Unga vuxna är en grupp som i allt större utsträckning söker stöd för sina psykiska svårigheter. Att hitta samtalsformer som är verksamma är därför av stor vikt för målgruppen. På S:t Lukas Stockholmsmottagning har man valt att erbjuda unga i åldrarna 18-29 år ”Upp till fyra samtal” – en form av problemformulerande samtal eller counselling. Genom att sätta sig mer in i hur terapeutens arbete gestaltar sig i den här typen av kortare samtalskontakt, kan stödet till målgruppen förhoppningsvis utvecklas ytterligare. Frågeställningar: Hur arbetar terapeuterna på S:t Lukas Stockholmsmottagning i counselling med målgruppen unga vuxna? Hur upplever terapeuterna arbetet med metoden och målgruppen? Metod: I undersökningen tillämpades en kvalitativ, deskriptiv metod där data samlades in med hjälp av bandinspelade, kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer. En tematisk analys användes som bearbetningsmetod. Resultat: Studien visar att terapeuternas arbetssätt till viss del skiljer sig åt, främst när det gäller hur de hanterar ramen och inriktningen på interventioner. I upplevelsen är terapeuterna eniga i att motöverföringen är stark och ofta konfliktfylld, men de uppger inget behov av handledning. Skillnader från den ursprungliga metoden framkom även i den yttre ramen, främst i avsaknaden av handledning. Diskussion: Terapeuternas olika arbetssätt diskuterades samt avvikelser från metodens ursprungliga form. Orsaker till terapeuternas avsaknad av behov av handledning diskuterades utifrån arbetet med den komplexa målgruppen och organisatoriska aspekter. / Young adults seek help for their psychological problems to an increasing extent. Finding effective forms of therapy is of great importance for this group. At the S:t Lukas office in Stockholm, young adults aged 18-29 are offered “Up to four sessions” – a problem focused form of counselling. By learning more about how the therapist works with and experiences this counselling, the support for the target group might be further improved. Research questions: How do the therapists at S:t Lukas office in Stockholm work in counselling with young adults? What are their experiences from working with the method and the target group? Method: A qualitative, descriptive method was used, where data was collected through recorded semi-structured interviews. When processing the data a thematic analysis was applied. Results: The study shows that the therapists’ ways of working differ in how they handle the frame and what kind of interventions they use. The therapists all experience a strong countertransference, often conflictual, but they do not express any need for supervision. Deviations from the original method were also found in the outer frame, mainly in the lack of supervision. Discussion: The therapists’ different ways of working were discussed and also how the method seems to have changed from its original model. The reasons why the therapists do not express any need for supervision were discussed in relation to the complex target group and organizational factors.

This study examined the influence of parenting-related factors to emerging adults’ emotion regulation, especially in the context of interparental conflict. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to examine how interparental conflict, parenting (defined as parental psychological control, autonomy support, and behavioral control), and parentchild relations (defined as parent-child attachment) are related to emerging adults’ emotion regulation. In addition, do parenting behaviors (psychological control, autonomy support, and behavioral control) and parent-child attachment mediate the relations between interparental conflict and emotion regulation? A total of 361 college students reported their perceptions of interparental conflict, their parents’ parenting practices, parent-child attachment, as well as their emotion regulation capabilities. The majority of the participants were females (n = 292), and Caucasians (n = 322) with an average age of 20.23 (SD = 1.39) years. In general, the participants reported moderate interparental conflict, relatively low psychological control and behavioral control, moderate levels of parental autonomy support, and high parent-child attachment, along with relatively high emotion regulation capabilities. With regression analyses, the results showed that emerging adults who reported higher levels of resolution of interparental conflict, moderate levels of parental behavioral control, greater attachment communication, and lower levels of alienation from parents were associated with better emotion regulation. Path analyses were used to test the role of parenting and attachment in mediating the relations between interparental conflict and emotion regulation. Results demonstrated that parental behavioral control, autonomy support, and parent-child attachment partially mediated the role of resolution of interparental conflict on emotion regulation. In addition, parental behavioral control and autonomy support partially mediated the impact of resolution of interparental conflict on emerging adults’ alienation from parents. In particular, resolution of interparental conflict was the strongest predictor of emerging adults’ emotion regulation capability, even when parenting practices and parent-child attachment were controlled. / Department of Educational Psychology

