Social Interaction Technologies (SIT) have broadened the horizon of communication in terms of the way people are able to communicate. It is now possible to interact with others across the world and engage in numerous activities ranging from dating to political movements, hobbies and even professions (Chigona, Chigona, Ngqokelela, & Mpofu, 2009). Adolescents and pre-adolescents especially are inclined to make use of SIT in their social lives with the most popular mode of communication, apart from email, being instant messaging (IM) (Brown, Mounts, Lamborn, & Steinberg, 1993; Bryant, Sanders-Jackson, & Smallwood, 2006; Madden & Rainie, 2003). Adolescents tend to use IM regularly as a tool to maintain relationships and girls especially, use it as a tool to socialise (Jennings & Wartella, 2004; Lenhart, Rainie, & Lewis, 2001). The mobile phone or cell phone, which is another example of an SIT-based communication, has become an established medium of technical, social and commercial communication in South Africa. It has given rise to the development and vast growth of a mobile youth culture who consider it an essential tool for communicating (Bosch, 2008). In South Africa, instant messages may be sent via mobile phone using one of two methods: MXit and the SMS (short messaging service). MXit and the SMS are considered convenient tools of communication as an ongoing conversation in the form of a text message may be maintained in the present (Yoshii, Matsuda, Habuchi, Dobashi, Iwata, & Kin, 2002).

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology), 2018 / The current research arose from a particular interest in the ways in which different subgroups of men form and navigate their male identities and their masculinities. The decision to focus on the experiences of men living with oculocutaneous albinism stemmed from two inter-related premises: firstly, there is a dearth of research around this particular minority group; and secondly, there has been a call for the life experiences of this particular population to receive greater attention and understanding. Four participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The transcribed data gathered from these interviews was subject to a computer-aided thematic analysis. The findings of the current research suggest that the experiences of being stigmatized due to oculocutaneous albinism were highly injurious to the participants and lead them to internalize a strong sense of shame. This in turn affected the ways in which the participants experienced themselves in the world and interacted with others relationally, including in relation to friendships and more intimate partnerships. All of the participants feared that their albinism would make them less desirable to prospective life partners and were concerned that close others might be stigmatized by association with them. Their experiences appeared to influence the participants’ positioning of themselves in relation to other men and were also implicated in the complex nature of their racial identity. Participants demonstrated a capacity to be reflective about their life experiences and about the responses of others towards them in respect of their condition. / XL2018

The aim of the research was to determine the extent by wt)ich the home, school and community can provide emotional support to secondary school children. A literature survey focused on these variables. This was followed by the empirical investigation and it was found that there was a significant and positive correlation in the scores of males and females and for all age groups in relation to emotional problems experienced by secondary school children in their homes, schools and communities as a result of external forces (such as their experiences with family members, teachers at school, peer group members and other community members) and internal forces (such as their own physical, social, intellectual, moral and emotional development). This was followed by findings and recommendations for family, teachers at school, community members and the government. / Psychology of Education / Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of South Africa, 1998.

