M.Ed. / The goal of this research study was to provide Psycho-Educational guidelines to assist adolescent learners to manage aggression in a constructive manner. The participants in this research study were adolescent learners at age of fifteen to seventeen years in Secondary Schools in the of Klerksdorp area. Adolescence is a phase in human development that is synonymous with change, namely, physical, emotional and cognitive changes. It is a crucial phase of development. Aggression is simply defined as a behavior that is intended to hurt someone either physically or psychologically (Weiten, 1992:397). However there are many theorists who define aggression differently but state anti-social behavior as a characteristic. The researcher wanted to formulate guidelines after exploring and describing the perceptions of black adolescence on aggression. It was because this aggressive behavior was impacting on their future successes. The research objectives were as follows: „« To explore and describe the perception of black adolescents of aggression in an informal settlement „« To formulate guidelines to assist black adolescents to manage aggression in a constructive manner. The qualitative research approach helps the researcher to understand and interpret adolescents¡¦ perception on aggression. The information gathered in this study would help determine topics for further research on adolescents¡¦ perceptions on aggression. Focus group interviews were conducted. This study was explorative and descriptive as it aimed to obtain adolescents¡¦ perceptions on aggression. The researcher attempted to find out how adolescents perceived aggression by conducting focus group interviews. Interviews were conducted with four groups. The major themes were: „« Black adolescents in an informal settlement school express different views on what aggression is „« Black adolescents in an informal settlement school experience forms and acts of aggression at school „« Black adolescents experience a sense of being so victimized in schools that it made their school lives miserable. „« View points that necessary structures should be put in place with the objective of providing guidelines to assist black adolescents in an informal settlement school to manage aggression in a constructive manner From the interviews conducted, recommendations were made to reduce the problems caused by aggression. / Prof. C.P.H. Myburgh

Thousands of adolescents in South Africa are victims of long-term sexual abuse and violence. Their life narratives are saturated with oppression and suffering, and their therapeutic needs differ from those who experience single-event traumas (Brown, Scheflin & Hammond, 1998; Draucker & Stern, 2000). Little has been documented about the unique outcomes they have experienced throughout their lifetimes, perhaps because, as Narrative therapists suggest, these experiences often remain unstoried. This study therefore focuses on an exploration of unique outcomes (stories of strength, autonomy and emotional vitality) in the life narratives of two black adolescent girls who have suffered long-term violence and sexual abuse. Contributing to a better understanding of the nature and the type of unique outcomes they experience in the face of trauma may ultimately assist Narrative therapists who highlight such stories for therapeutic use. This research is theoretically situated in a social constructionist framework. The research was conducted in a qualitative research paradigm and a narrative research approach was employed. A multiple case study research design was used, guided by the storying metaphor according to which participants tell their stories during unstructured narrative conversations or Narrative therapy. In addition to collection through unstructured conversations, data was also collected through active observation and field notes by the researcher. Two black adolescent girls aged eighteen years were purposefully selected as participants in order to increase the likelihood that rich data relevant to the research question would be obtained. Narrative categorical content analysis was used as method of data analysis to answer the research questions. It was found that unique outcomes were present in the participants’ life stories and six unique outcome categories were identified. These categories include rebellion stories, breaking-free stories, retreat stories, a spiritual revival story, self-worth stories and a support story. There was also some correspondence between the unique outcome categories of the two participants. Finally, recommendations to other therapists concerning the utilization of unique outcomes in Narrative therapy were made based on die identified unique outcome categories. / Prof. J. Byrne

M.Ed. / The influence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as the significant impact it has left on children and adolescent who are left without parental guidance and support has huge implications for communities. As the epidemic spreads, adolescent-headed families are becoming more and more frequent in society, posing great challenges to extended families that have to care for additional children, causing a collapse on parental functions. This leads to the emergence of a new family structure where great strain is placed on children who are often left to fend for themselves. The absence of parental care and support often not only affect their social emotional development, but also their scholastic performance. This inquiry attempted to understand how these adolescents cope with difficulties related to living without caregivers, and as to how some can overcome the odds and still successfully progress with expectations placed by the school context. The inquiry utilized a phenomenological research design that is exploratory in nature. The data collection methods included semi-structured interviews with four participants, two boys and two girls. Each of the four participants also wrote narratives of their life stories. Two focus group interviews were also conducted, one with the four participant's educators and the other with another group of adolescents from adolescent-headed families. Data obtained was analysed using content analysis to determine the common themes and subthemes that emerged.

M.A. / All transitional stages have their moments of crises, but there is no stage so complicated and confusing as the adolescence. Not surprisingly, many researchers refer to this stage as a period of storm and stress. Many studies conducted on young people and violence have concentrated on their psychological, emotional, and physical development. Hence, the psychosocial development did not receive much attention from the psychological fraternity. Therefore, the aim of this study is three fold: (1) to investigate how political violence affects the psychosocial development of adolescents.(2) to investigate how political violence affects their outlook on life, and (3) how do they view the youth=s role in political struggle. The qualitative research method was used in this study. The process of inquiry involves interviews. Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with 30 research participants. The process of analysis involved thematic content analysis. Generally, the results of the study indicate that exposure to political violence has negative effects on the psychosocial development of the adolescents. Many of them experience psychosocial problems in some areas of their development, while very few show signs of psychosocial resilience in other areas and function well despite exposure to political adversity. In conclusion, these adolescents are neither shattered by exposure to political violence to be considered Apsychosocially dysfunctional@, nor they are resilient enough to be considered Auntouched@ by these experiences. Furthermore, the results of the study indicate that the effects of political violence are relative rather than absolute and are bound to change with circumstances.