In chronic illnesses, such as prostate cancer, multiple health outcomes need to be considered. This project focused on two types of health outcomes: health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and cognitive function. The first aim was to investigate cognitive effects of pharmacological androgen-suppressing treatment. Numerous studies have shown cognitive performance to be associated with sex hormones. One of the main groups of drugs used for hormonal ablation in men with prostate cancer, the luteinising hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, has been associated with adverse cognitive effects in controlled studies in women and in case reports of female and male patients. However, there have been no published studies on the effect of LHRH agonists and other androgen-suppressing treatments on cognitive functioning in male patients. The second aim was to investigate the effect of treatments on HRQoL in men with prostate cancer. There are few randomised treatment studies of HRQoL in these patients. The third aim was to study additional predictors of HRQoL, examining stress and coping theory as a theoretical basis for understanding individual differences in HRQoL. The fourth aim was to examine patients' subjective experiences of prostate cancer. To investigate these questions, 82 men with non-localised prostate cancer were randomly assigned to receive leuprorelin (LHRH agonist), goserelin (LHRH agonist), cyproterone (steroidal antiandrogen), or close clinical monitoring. These patients and 20 community volunteers matched for age, marital status, and general health undertook medical, psychosocial, and cognitive assessments before treatment and after 6 and 12 months of treatment. The main question for statistical analysis was whether dependent variables would show Group x Time interactions in the predicted directions. Compared with baseline assessments, men administered androgen suppression monotherapy performed worse in 3/12 tests of attention, memory, and executive function. Twenty-six percent of men randomised to active treatment demonstrated clinically significant decline in one or more cognitive tests at 6 months compared with baseline performance. By contrast, no community volunteers or patients randomised to close monitoring showed decline in test performance. Men on hormonal treatments reported impaired sexual function on treatment compared with baseline assessments. Men assigned to close monitoring and cyproterone treatment reported increased emotional distress over time. Groups did not differ in change in existential satisfaction, subjective cognitive function, physical symptoms, or social and role functioning. For individuals, hormonal treatments were more frequently associated with decreased physical, sexual, social and role functioning, but were also associated with improved HRQoL for some individuals. In hierarchical regression analysis, HRQoL was lower for men who had more comorbid illnesses, a history of neurological dysfunction, higher threat appraisals, or higher use of emotion-focused coping strategies. Coping strategies also showed some longitudinal associations with HRQoL, even when earlier levels of HRQoL had been taken into account. Subjective reports demonstrated that many patients viewed prostate cancer as a relatively manageable problem. Several patients said that other health problems affected them more than prostate cancer, whereas no patient said that prostate cancer was worse than other problems. Comments about the seriousness of prostate cancer were equally divided between patients who reported it as very serious (14.3% of patients) and those who saw it as a relatively minor problem (14.3%). Other patient observations were grouped into categories of personal responses to prostate cancer, health, and health research; life circumstances that were not directly associated with health; attributions about medication; and function prior to the study. The results demonstrated that pharmacological androgen suppression therapy was associated with impaired memory, attention, and executive function in male patients. Hormonal treatments and close monitoring had differential effects on patients' HRQoL, particularly in terms of sexual function and emotional distress. HRQoL was also associated with appraisal and coping, to a greater extent than it was associated with medical variables, supporting the applicability of stress and coping theory for these patients. Observations from participants placed these findings in the context of participants' concerns, demonstrating that issues such as cognitive and sexual function were relevant for these patients. These findings suggest that cognitive function should be given increased attention as a health outcome, not only in "neurological" disorders but also in other "non-neurological" conditions such as prostate cancer. They also support continued efforts to understand both beneficial and adverse effects of treatments for chronic illness on HRQoL and individual factors that affect health outcomes.