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Divorce has long been described as one of the most stressful experiences that any human being can ever experience. The process of divorce implies numerous sudden and highly stressful changes to any individual affected by it, including children. The literature review of the present study revealed valuable insight regarding the effects of divorce, in particular on children. The studies among them which were found to have identified some of the more detrimental implications of divorce for children in particular, included the studies by Jonsson, Njardvik, Olafsdottir and Gretarsson (2000); Eldar-Avidan, Haj-Yahia and Greenbaum (2009); and Yu, Pettit, Lansford, Dodge and Bates (2010). Despite numerous research studies having been done on the phenomena of divorce both in South Africa and globally, it appears that the majority of these studies mostly focused on its detrimental implications for both children and adults. Few of these studies were found to have focused on possible optimal implications or on effective coping with divorce. Some studies that were found to have touched on the potential optimal effects of parental divorce included the studies by Mullis, Mullis, Schwartz, Pease and Shriner (2007); Graff-Reed (N.D.); and Spalding and Pretorius (2001). One particularly influential study that was, however, identified to have been done on the phenomena of coping with parental divorce, was conducted by Roux (2007) who focused specifically on children’s coping with parental divorce. This study focused exclusively on children and involved interviews with children themselves at the time of their parents’ divorce. No research could be identified on how young adults in South Africa had attempted to cope with their parents’ divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. This determination led to an attempt to fill this apparent void in the literature and expand on the study that had been conducted by Roux (2007) by completing the present study. The focus of the present study subsequently fell on how young adults had coped with the divorce of their parents during their childhood and/or adolescent years. The aims of the present study were: * To investigate and obtain a clearer understanding of young adults’ coping with divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. * To determine if there were factors that played a role in coping with parental divorce. * To determine what recommendations could be made to the parents of children undergoing divorce. * To determine what recommendations could be made to children while undergoing parental divorce. The research questions that were included in the present study for the aforementioned purpose included the following: * How did young adults cope with the divorce of their parents during their childhood and/or adolescent years? * Were there factors that played a role in their coping and if so what were the factors? * What would they recommend to the parents of children during and after divorce? * What would they recommend to children during and after parental divorce? Semi-structured retrospective interviews were conducted with 15 participants in the completion of the present study. Each of these interviews where transcribed and the relevant data were analysed from these transcriptions by firstly reading of the protocols, followed by dividing them into natural meaning units (NMUs), performing linguistic transformation, integrating the NMUs with related themes, synthesising the data and developing a general description before it was finally documented and published. Selection of the participants was made by means of snowball sampling, as young adults nominated acquaintances whom they believed may also be willing to participate in the research (Whitley, 2002). The value of the present study was that it expanded the knowledge base regarding young adults’ coping with parental divorce during their childhood and/or adolescent years. It also culminated in the creation of a set of recommendations for both children and adults that would promote effective coping among them with parental divorce. It is hoped that these insights and recommendations will enable psychologists, social workers, counsellors, health care practitioners and/or any other individual/s involved with assisting families during divorce, to cope more effectively with this event. It is also hoped that further future research and follow-up studies into this particularly relevant and far reaching phenomenon will continue to be conducted by other researchers both in South Africa and abroad. / PhD (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Bakgrund  Många studier visar att personer med psykiska besvär oftare drabbas av fysisk ohälsa och unga personer med psykossjukdom utgör en speciellt utsatt grupp. Syfte Syftet var att undersöka hur unga vuxna med psykossjukdomar upplever sin kroppsliga hälsa. Arbetet syftade även till att kartlägga patienternas uppfattning om hjälp- och stödbehov när det gäller upprätthållande/förbättring av hälsotillståndet. Metod En kvalitativ studie med intervjuer med tio patienter. Intervjuerna analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat Analysen ledde fram till ett tema: Synen på den kroppsliga hälsan är en strävan efter att med stöd och hjälp leva ett liv som alla andra. Temat uppstod utifrån fyra kategorier. 1. Hur man lever livet – livsstilsaspekter som studiedeltagarna förknippade med kroppslig hälsa, dvs. motion, kost, rökning, rutiner i vardagen. 2. Att känna sig frisk – kroppslig hälsa som motsats till sjukdom. Kategorin inkluderar även balans och energi. 3. Hälsa som en process – beskrivning av hälsa i följande dimensioner: gemenskap och självständighet, vändpunkt och förändring samt sorg och hopp. 4. Stöd och hjälp från hälso- och sjukvården – studiedeltagarnas erfarenhet av tillit samt önskemål om större tillgänglighet, mer individanpassade insatser och utökat finansiellt stöd. Slutsats Unga vuxna med psykossjukdom uppfattade kroppslig hälsa som ett mångdimensionellt fenomen som gick långt utanför den biomedicinska traditionen där hälsa ses som frånvaro av sjukdom. Det är patientens egen förståelse av hens hälsa som borde styra psykiatrisjuksköterskans omvårdnadsarbete i stort och hälsofrämjande insatser i synnerhet.

