1991-2000, and identifies the similarities and differences ofthese with an earlier New Zealand study and with international patterns. The study then determines the number of victims of child homicide with whom the New Zealand child care and protection service had had significant contact during the years 1996-2000, this period being chosen because of the availability of comprehensive case records. The report describes the New Zealand child care and protection legislative scheme and delineates the phases of an investigation undertaken by the Department of Child Youth and Family Services, identifying the possible practice errors attendant with each phase. Using qualitative analysis of case reviews undertaken by the Department of Child Youth and Family Services, the study investigates when deaths have occurred: during intake and prior to investigation; during an investigation; or during an intervention; and identifies the incidence of practice error. The findings of the two parts of the study are integrated using a systems perspective that discusses the influences of family, professional, organisational and community systems on child homicide. The report concludes with the implications of this analysis for child care and protection policy, practice and research. The findings of the study are discussed together with the implications for child protection practice.

This study addresses the problem of the assessment of child molesters. The research questions in this study specifically address the assessment of child molester personality and its relationship to demographic, personal, criminal offense, and treatment progress variables.The purpose of the study was to replicate cluster analyses done with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) in child molester populations using the revised and re-nonmed Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), and also, to identify other variables that are associated with particular profile patterns in child molesters.This study examined the archival records of 91 adult male child molesters who were involved in a communitybased sexual abuse treatment program between 1990 and 1993. Information analyzed included the MMPI-2, demographic, personal, and criminal offense data obtained from the child molesters' treatment files, and therapist ratings on the Treatment Progress Rating Scale which is an 11-point scale based on behaviors that the child molester reveals in treatment.The data from the MMPI-2 scales were cluster analyzed, yielding four homogeneous profile subgroups. Three of these four subgroups closely resembled those found in earlier MMPI research with child molesters. Discriminant analysis and chi square analyses were used to examine variables that differentiated the profile groups of child molesters derived in the cluster analysis. Results indicated that the derived groups significantly differed in terms of their reported history of having been sexually abused as a child. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the Scheffe procedure revealed that child molesters with within normal limits MMPI-2 profiles were less likely to report a history of childhood sexual abuse than were child molesters with more elevated profiles. ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze child molester progress in treatment as a function of MMPI-2 profile group. Although the analysis revealed that significant treatment progress was made for the overall sample, the groups did not significantly differ in terms of their treatment progress. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The purpose of this study was to determine whether global and area specific self-concept decreased as students advanced in the elementary grades and whether an educational program to increase self-concept affected global and area specific self-concept in a positive way. The participants were 154 first and third grade students from eight intact classrooms in two public elementary schools in a rural midwestern school district.An altered Non-Equivalent Control Group Design was utilized in which the self-concept treatment was administered to School A between Test One and Test Two and to School B between Test Two and Test Three.A repeated measures design and a MANOVA were used to test the seven null hypotheses at the .05 level of significance. The three hypotheses that were rejected dealt with increased self-concept scores for first and third graders after the treatment was given and differences in specific areas of self-concept.The following results were reported:1. There was a decline in global self-concepts from first to third grades, but the difference was not significant.2. Self-concept scores for first and third graders increased after the treatment.3. The only significant difference on the six specific area subtest scores between first and third grade students existed on the intellectual and school status subtest.The researcher concluded that the treatment may have been related to the increase in self-concept scores for both first and third graders.Recommendations for further research included replication and expansion of this study with various grade levels, different self-concept tests and interventions. / Department of Elementary Education

Child sexual abusers have typically been studied as a homogeneous group, comparing them with non-child sexual abusers. The present study was designed to examine the heterogeneity of child sexual abusers on a measure of psychopathology, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the revised version of the MMPI. MMPI-2 profiles of 106 child sexual abusers in treatment for their offenses were cluster analyzed. Three clusters were obtained from the data, suggesting that child sexual abusers are heterogeneous as measured by the MMPI-2. The clusters were F-8-7-6 (n=15), elevated 4 scale (n=29), and within normal limits (n=62). A discriminant function generated by cluster membership was able to accurately classify 98.11% of the sample.The three clusters were replicated in an independent sample (n=50) drawn from the same population. The discriminant function generated on the derivation sample was applied to the validation sample, correctly classifying 80.00% of the subjects.The mean MMPI-2 profiles for the clusters in this study did not replicate mean profiles of clusters derived from similar research using the MMPI, indicating that the two instruments may not be equivalent for use in research using multivariate statistical techniques.The three clusters were tested against amount of self-reported sexual psychopathology as measured by the Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI). Discriminant function analysis indicated that cluster membership did predict degree of sexual psychopathology. In essence, the more elevated the mean MMPI-2 cluster profile, the more sexual psychopathology was reported. The clusters did not differ with regard to progress in treatment (though there were definite trends toward significant group differences in the data), nor did they differ with regard to victim and offender demographics. They did, however, differ with regard to level of intelligence, with the F-8-7-6 group being significantly lower in intelligence than the other two groups.The results of this study indicate that child sexual abusers are heterogeneous with regard to their MMPI-2 profiles, and that this heterogeneity can be used to form homogeneous groups. Additionally, homogeneous groups of child sexual abusers can be expected to differ on the basis of general psychopathology and sexual psychopathology. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This qualitative study was designed to investigate which sources of information participating mothers had actually based their recent parental actions on. The sample included thirty married mothers living in Muncie, Indiana. Fifteen of these mothers had a firstborn fouryear-old, and fifteen had a firstborn eight-year-old. No mothers were trained in education or behavioral sciences.Participants responded to two-hour semi-structured interviews in their homes, according to a methodology delineated in Grant McCracken's book The Long Interview (SAGE, 1988). Interviews focused on eleven categories of typical parent-child interactions, with four interview questions pertaining to each category.In each category, the mother first described a recent parental action. Second, she related the information or belief which had influenced her action. Third, she told where this information had come from; fourth, she told why she considered the source credible.Mothers reported that most of their trusted information came from their personal beliefs/values, their observations of their child's needs and preferences, from raising their children as they were raised or from reacting against the way they were raised, and from impulsive reacting without thinking or planning. The next most cited sources were friends and relatives, then public media, and least-utilized sources were professionals. Participants trusted most information which agreed with their own beliefs, values, observations, and past experiences. Sources of information varied by topic category. Teacher influence on all mothers' actions was minimal.Twenty-six mothers volunteered that they felt despair about their continual discipline problems. / Department of Educational Leadership