Cognitive Rehabilitation is an umbrella term which encompasses a number of restorative and compensatory techniques commonly and widely applied to assist with the sequelae following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Such techniques have been well established within the literature. More recently, an increasing body of research has emerged suggesting that electroencephalography (EEG) biofeedback is an effective intervention for sequelae following TBI. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation and EEG biofeedback as treatments for moderate to severe TBI. It aimed to determine the effectiveness of each intervention in treating cognitive, emotional, and behavioural sequelae following TBI. Methods: A multiple single case study cross-over (ABBA) design was used with six adult participants, no less than one year post TBI. Three of the participants received the two treatments in the opposite order to the remaining participants, each serving as their own controls. Over ten weeks, each participant received 20 hours of Treatment A. Then, following a ten week break they received 20 hours of Treatment B, with a final ten week follow-up. A number of cognitive, emotional, and behavioural measures were administered pre-post treatments. Quantitative electroencephalographs (qEEG) were also administered pre-post treatments to evaluate any change in the electrophysiological dynamics of the brain. Results: EEG biofeedback appeared to be more effective than cognitive rehabilitation in improving information processing impairments, namely, complex attentional control, response inhibition, and speed of language and comprehension. Cognitive rehabilitation appeared to be more effective than EEG biofeedback in improving visual memory. Both treatments were effective in reducing depression, anxiety, anger, and neurobehavioural symptomatology. Although both treatments were effective in reducing depression, greater reductions were evident following EEG biofeedback. A number of self-reported functional changes were also noted by each participant. EEG biofeedback was more effective than cognitive rehabilitation in the normalisation of dysregulated EEG (as measured by qEEG). Conclusions: Overall, EEG biofeedback appeared to be more effective in improving information processing skills, while cognitive rehabilitation was more effective in improving visual memory. Both treatments were effective in the treatment of emotional and behavioural sequelae following TBI. EEG biofeedback was more effective in normalising the participants'. However, the clinical meaningfulness of the qEEG finding is questioned. Speculations are made about the possible functional brain changes which may occur following rehabilitation.

Low-skilled, low socio-economic status, young, co-resident, working fathers: Their experience of fatherhood Using open-ended interview techniques, 23 low-skilled, low socio-economic status fathers aged 20-29 were interviewed about their experience of fatherhood. All participants were in unskilled jobs and all lived with and supported their partners and child/children. This population of fathers is generally overlooked by researchers. Because they take responsibility for some of society’s most vulnerable families and children, understanding how they conceive of their role as fathers can promote the welfare of those families and children. Participants were recruited by casual connections, snowballing and advertisement. The interviews explored the participants' experience of fatherhood and their reasons for being active and committed family members. Focus was given to how they made sense of fatherhood in terms of their life course. Participants had two interviews, the first generic and the second idiographic. Interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed. A social constructionist approach was used: transcripts were analysed by identifying and examining the primary domains in which participants experienced fatherhood. Participants spoke of fatherhood as an affective activity, the primary object of good fatherhood being to maintain an emotional bond with one’s children. Being a good father was thought to involve eschewing deleterious family practices such as those which had marred their own childhoods. In this regard, participants saw themselves as repairing their family-of-origin's dysfunctional style. Providing was described as a core feature of fatherhood – subsidiary to, but corollary on, being an emotionally-engaged father. Good fathers were described as committed providers, albeit participants did not consider their own limited earning capacity to compromise their fatherhood. Obtaining a job and providing for one’s family was one of the ‘pro-socializing’ effects of fatherhood. Participants considered fatherhood to not only improve but to also redeem their lives, giving a purpose and focus they had lacked prior to their becoming parents. Being a good father also involved being a good partner. For many of the participants, this involved adopting non-gendered roles in the home. The sharing of housework and childcare improved home life by reducing the partner's workload. Those who failed to adopt the gender-neutral stance acknowledged this as a personal shortcoming that they planned to remedy. Fatherhood for these 23 interviewees was one of the few means by which they could obtain social value and status as adults. They lacked access to financial resources, education or supportive family connections, but fatherhood was a domain in which they could present themselves as significant members of society. It also provided a network of emotional relationships which promoted their sense of self-worth and their social and emotional wellbeing.

