Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006. / Prepared for: Dept. of Psychology . Bibliography: leaves 199 - 207. Also available online.

D.Ed. / For the post modern individual, aggression and aggressive behaviour are part and parcel of daily life. Globally, in our own country and in our local communities the individual is exposed to and confronted with challenges and issues relating to the way aggression is experienced and managed. Incidents of violence, crime and abuse are rife. On top of that modern society sets high expectations and demands and this often go hand in hand with feelings of frustration and incompetence. Matters are complicated even further by socio economic issues like poverty, unemployment, corruption, political division, high rates of divorce and family violence. It is almost logical that stress and pressure will result in feelings of aggression which in turn will be expressed in aggressive behaviour. Aggression and aggressive behaviour are complex phenomena. The way in which aggression is experienced and managed probably depends a great deal on how and where he/she learned it. Due to this the suspicion arose that parents and the family context, may play an important part in the way adolescents learn, experience and manage aggression. The family context is the primary unit of education and can be seen as a micro cosmos which represents the broader society and because of this the suspicion arose that the adolescent, at home, comes into contact with role models that effect the way in which he/she experiences and manages aggression. This study endeavours to determine how adolescents experience and manage aggression in a family context. The overall goal of the study is to develop and implement a psycho-educational program that will facilitate the constructive and positive experience and management of aggression and also improve general mental well-being.

D.Ed. / The existential philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre (Jordaan and Jordaan, 1998:544) maintains in the drama ‘Huis Clos’: “Hell is the presence of other people”. For Jean Paul Sartre (1998:30) people are at the mercy of their freedom and doomed to choices but this is absurd because it is unavoidable for people to come up against the tragedy of suffering. Victor Frankl (Meyer, Moore and Viljoen, 2000:556) is an existential psychologist with a particularly positive focus and he believes that the indestructible meaning of life and self is to be found in suffering. Researchers have found that the victims of bullying find themselves in this particular piece of the puzzle of life. For many victims it may feel as if they have been trapped in a labyrinth. The researcher has long been a reflector on the reason and purpose of human existence and under the influence of Victor Frankl (Meyer et al, 2000:562) came to the conviction that values play an important role in the lives of people. In addition, the will to find meaning is the real motivation that underlies human behaviour. The researcher admires Frankl (Meyer et al, 2000:556) who maintains that even in suffering (such as being bullied) meaning can be found to enrich the victim’s lives if they are taught to handle bullies. Human beings are people whose humanity includes the freedom of responsibility, a quality unique to the human race. Freedom of responsibility implies that when people are continually faced with choices they have the freedom to choose and they are free to act as well. People can do nothing about the things that happen to them, such as being bullied. But they can choose how they feel about it and how they react to it (Frankl 1959:178). People’s (victim’s) primary need is the need to make sense of life (Frankl 1959:178). The moment suffering gains meaning, it looses it unbearableness and becomes a life task, one that offers the highest challenge and reward (Frankl 1978:43). In this study the researcher uses a psycho-educational programme with the victims to guide them in the managing of the behaviour of bullies. The researcher used the following two lines of investigation: “tell me how you have been bullied” and “tell me what your experience of bullying is”. The purpose of this viii study is the description, implementation and evaluation of a psycho-educational programme to promote the management of bullies. The afore-mentioned proposal was realised from a methodological point of view by using a qualitative investigation. In this regard the research was both exploratory and descriptive. Research was done by means of the writing of scenarios by the participants, partially structured interviews, notes by the participants, focus group interviews, as well as observations of the participants and the taking of field notes by the researcher. The results obtained from this research were analysed and categorised. The findings of this data are presented by means of a literature rubric. The researcher abided strictly by ethical procedures and confidentiality. The following main themes were identified: direct bullying acts and indirect bullying acts. Under direct bullying acts the following categories were identified: physical acts and verbal acts. Different subcategories were identified. Under indirect bullying acts these categories were identified: psychological acts under which different subcategories were identified. The results of the data analysis revealed that the experience of bullies evokes feelings of heartache, emotional pain, anger and fear in the participants. In addition the participants described their experience of bullies in terms of incidents that relate to physical, emotional and verbal abuse. It was also found that learners are still reliant on teachers to solve bullying behaviour constructively at school. The research also made it clear that this psycho-educational programme would make a valuable contribution towards the guidance of the participants in managing the behaviour of bullies. The research also highlighted the need for the participants to go through a process of self analysis to discover who they are and that this would guide them towards self-assertive actions, realistic observations of bullying acts, humour, self- transcendence (which shows that the participants are not only tuned into themselves, but also look outwardly), as well as respect for the uniqueness of others. These aspects should make a contribution towards the meaningful management of bullying behaviour. In the research it also came to the fore that in many instances the participants, had inadequate behavioural skills. It was necessary for the participants to be educated in ix behavioural skills and in self-determining actions, self assertive behaviour, the recognition of inappropriate behaviour through realistic observation, the learning of friendship skills, together with humour and self-transcendence, respect and value for the uniqueness of others by making use of the three Ws (as discussed in the programme). In this regard in the research it became clear that the facilitator plays an important role in the guidance of the participants. The facilitator must guide the participants in managing the behaviour of bullies. Consequently a psycho-educational programme was developed whereby the behaviour of bullies can be managed. This programme was developed from the themes and categories of the research. The purpose of this programme is to empower the participants to manage the behaviour of bullies. The implementation of the programme is discussed next. The programme was presented over a time period of ten weeks. It was presented during the Life Orientation lessons. It was presented to the Grade 9 group and also worked into the year plan. The entire group participated voluntarily in this dynamic programme. Finally the participants’ experiences of the programme were presented in focus group interviews. The data was collected and analysed and the conclusions were made that the psycho-educational programme leads to the enlightenment of the participants regarding what bullies are, the kinds of bullies, the extent and effectiveness of bullies, as well as the negative effects of bullies on their victims. In addition the participants discovered the uniqueness of their self image and that this knowledge empowered them to discover paradigms and habits of self upliftment. The self upliftment of the participants enabled them to develop self-assertive behaviour as well as the sharpening of particularly effective behavioural skills such as the realistic observation of certain behaviour and the value of friendship skills. The necessary skills in regards to goal setting, choices, problem-solving and conflict management were developed by the participants as skills for managing the behaviour of bullies. This thesis therefore offers a psycho-educational programme for guidance of victims in the management of the behaviour of bullies. It could make a positive contribution to their effective functioning in their social worlds.