The introduction of Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has allowed for many children living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to survive to adolescence. However for this to be a reality adherence to treatment is important. Many studies suggest that during adolescence adherence can be very challenging. However not much research has been done within the South African context to understand what HIV positive adolescents are experiencing, particularly in relation to ARV adherence. The aim of this research study was to explore the experiences of adolescents on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in order to understand what helps them to adhere to their medication and the challenges that they may have with adherence. This was achieved by carrying out 5 semi-structured in-depth interviews with HIV positive adolescents on ARVS at a shelter for HIV positive women and children in Johannesburg. A thematic content analysis was used to analyse the transcribed interviews. The results indicated several factors that both assist with adherence and those that challenge adherence. The participants reflected on the importance of full disclosure which increases their understanding of the importance of adherence, having people they trust whom they can confide in and who also support them to take and adhere to the ARVs, and having a positive experience at the hospital when they go for their regular checkups. Certain defence mechanisms adopted by the adolescents to help them cope with living with HIV and having to take medication every single day of their lives were also identified. The fact that acceptance is a process was also suggested by the research findings. The challenges the adolescents face were those of stigma and a fear of being rejected, bad experiences associated with taking medication, such as the negative side effects and the disruption of their leisure time, and negative experiences from going to the hospital. This study yielded some rich information that may aid in understanding what adolescents are experiencing and facing which may inform future research studies on this topic and policies which may assist with an increase in adherence.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of the Witwatersrand December 2016 / Within a narrative paradigm, this research project had two elements. Firstly, the project aimed to enable the researcher to gain an understanding of the construction of adolescent identity from the perspective of a cohort of first-generation, post-Apartheid adolescents as members of an NGO’s after-school support programme. Secondly, a participatory action element aimed to provide the participants with an opportunity to reflect upon their own lives in a positive, empowering way thereby providing an understanding of their past lives, strengthening a realistic power of agency for their future lives, balanced between self-identity and self transcendence in the present (Crites, 1986). Within this research, the self is theorised psychosocially, presented as both a narrated and narrating subject in which identity construction is consolidated through story-telling and the adaption of these stories to different audiences and cultural contexts. 12 volunteer participants were provided with disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of people and objects that were important to them. Using these photographs, the participants then constructed art timelines of their lives in the narrative format of ‘past’, ‘present’, and ‘future’. Each participant was then narratively interviewed twice, four months apart. The two datasets (the art timelines and the interview transcripts) were subject to three levels of analysis. Firstly, the construction of each participant’s descriptive narrative portrait was analysed across the time zones of ‘past life’, ‘present life’, and ‘future life’; secondly, thematic analysis was horizontally conducted across the narrative portraits identifying the similarities and differences between the participants, extending the specific experiences discussed by the participants into generalised themes; and thirdly, the vertical analysis of portraiture was re-invoked in greater depth, examining how the different theoretical dimensions of narrative identity identified, coalesce in one case history. The first level of analysis focused specifically on the imagoes, or personified concepts of the self, identified within the narrative portraits of three participants. It was found that these imagoes had significant effects on the identity construction of these young people, specifically on those whose parents had died. In the second phase of analysis three different dimensions of, or ways of thinking about, narrative identity were distinguished: relationality and the sense of belonging or alienation experienced by the participants in their interaction with others; the consolidation of life stories at adolescence and the participants’ social positioning within the systems of structural identity markers of race, class, gender and sexuality; and lastly the participants’ hopes and dreams, their narrative imaginations and future-orientated lives. In the third level of analysis, one participant’s narrative was selected to illustrate the theoretical concepts that underpin the construction of narrative identity, particularly constructionist intersectionality (Prins, 2006) and cultural creolisation (Glissant, 1989). These young people’s narratives indicate a patent tension between their lives to date, the histories of their families marked by insecurity and feelings of being unsafe as the effects of racism, disease and poverty, and their future imagined lives characterised by the promise of freedom and agency, education, employment and health. Through listening to and analysing these young people’s past, present and future stories, this study gained an insight into the ambivalence that exists in their lives, the contradictions they face between their moments of belonging and their moments of alienation, and how all these experiences inform and contribute to their identity constructions. / MT2017

The aim of the research was to determine the extent by wt)ich the home, school and community can provide emotional support to secondary school children. A literature survey focused on these variables. This was followed by the empirical investigation and it was found that there was a significant and positive correlation in the scores of males and females and for all age groups in relation to emotional problems experienced by secondary school children in their homes, schools and communities as a result of external forces (such as their experiences with family members, teachers at school, peer group members and other community members) and internal forces (such as their own physical, social, intellectual, moral and emotional development). This was followed by findings and recommendations for family, teachers at school, community members and the government. / Psychology of Education / Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of South Africa, 1998.