This thesis uses a discourse analytic approach to the language used by Pakeha in talk about Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research begins with an assay of a large body of public submissions and, using the finding of common themes and patterns of ideas, images and usages running though the data, proceeds to examine texts arising from other contexts in order to comment on the generality of the original results. It is suggested that the commonalities described amount to an ideological and linguistic resource base for the construction of a powerful "standard story" of Maori/Pakeha relations, which underpins and legitimates the oppressive status quo. Further extensions of the investigation examine changes in the discourse in the contemporary setting and pursue origins of the themes in historical texts arising from the period of contact between Maori and Pakeha prior to the colonisation of the country.

This thesis uses a discourse analytic approach to the language used by Pakeha in talk about Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The research begins with an assay of a large body of public submissions and, using the finding of common themes and patterns of ideas, images and usages running though the data, proceeds to examine texts arising from other contexts in order to comment on the generality of the original results. It is suggested that the commonalities described amount to an ideological and linguistic resource base for the construction of a powerful "standard story" of Maori/Pakeha relations, which underpins and legitimates the oppressive status quo. Further extensions of the investigation examine changes in the discourse in the contemporary setting and pursue origins of the themes in historical texts arising from the period of contact between Maori and Pakeha prior to the colonisation of the country.

Perceptions of increased rates of violence worldwide have heightened the need to understand what children think about their experiences as victims or witnesses of violence. Few studies have examined violence from the viewpoint of children. The purpose of this study was to examine children's perceptions of the prevalence, incidence, and impact of violence experienced or witnessed by them and to explore the factors that might mitigate and reduce its impact. A national survey of New Zealand children, aged 9 to 13 years, with a representative sample of 2,077 children from 28 randomly selected schools of various sizes, geographic areas and socioeconomic neighbourhoods was undertaken. A questionnaire was developed for children to report the nature and extent of physical, sexual and emotional violence (including bullying) experienced within their main contexts (home and school). To assess the impact of this violence, as well as children's perceptions of school, their coping experiences, and the extent to which they used violence in their own interpersonal relationships, analyses of data comprised frequencies, bivariate correlations, t-tests, and multiple regressions. Results showed high prevalence rates of physical, emotional, and sexual violence. Comparison of the three types of violence revealed emotional violence to be the most prevalent form of violence and as having more impact on children than physical violence. Sexual violence had the most overall impact. Witnessing violence was more prevalent and, except for sexual victimisation, also had greater impact than direct violence. All types of violence involving adults were rated higher than violence involving children. The study also examined the ethical considerations and philosophy underpinning research that involves children. Guided by Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the results support the controversial ethical decision to adopt a passive consent procedure. The study demonstrated children's competence to express the ways in which violence has affected them. Conclusions are that effective development of policy and provision should be based on data that reflects children's perceptions of the violence in the context of their own lives

Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by higher than normal levels of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Behavioural inhibition is proposed to be a primary deficit in children with ADHD, and is included as a component of a number of models accounting for the core behavioural symptoms of ADHD. Children with ADHD often show deficits in their performance on behavioural inhibition tasks relative to typically developing children of the same age, although inconsistent findings have been observed. Stimulant medication is associated with reduction in the core symptoms of ADHD in the majority of children. The primary goal of this thesis was to examine the effects of stimulant medication on behavioural inhibition in children with ADHD. Furthermore, this thesis sought to determine whether children with ADHD who have, and have not taken stimulant medication differ from normally developing children in terms of behavioural inhibition. In order to achieve these aims, it was necessary to firstly determine which tasks provide the best measures of behavioural inhibition. While many tasks have been used to measure inhibitory control amongst children with ADHD, it was unclear from previous research which tasks measure the same constructs. Study 1 investigated relationships in task performance among seven measures of inhibitory control, including the Stop-Signal task, Go / No-go task, Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; analogous the not-X Continuous Performance