M.Ed. / The focus of this study was to portray aggression in the working environment by way of a qualitative study. There exists preconceptions about aggression in the workplace and this causes a process whereby aggression is not understood. It is also not addressed because of the fact that management does not understand aggression. For the purpose of this study Afrikaans speaking management of secondary schools was chosen. There is a need for research into aggression at the workplace. The study made use of phenomenological interviews with seventeen participants of two Afrikaans speaking schools in the East-Rand, Gauteng Province. Data analysis was done by using the open-coding method of Tesch. The study also made use of field notes and a pilot study. Literature was used to verify and compare results. Guba's model of trustworthiness ensured the trustworthiness of the research. After the data analysis was conducted, it was evident that management viewed that frustration and stress together with conflict play a part in their experience of aggression in the workplace. Guidelines were given for management to cope with aggression. The researcher ensured that a high extent of ethics was followed throughout the study.

D.Ed. / The aim of this research was to develop a psycho-educational programme for grade eleven teachers to effectively, without the use of violence, manage aggression demonstrated by grade eleven boys. The aim is for teachers to support and assist the boys to channel their aggression positively. The grade eleven teachers are faced with the huge challenge to manage aggression exhibited by the boys in their classes. Therefore this study is mainly focused on the impact of aggression on the teachers' effectiveness.

The purpose of this study was to examine the types of pressures adolescents experience. The factors of age and/or gender were also investigated in order to determine any possible effects upon adolescent experienced pressures. The researcher believed that findings from such a study could be useful to high school counsellors in both planning future Guidance programs for adolescents as well as aiding in individual counselling sessions with their adolescent clients. Using a cluster-sampling technique, 505 adolescents were selected from a Vancouver high school. Subjects were chosen with consideration to the factors of age and gender. The researcher designed an open-form measurement instrument intended to gather adolescent responses to the three greatest pressures they had experienced during the previous four months. Following a pilot of the instrument, which was to aid in determining construct validity, the survey was administered to the sample over an eight day testing period. With the initial help of an assistant, responses were content analyzed and initial categories constructed. All responses were coded and assigned a frequency score to one of eleven mutually exclusive categories. The chi-square "Goodness of Fit" test for significant difference between or among groups was then applied. Results of the statistical analysis indicated that the factors of age and/or gender are related to certain types of pressures experienced by adolescents. Future Pressure was found to be a significant pressure experienced by older age adolescents. Regardless of gender, age appears to be an important factor related to who will experience Future Pressure. Female adolescents experience greater Family Pressure than do males. Whether within the same age group or within a total female and. a total male population comparison, this result remains consistent. Younger age adolescents also indicate greater gender differences compared with older age adolescents. Younger age female adolescents are more likely to experience greater Family Pressure and Peer Pressure while young male adolescents are more likely to experience greater Situational Pressure. In conclusion, it appears that significant gender differences found in this study tend to support the notion that differences in the rate of physical growth as well as learned sexual stereotypes are significant factors in determining such differences. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The following thesis takes as its data transcripts that were made from tape-recordings of several group therapy sessions between a therapist and five "problem" students. Portions of the transcripts are analysed with reference to the properties of specific units of speech, such as the properties of lists or the properties of categories, with a major emphasis on examining the social and organizational features that surround the interaction, and upon which the utterances are built, in an effort to discover the facilities that persons have available to them for making sense out of those utterances. An attempt is made to show that (a) by reference to such units of speech, conversations between adolescents can be made intelligible and that (b) an analysis of such things is capable of explaining the interactional resources that adolescents must rely on when speaking with one another and with adults, without the use of classical childhood socialization notions. The major issues given special attention are (1) occupational subclasses and the importance that they have with respect to the socialization process and, (2) the incumbency problems that adolescents have as a result of adult socialization notions. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

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