Studien handlar om unga vuxnas skuldsättning. Med unga vuxna menas individer mellan 20 – 30 år. Syftet har varit att undersöka myndighets- och verksamhetshandläggares upplevelser av skuldsatta unga vuxnas inställning till sin ekonomi samt hur dessa verksamheter arbetar för att hjälpa dem. Studiens empiri bygger på data från sex semistrukurerade intervjuer som har analyserats och tolkats med hjälp av tematisk analys. De teoretiska ansatserna är Bourdieus klassteori och Julian Rotters teori om locus of control. Resultatet visar att unga vuxna hamnar i skuldsättning på grund av att de saknar förmåga och kunskap om ekonomi. Unga behöver mer kunskap om ekonomi för att förstå konsekvenserna. Konsekvenserna som kan uppstå vid skuldsättning är att de hamnar i Kronofogdens register och det finns en risk att Kronofogden tar kontrollen över den unga vuxnas ekonomi. Det visar sig även att handläggarna arbetar för att motivera och förebygga problemen med skuldsättning. Handläggarnas arbete är således viktigt för de unga vuxnas väg tillbaka mot ett skuldfritt liv. Ämnet bör uppmärksammas i det sociala arbetet eftersom konsumtionen ökar och skuldsättning upptäcks oftast när det redan är för sent. / The study is about young adults in deep debt. With young adults the study refers to individuals between 20-30 years. The aim has been to investigate officials experiences of young adults in debt’s attitude towards their finances and how the officials work to help them. The study is based on empirical data from six semi-structured interviews that have been analyzed and interpreted using thematic analysis. The theoretical approaches are Bourdieu's class theory and Julian Rotters theory of locus of control. The results show that young adults often lack ability and knowledge of the economy and thus end up in debt. The consequences that may occur when the person finds him/herself in debt is that they end up in the Enforcement Authority's records for the rest of their lives, and the risk that the task handler takes control of the young adults' finances. It also shows that the officials are working to motivate and prevent problems of debt. The officials work is also important for young adults heading back towards a debt-free life. The subject should be considered as consumption increases and debt mostly noticed when it is already too late.

The shift from Modernism to Postmodernism had a dramatic impact on different spheres of life, especially on premarital relationships. The Song of songs has been used as basis theory in this study on premarital relationships. The study attempts to lay down guidelines for premarital relationships from the conviction that human relationships are grounded in God's love for man. The perspectives which have became evident are developed and evaluated through the meta-theory. Any study on young people in relationships must consider changes in society due to the fact that young people perform an important seismographic function. This is due to the fact that they are not only deeply affected by these changes but are also acting as indicators for the demands and challenges that changing times has on people and relationships. The lifecycle from late adolescence to early adulthood is studied. Special focus is given to different areas of development in this lifecycle as well as to different relationships young people are involved with. Qualitative interviews have been used to determine the effect of the Postmodernism and the specific lifecycle on young people in premarital relationships. A practice-orientated theoretical framework for pastoral guidance of young people in premarital relationships is drafted. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, there is approximately 1 in every 200 individuals who is living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Many of those living with IBD also need to have an ostomy. The literature on the effects IBD and an ostomy has on adolescents and young adults lacks consensus. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to try to understand the lived experiences of adolescents and young adults (N=6) living with IBD and an ostomy. Sociodemographic information was collected, and the participants were interviewed in person using a semi-structured interview guide. The work of van Manen (1990) was used as a guide for data collection, analysis and interpretation of this study. Analysis revealed the essence of the adolescents’ and young adults’ lived experience as being “Concealing and Revealing the Self”. Three themes communicate the essence of their lived experience: (a) Uneasy feelings, (b) “It’s hard…”, and (c) A renewed sense of self. The needs of the adolescents and young adults, along with their recommendations to health care providers, are addressed. The study findings inform nurses in the areas of practice, education and research. Practice recommendations include being cognizant that these individuals need holistic care that addresses their psychological, psychosocial and physical needs. This study forms the basis for future research to explore some of the themes in greater detail, as well as a recommendation for a longitudinal study.

