The study is concerned with the ways early adolescent males understand and experience bullying within a hetero-normative school context. The research focuses on the ways in which bullying occurs, and how it relates to identity development amongst young boys. Key theoretical constructs include multiple masculinities, social dominance theory, and social constructionism. The researcher adopted an ethnographic approach. Constructs were explored through the use of four focus groups and one individual interview with 20 Grade 8 learners at a co-educational high school. Three dominant themes emerged from the discussions. The Embodied Self explores the expression and development of gender identity through the construction of the physical and performative male body. Displaced Masculinities explores the gradual shift in power that young men have experienced in terms of current representations of gender, race and technology. The third theme, Recovering Power, identifies subtle subversion strategies that young males reproduce to recover social power. Bullying is normalised within the school context and is understood as a physical and psychological process that differentiates desirable and undesirable masculinities. Masculinities are actively policed by peers, forcing boys to position themselves against the ideal hegemonic masculinity underpinning feelings of uncertainty and instability. Recommendations include continued opportunities for discussion of gender issues at a formative school level, focused policy development addressing the abuse of communication technologies, and translation of gender research into policy and legislation to recognise the role and responsibilities of men, with the major aim of reducing inequality. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

No description available.

No description available.

The problem of this study was an investigation into the relationships between personality adjustment and perceived behavior in school and dormitory life of the residents of Boys Ranch, Texas.

The effects of parental alcohol dependence on children have been well documented in the literature. Parental alcohol dependence has been linked with negative developmental outcomes such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, difficulties in school and conduct problems in children (Johnson, 2001). However, some studies have indicated that there may be some protective factors in the environments of children of alcohol dependent parents (COAs) which promote positive developmental outcomes for such children (Menees & Sergin, 2000). The current study focused on parental supervision as a protective family factor that is linked to conduct competence in COAs. The participants’ perception of parental supervision was measured using the Parental Monitoring Assessment and their level of conduct competence was measured using the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory. The Weinberger Adjustment Inventory includes four domains of conduct competence: suppression of aggression, consideration of others, impulse control and responsibility. The main hypothesis of the study was that the participants’ perception of parental supervision correlates with their level of conduct competence with regards to the four domains. The sample included twenty adolescent males who were recruited through their fathers’ involvement in an alcohol rehabilitation program. The results indicated that the participants’ perceptions of parental supervision correlate with levels of conduct competence in the domains of consideration of others, there is no correlation between perception of parental supervision and conduct competence in the domain of responsibility, whilst there is a negative correlation between perception of parental supervision and conduct competence in the domains of suppression of aggression and impulse control. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This study investigated the relationship between masculinity, cultural worldviews, and societal risk perceptions in a sample of school-going boys between the ages of 17 and 18 years old. The main objective was to examine the nature of the relationship between these variables of interest with the purpose of gaining insight into the type of societal risks that are of most concern and those risks that are rejected by males conforming to traditional masculine norms. Furthermore, this study compared the pattern of societal risk perceptions held by males conforming to the traditional masculinity type with the risk perceptions of males adhering to the accommodating and progressive masculinity types. This study also attempted to identify the type of cultural worldviews that were held by individuals adhering to traditional masculine norms and values. One hundred and fifty seven adolescent boys participated in the study and were given two questionnaires and two psychometric scales to complete. The findings of this study showed that males embracing traditional masculine norms and values were more likely to endorse hierarchical and individualist worldviews and to be less concerned about a variety of societal risks and the impact these posed for the South African public. In contrast, participants conforming to progressive masculine norms were more likely to be risk sensitive, showing heightened concern for the negative impact of a number of societal risks on the South African public. In accordance with cultural theory of risk, the risk ideologies upheld by each of the masculinity types were found to be functional in the sense that they supported the core values and agenda of that masculinity type. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

M. Ed.

No description available.

The challenges of adolescence include negotiating risk behaviours such as alcohol use. The high prevalence and frequency of alcohol use among adolescents has been noted with concern, as has the rapidly decreasing age of initiation. Adolescent alcohol use has been found to be associated with numerous factors at intra-personal, inter-personal and contextual levels. This study aimed to explore qualitatively the perceived underlying factors related to alcohol use and binge drinking among adolescent boys, as identified and explained by the boys themselves. Exploration of these factors was guided by Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, the Prototype/Willingness Model and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. The study population was comprised of male learners who were at that time in Grade 11 at the school and ranged in age from 16 to 18 years. Three focus group discussions were conducted, each comprising between 8-11 male learners, which were transcribed and analysed thematically in order to identify commonalties and variances among the responses of participants. The Nvivo software program was used to aid analysis. The findings of this study indicate that there are a variety of factors which influence adolescent alcohol use, and which operate individually as well as cumulatively. While adolescent boys are aware of the consequences of alcohol use and binge drinking, they often do not perceive themselves to be vulnerable to these risks. Protective factors include the school identity, team activities such as sports, and a sense of future. In conclusion, adolescent alcohol use is extremely complicated as it is impacted by multiple factors, and thus an awareness and greater understanding of the nature in which these factors interact are important for future interventions. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine whether sports in which boys participated spontaneously (i.e., not organized as a treatment) could be associated with the retrenchment of later adolescent delinquent behaviours. The objectives of this particular investigation were to: (i) observe how this participation might alter a negative behavioural developmental trajectory; and (ii) study the possible effects of transition in sports activity (i.e., increases or decreases in participation in sports from year to year) on current and later risk for delinquency. / This investigation utilized data obtained from the Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study of Boys which started in 1984 when the boys were six years old. Seven-hundred-eleven of the subjects met the inclusion criteria necessary to participate in the present study. Each year, from 1989 (age 11) to 1995 (age 17) the subjects were asked to complete the Self-Report-Delinquency questionnaire, a 27-item scale detailing their involvement in antisocial behaviour over the previous 12-month period. The scores of four of these years were retained for study; namely, those for 1989 (age 11), 1991 (age 13), 1993 (age 15), 1995 (age 17). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)