Task), Eriksen Flanker task, Stroop, Opposite Worlds task and Task-Switching task. Significant developmental changes in a variety of cognitive abilities occur across childhood and adolescence. To limit the possibility that developmental changes in task performance would be observed, the age range for children included in the study was restricted to seven to 10 years. Nevertheless, to interpret correlations among inhibition measures from the tasks, it was necessary to determine whether children showed comparable developmental trends in their performance across tasks. Study 1A investigated developmental changes in the performances of the seven tasks purported to measure inhibitory control in normally developing children aged seven to 10 years. The results of this study suggested that the tasks chosen were appropriate for use among this age group, and that there is little change in behavioural inhibition across the seven to 10 years age range. In Study 1B, inhibition measures from each of the tasks were included in an exploratory factor analysis to determine those tasks measuring the same constructs. The results of Study 1B suggested that the Stop-Signal, Go / No-go and SART tasks provided the best measures of the behavioural inhibition construct. Performance on the Eriksen Flanker task was also related to the performance on these tasks, but in a direction contrary to that predicted. The Stroop and Opposite Worlds tasks measured the same construct, which appeared to be interference control. Performance on the Task-Switching task was not related to the performance on any other task, suggesting that this task did not measure behavioural inhibition or interference control. Study 2 investigated the performance of children with ADHD on the three tasks shown to be the best measures of behavioural inhibition in Study 1B (i.e., the Stop-Signal task, Go / No-go task and Sustained Attention to Response task). Children with ADHD were aged from seven to 11 years, and were tested both when they had, and had not taken their regularly prescribed stimulant medication. The performance of children with ADHD on these tasks was compared to that of normally developing children matched in age. The results of Study 2 suggested that stimulant medication leads to significant improvement in behavioral inhibition amongst children with ADHD, such that children with ADHD do not differ from matched controls. However, this effect was not observed across all three tasks. Reasons for this, along with study limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

This thesis examined the intra-individual relationship between state affect and task performance, with an emphasis on a) the moderating effects of trait affect and task difficulty; and b) the mediating effects of cognitive and affective regulation. Theory and empirical research from the emotion, motivation, and personality literatures was integrated to develop a multilevel model of states, traits, and situational factors as predictors of task performance. Data from five studies were analysed using single- and multi-level techniques to test the hypothesised model of relationships. The findings are reported within three manuscripts, which comprise the body of this thesis. Manuscript 1 presents validation evidence for the psychometric instruments used to measure the self-regulatory components of the model. Three studies (N = 758) were conducted to examine the nomological network of cognitive and affective regulation. In parallel, two new self-report scales were developed to operationalise these constructs within a repeated measures paradigm. The three studies demonstrated that the new cognitive and affective regulation scales were uniquely associated with other self-regulatory, personality, affective and achievement variables at the intra-individual and inter-individual levels. Study 1 provided evidence for the unidimensionality, internal consistency, and construct validity of each scale. Study 2 replicated and extended construct validity evidence using a different sample and performance domain. Study 3 established the utility of each scale for assessing intra-individual variability in cognitive and affective regulation, and their ability to predict performance within individuals. In sum, the three studies suggested that the new measures of cognitive and affective regulation were psychometrically adequate for use in model testing. Manuscripts 2 and 3 tested the intra-individual relationship between state affect and task performance, with a focus on the moderating effects of trait affect and task difficulty (Manuscript 2), and the mediating effects of cognitive and affective regulation (Manuscript 3). Each manuscript analysed different portions of data from two laboratory experiments (N = 182). In each experiment, participants performed multiple trials of an air-traffic control simulation that varied in task difficulty at the inter-individual (Study 4) or intra-individual (Study 5) level. Trait positive and negative affect were measured before the task, whereas state positive and negative affect, cognitive and affective regulation, and task performance were measured at repeated intervals over practice. In Manuscript 2, hierarchical linear modelling demonstrated that state positive affect was positively related, whereas state negative affect was negatively related, to task performance at the intra-individual level of analysis. As hypothesised, the strength of these affect-performance relationships was significantly moderated by trait affect and task difficulty. In both studies, the positive intra-individual