This study represents a shift in focus with regard to studies related to traumatic events such as childhood sexual abuse (CSA). It endeavours to go beyond documenting the prevalence of CSA to understanding the moderating factors that encourage adaptive adjustment to CSA. The rationale of this study was to understand how personal beliefs in a just world, future aspirations and proactive coping in the context of an earlier traumatic event such as CSA, are related. My secondary interest was to understand how the aforementioned constructs feature in the development of resilience. I strove to do this by exploring the relationship between proactive coping, just-world beliefs (with specific reference to personal belief in a just world) and future aspirations of a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I made use of an instrumental case study design. A single participant was purposively selected for this study due to her unique features of being a self-identified resilient survivor of child sexual abuse. Data was collected over a period of three months by means of semi-structured interviews, drawings and theory-based scales. In this study I made use of qualitative data analysis to explore the theoretical relationships amongst the constructs. The results of the study suggest that there is a relationship between personal belief in a just world and religiosity, and that this relationship may mediate the optimistic orientation in the participant of the present study. There also appears to be a relationship between the personal belief in a just world and future aspirations of the participant in this study, suggesting that the role of just world beliefs in terms of the active pursuit and investment in future goals need to be further examined. Finally, the relationship between positive future aspirations and proactive coping was less clear, requiring further investigation to elucidate this relationship. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Adolescence is a critical developmental stage wherein adolescents face various challenges which potentially impact on the development of their future orientation, the setting of and working towards goals, and ultimately their life trajectories. Considering South Africa’s socio-political history which has resulted in limitations regarding educational and career possibilities of adolescents, there is a need to examine factors that influence adolescents’ aspirations. The current study thus aimed to ascertain the nature of the relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career aspirations. Within this process, the study further aimed to ascertain the extent to which this relation is mediated by social support. The current study forms part of a larger study that explored the relation between adolescents’ career aspirations and a range of personal and contextual factors, using a cross-sectional design. The sample comprised 1082 adolescents (males and females) in grades 8 to 11, purposively selected from eight schools in low-income communities in Cape Town, South Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the levels of career aspirations, subjective well-being and social support among the participants. Mediation analysis using the bootstrap confidence interval approach, within a structural equation modelling data analysis framework was conducted to determine the extent to which social support mediates the relationship between subjective well-being and career aspirations. For the overall model using the pooled sample, the study found a non-significant relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career aspirations. Across gender, the results demonstrated a significant relation between subjective well-being and career aspirations for the male group, explaining 2.1% of the variance in aspirations. However, a non-significant relation was obtained for the female group. An important finding of the study is that social support did not mediate the relation between adolescents’ subjective well-being and career ii aspirations for the pooled sample, and across both gender groups. For females, a significant negative relation was found between social support and aspirations. Results also revealed a significant negative relation between age and aspirations for both males and females. Social support and financial resources are important factors to consider in relation to adolescents’ wellbeing and aspirations, especially given that the social support that females receive is informed by gender norms and cultural beliefs, which in turn hinders their aspirations. It is recommended that interventions are targeted at an institutional level, inclusive of challenging gender roles, providing information about educational and career opportunities for young people, and improving parenting skills in an effort to advance adolescents’ career aspirations.