The aim of this study is to enlighten how todays working environment affects young individuals descriptions of how to reach success in work life, now often titled as ”career”. Our purpose has been to analyse how the term career is constituted discursively among young people in jobs characterized by flexibility. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with young adults in the media industry, all between 20-30 years old. By utilising a Foucaultdian discourse analysis we want to expose how the competing and dominating discourses, that our interviewees’ statements are based on, can be associated with a wider social context.    The study reveals that our interviewees describe career in two separate ways, both positively and negatively. A more traditional definition of career, where the term is described as promotion, is explained to have a negative tone. This traditional definition has in the majority of our interviews been replaced with explanations of career as personal. We can also distinguish that even though not all of our informants describe career as desirable, everyone talks about success in work life as self-fulfilment. The demands from today’s individual work environment appears discursively regardless negatively or positively interpretation of the term career.   Our analysis demonstrates further that all interviewed talks about an increased illness and problems with the balance between work and personal life. It is described to be a problematisation caused by the pursuit of career success, in a work life characterized by flexibility and insecurity.   The results from our study can be derived to recent research regarding a change in work environment. A more flexible and insecure labour market is forcing the individual to take more responsibility and makes success to a personal project. It gives hope of self-fulfilment but also threats of physical and mental illness. / Syftet med vår uppsats har varit att belysa hur en omvandling av arbetslivet kommit att påverka unga individers beskrivning av framgång inom yrkeslivet, vad som numera ofta benämns "karriär". Vår avsikt har varit att analysera hur begreppet karriär konstrueras på diskursiv nivå bland unga vuxna inom yrken som karakteriseras av flexibla arbetsvillkor. Studien grundar sig på sex kvalitativa intervjuer med unga vuxna mellan 20-30 år inom mediabranschen. Intervjuerna har analyserats utifrån ett Foucauldianskt diskursanalytiskt perspektiv, ett verktyg för att belysa vilka konkurrerande och dominerande diskurser som våra informanters utsagor bygger på, kopplade till en större social kontext.   Vår studie påvisar att informanterna beskriver karriär på skilda sätt, både ut positiv och negativ bemärkelse. En mer traditionell syn på karriär, d v s i betydelsen avancemang inom organisationen, beskrivs ”klinga negativt” och i majoriteten av våra intervjufall har denna syn på karriär bytts ut mot beskrivningar av karriären som personlig. Trots att inte alla intervjupersoner beskriver karriären som eftersträvansvärd, kan vi urskilja hur samtliga utsagor om framgång inom yrkeslivet innebär någon form av individuellt självförverkligande. Det individualiserade arbetslivets förväntningar framträder diskursivt oavsett negativ eller positiv tolkning av begreppet karriär. I vår analys framkommer även utsagor från samtliga sex intervjupersoner om ökad ohälsa och obalans mellan arbete och fritid. Det är en problematik som beskrivs uppstå i samband med strävan efter karriär eller framgång, inom det flexibla och osäkra yrkeslivets ramar.   Sammantaget kan våra resultat, utifrån våra teoretiska utgångspunkter, härledas till tidigare forskning som påvisar en omvandling av arbetslivet. Ökad osäkerhet och flexibilitet på arbetsmarknaden lägger ett större ansvar på den enskilda individen och gör framgång till ett personligt projekt med såväl hopp om självförverkligande som hot om ohälsa.

Study 1 examined the role closeness to father plays in the developmental-like process associating family form (divorced/non-divorced) with later young adulthood attachment style in a sample of 525 men and women. Participants reported their closeness to father while growing up and current comfort with closeness. As expected, closeness to father fully mediated the association between family form and comfort with closeness for both men and women, but more strongly for women. The association between family form and comfort with closeness was only evident for women; women who experienced parental divorce reported feeling less comfortable with closeness in relationships. Contrary to expectation, the mediating role of closeness to father in the association between family and form and comfort with closeness was not moderated by gender. The key role fathers may play in fostering their male and female children’s later attachment style in divorced and nondivorced families, as well as the attenuated role of gender in explaining young adults’ attachment style, are discussed. Study 2 examined the role of dyadic and family environment factors which are implicated in young adults’ insecure attachment in predicting relational resilience. Relationally resilient women were defined as women who experienced parental divorce yet experience comfort with closeness. Ninety-three women reported on the level of overt and subtle conflict in their families-of- origin, the effectiveness of their parents’ coparenting, and their closeness to father. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses predicted membership in the relationally resilient group based on these dyadic and family environment predictors. As expected, results demonstrate that lower pre-divorce subtle and overt conflict; higher levels of coparenting before separation, during separation, and after separation; and closeness to father while growing up all predicted membership in the relationally resilient group. However, no one variable uniquely predicted membership in the relationally resilient group. Study 2’s results are translated to preventative implications at the family, parental, dyadic and individual levels. Final remarks integrating the results of both studies follow. / Graduate