M.A. (Social Work) / This dissertation centers on attachment. The focus is on four adolescent girls and how their attachment style is impacted by the experience of parental separation. A qualitative research process is applied by means of a two-part semi-structured interview. The first interview focuses more on the experience of the parental separation, and the second interview on the present social attachments of the adolescent girl. This study is informed by phenomenology as it analyses the adolescent experience of the parental separation by means of the change in the physical and emotional presence of her mother and father. It then explores her subjective experiences with and perception of her attachment to others. The study endeavours to reach a deeper understanding of how a break in the relationship with a parent as a consequence of a parental separation, even at the adolescent phase of development, can impact the adolescent's inner sense of security and in turn, other present social attachments. In light of the above, past literature together with attachment theory research on initial attachments with one's main care-givers is reviewed, looking at the development of a secure versus insecure attachment style. It is hoped that this dissertation serves to enrich the existing body of knowledge on attachment with regards to parental separation, and is of use to clinical professionals in the field.

Text in Afrikaans / The research was directed at setting up guidelines for the counsellor dealing with the adolescent in a multicultural environment. The supposition of the study was that the adolescent in a multicultural environment should be treated by the counsellor with cultural empathy, understanding and insight. This process should be free from stereotyping and prejudice. Guidelines were set up using a combination of Gestalt philosophical principles, existing literature and semi-structured interviews with cultural therapy experts. For the purpose of this study Thomas and Rothman's intervention research model was applied. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain information on the adolescent in therapy, which was combined with information found in literature in order to set up guidelines for counsellors. The researcher concludes that the counsellor dealing with the adolescent in a multicultural environment, has to possess sufficient cultural knowledge, cultural efficiency and cultural empathy to achieve a successful theurapeutic outcome. Guidelines for the counsellor who works with adolescents in a multicultural environment were set up successfully to bridge the current lack of knowledge in the field. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

This study examined the prevalence and the nature of truancy among early adolescent learners attending secondary schools in the Education Management and Development Centre (EMDC) in the eastern metropole of the Western Cape. The main purpose of the study was to answer the following question: How can secondary school educators, in loco parentis, be equipped with the required skills and resources in order to deal with the issue of truant behaviour among early adolescent learners? A comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore the character and extent of truancy. Thereafter, various theories of child development were highlighted, followed by a synopsis comprising different dimensions of the development of the early adolescent learner. The empirical investigation was carried out through quantitative as well as qualitative research methodology. A focus group interview was conducted with six learners, offering them an opportunity to express their perceptions and experiences as truants. Interviews were conducted with principals to obtain their impressions regarding truant behaviour. Thereafter, a questionnaire, which investigated truancy related aspects such as interaction with peers, parents and caregivers' involvement in learners' school activities, educators' influence on learners' school work and learners' self-esteem regarding their schooling, was administered to three hundred learners. The quantitative investigation revealed significant aspects about truant behaviour, indicating that predominantly more male than female learners (173 male and 26 as in the case of the present study) display this type of behaviour, truants generally originate from single parent families, and that they experience their educators and learning environments as extremely negative. Finally, two in-depth case studies were conducted on two learners, one identified as a truant and the other as a non-truant respectively. The purpose of the in-depth studies was to explore possible differences in their experiential worlds. Although the qualitative data is not generalisable, the findings of the case studies have revealed significant differences in the life worlds of the two learners. Comparatively speaking, it appears that non-truant learners are significantly better adjusted on all their functioning levels than truant learners. The results of the empirical investigation were compared with relevant findings which emerged from the literature study. Based on the present investigation, the study was concluded by offering a range of recommendations to secondary school educators, in loco parentis, empowering them in addressing the phenomenon of truancy among early adolescent learners in the Western Cape with its distinctive problems. / Educational Studies / D. Ed.(Psychology of Education)

Xhosa people practise the circumcision ritual. The exciting period is during the pre- circumcision. It is also the time when Xhosa teenage boys experience various problems associated with the ritual. The main purpose of the study was to explore and describe Xhosa teenage boys' experiences of the period prior to the circumcision ritual in East London in the Eastern Cape Province. A descriptive, exploratory and descriptive qualitative research design was followed and 28 participants volunteered to participate. In-depth phenomenological focus group interviews were conducted. Data analysis revealed two themes: social pressure on teenage Xhosa boys associated with the ritual, and depression associated with the treatment of teenage Xhosa boys by their communities. The study recommends that all stakeholders be involved in the performance of the ritual. A limitation of the study was failure to include stakeholders. The researcher recommends further research to involve all stakeholders of the ritual. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)