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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Sudan is one of the countries with a large number of people who move around the country for safety and better living conditions due to conflicts and the long lasting war. These people are referred to as Internally Displaced People (IDPs), and most of them live in rural areas. The war in Sudan has led to socio-economic deterioration, and has negatively affected social services such as health and education, particularly in the IDP camps. As a result, children's access to education and the quality of education remain a great concern. Educational challenges include poor infrastructure, lack of facilities and teaching-learning materials, over-crowding and shortage of trained teachers. Illiteracy rates are higher among women, and the drop-out rates are higher among girls. It is believed that traditional socio-cultural practices are barriers to girls' access to education in this country. In light of the above, this study investigates factors which contribute to girls' construction of educational aspirations in the IDP camps of North and South Sudan. The girls' educational aspirations are explored in relation to gender empowerment discourses in order to gain an understanding of how gender empowerment is perceived and implemented by young females as they move between the school and home environments. It analyzes the impact of socio-cultural factors on girls' educational aspirations, perceptions and self-esteem in order to understand the significance of education within a gender empowerment framework in the lives of young girls 10 disadvantaged communities of Sudan. Through the lens of the Capabilities Approach and various Feminist views, the study explores how gender discourses in education are understood, and the extent to which they contribute to building girls' opportunities and capacities in the local context. The study provides an analysis of the girls' opinions of themselves, and the influence of socio-cultural factors on their inspirational plans and expectations. This study employed a qualitative case study design. Various qualitative data collection methods which include qualitative Life History Interviews (LHJs), In-Depth Interviews (IDIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and non-participant observations were used for triangulation purposes. Data were collected from two schools in IDP areas in North Sudan, Khartoum State and in Juba, South Sudan. The target groups were girls in Grades 6, 7 and 8. The teachers and girls' parents in the IDP communities were also involved in the study. The findings of this study indicate that the girls' educational aspirations are built around knowledge, agency and capabilities which appear to correspond with girls' empowerment and self efficacy. However, there a number of traditional socio-cultural practices which . seem to have a negative influence on girls' educational aspirations, and they tend to reinforce gender inequality and stereotypes in different ways. These practices are rooted in the patriarchal nature of the Sudanese society, and the manner in which children are socialized. Girls' educational aspirations in such contexts are subject to the life challenges that they experience in their environment, such as poverty and their perceived low socio-economic status at home and in school. This study concludes that girls' educational aspirations and perceptions are constructed and shaped within the gender role socialization and the traditional or patriarchal social system in Sudan. The home and school environments in disadvantaged communities of Sudan appear to reinforce gender inequality in the manner in which parents and teachers treat children. The entrenched socio-cultural practices and pressures seem to impact negatively on the school girls' educational aspirations, expectations and self-esteem. The research provides a number of recommendations which aim at bridging the gender gap in school and at home, in order to support girls' equal access to education. It recommends free gender biased school and home environments which provide equal education opportunities to both boys and girls for socio-economic empowerment.

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This thesis explores how leaders and officials of Somaliland and the Somali Federal Government (SFG) perceive Taiwan’s recent diplomatic overtures to Somaliland. The thesis also investigates how this new relationship affects Somalia-China relations, as well as Somaliland’s international recognition and the internal political dynamics in the Somali region. To achieve this, it combines perspectives from social constructivism, neoclassical realism, and the polity model. Using process tracing and Qualitative Content Analysis to examine a rich collection of data including official documents, speeches, and audio-visual materials. It finds that Taiwan’s engagement with Somaliland is perceived drastically differently due to divergent political visions and aspirations. Somaliland’s leadership and officials welcome Taiwan’s presence and hope to gain economic and strategic benefits from it. The SFG, on the other hand, strongly opposes Taiwan’s involvement in Somaliland and considers it a violation of its core interests. The thesis further argues that the Somaliland-Taiwan partnership will likely bring Mogadishu and Beijing closer together prompting them to counter Taiwan’s influence in Somaliland. Furthermore, it suggests that Taiwan’s support for Hargeisa will affect the political dynamics in the disputed northern borderlands where Somaliland claims sovereignty but faces challenges from local actors.

This thesis explores the role of GBV in the decision-making process of Honduran women that migrate to the U.S. Drawing upon de Haas’s aspirations-capabilities framework, this study aims to understand women’s aspirations to migrate and their interplay within a broader societal context. The study relies on the use of semi-structured interviews to identify recurring themes in women’s narrated experiences and produce a nuanced understanding of how these experiences impacted their migration decisions. Findings reveal that GBV served as a point of inflection for Honduran women to migrate, motivated by the perceived risk of perpetual revictimization within an intrinsically patriarchal society. Furthermore, hopelessness in state institutions and social actors to change these power dynamics, proved influential in their lack of aspiration to return. This study contributes to the field of female international migration studies, and advocates for policy reform that addresses the prevailing issue of GBV in Honduras.

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