The primary purpose of this study was to examine the potential mediating effect of TEI on the relationship between parenting style/dimension and first year students’ university adjustment in higher education institutions of Ethiopia. The study sought to test a model where parental responsiveness, parental demandingness and the TEI interactively and individually, relate to adjustment. A total of 464 first year university students from three public universities participated in this study. The results of preliminary analyses pertaining to the predominantly practiced parenting style in the families of Ethiopia revealed that if gender is ignored, the most common parenting style is the neglectful style followed very closely by the authoritative style. However, parenting styles varied as a function of students’ gender. A statistically significant TEI score difference was found among the four parenting style categories. Results also revealed that a statistically significant difference on adjustment mean score was found among the four parenting style categories. The t-test result revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between male and female first year university students with regard to TEI score but there was no a statistically significant difference between male and female first year university students with respect to the adjustment score. The path analysis result also revealed that parental dimensions (responsiveness and demandingness) and TEI had a statistically significant and positive direct effect on adjustment. The multiple regression result showed that TEI, parental responsiveness and parental demandingness interactively explained 31.9 percent of the variance on adjustment. Finally, the mediation analysis results revealed that TEI plays a meditation role, but only partially, in the parental demandingness and adjustment relationship, and in the parental responsiveness and adjustment relationship, which potentially confirms that the adjustment scale can explain the relationship between the demandingness and responsiveness dimension-variables of parenting style and TEI. Based on the results of the present study, some practical, theoretical and methodological implications of the study for designing interventions to maximize students’ adjustment in higher education institutions are addressed. Moreover, recommendations, limitations and future directions are addressed for researchers to take lesson in undertaking this or similar types of research in the future. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

With an increasing rate of urbanisation in East Africa, and with the highest prevalence rate of undernourished population than any region in the developing world, the issue of food access insecurity in urban areas has received considerable attention. While there are noticeable differences between big, medium- and small-sized towns, the variation in the household’s response to food access insecurity across urban hierarchies remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the social, economic and demographic factors in coping with food access insecurity among households in urban slum areas of Ethiopia. The study used both secondary and primary data sources. The national surveys of household consumption and expenditure survey and welfare monitoring surveys of 2004/5, 2010/11, and 2015/16 was used to analyse the food security situation in Ethiopia across time and urban hierarchies. Primary data of 500 households and three focus group discussions were conducted from slum areas of Addis Ababa, Hawassa, and Sheki representing a big city, medium- and small-sized town, respectively. The household survey data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and a standard regression model to investigate the relationship between factors such as household structure and composition, economic resources, social protection programmes and projects, and urban-rural linkages with coping with food access insecurity across urban hierarchies. A global model and three site-specific regression models were constructed. Descriptive results from both the primary and the secondary data sources have revealed that the proportion of the households affected by food shortage varies across the urban hierarchy that food insecurity was highest in the small-sized town as compared with the medium-sized town and the big city. The quality of food consumed was consistently low among female-headed households regardless of their socio-economic characteristics when compared with male-headed households. The result of the regression analysis for the global model has shown that economic resources (asset and source of income) predict nearly half of the variability in coping with food access insecurity. Household structure and composition such as gender and education of the head of the household, family structure (nuclear/extended), and the ratio of young children in the household predict a quarter of the variability in coping. Social protection programs and services predict one-tenth; the remaining variability in coping is explained by the combined effect of all the factors involved. The significance of these factors in predicting coping with food access insecurity, however, varies across the urban hierarchies. The contribution of economic factors in predicting coping is the highest at the big city (Addis Ababa); household structure and composition took the leading role in predicting coping at the small-sized town (Sheki); the significant factors in predicting coping at the mediumsized town (Hawassa) was the combined effect of all the factors involved. Household characteristics such as female headship, a higher ratio of young children, low education of the household head, lack of access to the financial loan, asset and income poverty, and weak linkages with kin structure at rural areas increase vulnerability to food insecurity and put households under stress to cope with food access insecurity. The study results show that the traditional urban-rural dichotomy may not suffice to portray the degree of food insecurity, as well as the mechanisms how food insecure households strive to cope with food access insecurity, which varies across the continuum of urban hierarchies. Those who wish to support food insecurity challenges need to be sensitive to the variability of factors in coping with food access insecurity across urban hierarchies. During policy, design and program implementation policymakers and international partners need to consider that the needs and coping mechanisms of urban households vary across urban hierarchies besides the other social, economic and demographic variables. / Development Studies / Ph. D. (Development Studies)