relationship between state positive affect and performance was stronger for individuals with high (versus low) trait positive affect, particularly when task difficulty was high (versus low). In contrast, the negative intra-individual relationship between state negative affect and performance only emerged for individuals with low (versus high) trait negative affect, regardless of the level of task difficulty. In Study 4, the intra-individual relationship between state negative affect and task performance was also more pronounced when task difficulty was high (versus low). In Manuscript 3, multilevel multiple-mediation modelling demonstrated that cognitive regulation significantly mediated the intra-individual relationship between state positive affect and performance in both studies, alongside the intra-individual relationship between state negative affect and performance in Study 4. Unexpectedly, affective regulation failed to mediate either of these affect-performance relationships. However, state positive affect was positively related to affective regulation in both studies, whereas state negative affect was positively related to affective regulation in Study 5. Overall, this thesis makes theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions to understanding how affect relates to performance at the intra-individual level of analysis; and for whom, when, and why these relationships emerge. Within a multilevel framework, it integrates interdisciplinary perspectives to identify the affective determinants of performance from two levels of analysis. The results demonstrate that state positive and negative affect can differentially predict intra-individual variability in task performance, and that these effects may a) depend on trait affect and task difficulty; and b) be partially explained by cognitive regulation. These findings emphasise the importance of adopting a multilevel, repeated measures paradigm to examine how affective states, traits, and task demands interactively predict task performance. There is scope for extending this research further by investigating a broader range of moderating and mediating constructs. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Traditionally, language was proposed to be mediated by various left hemisphere perisylvian structures and the associated role of the motor cortices was limited to tasks such as articulation. Recent theoretical models have proposed that effector specific words with motor related meaning are represented somatotopically on the primary motor (Brodmann’s Area 4) and premotor (Brodmann’s Area 6) cortices. For example, it has been reported that when verbs associated with the hand (e.g., pick) are processed, the primary and premotor areas involved with moving the hand are engaged. However, fundamental methodological problems exist within the reported research. This thesis aimed to address and correct the inconsistencies and methodological limitations within the existing literature to provide more conclusive evidence regarding the involvement of the primary and premotor cortices in processing verbs with motor related meaning. This thesis also aimed to investigate whether the names of effectors (nouns) also involve processing by the motor cortices, either generally or somatotopically. Three behavioural dual task experiments and one fMRI experiment were conducted. Results indicated no evidence of somatotopically organised overlapping activation in the primary or premotor cortex between the various semantic categories of words and related effector movements. However, in the fMRI experiment, motor related verbs in general yielded significant overlapping activity between reading all effector related verbs and moving all effectors in the pre-supplementary motor area of the premotor cortex. These findings indicate that an embodied language involving somatotopic representations of effector specific verbs on the primary or premotor cortex is unlikely to be the case. Rather there appears to be a more general representation of effector related verbs in a more cognitive than motor area of the premotor cortex. The findings of this thesis are consistent a wealth of evidence supporting the motor cortices being generally associated with motor related language and with the idea that semantic representations are distributed throughout the brain according to the embodied cognitive framework, rather than being localised to amodal regions that process all words.

The monitoring-blunting theory of coping in threatening situations (Miller, 1981, 1987) suggests that when faced with a threatening situation, individuals can respond either by attending to threatening information (―monitoring‖) or by avoiding threatening information (―blunting‖). A valid and reliable measure of children’s preferred coping styles in dental situations may assist dental staff in providing efficacious anxiety-reducing interventions to diverse groups of children. The current study sought to validate a scale of children’s preference for monitoring or blunting in dental situations (the Monitoring Blunting Dental Scale or MBDS). The psychometric characteristics of the scale were assessed in a group of 240 eleven to thirteen year old New Zealand children. Internal consistency reliability was adequate for both the monitoring ( = .743) and blunting ( = .762) subscales. Convergent validity was indicated by strong correlations (> .6) between the MBDS monitoring and blunting subscales and those of an adapted version of the Child Behavioural Style Scale (CBSS-M). Discriminant validity with respect to dental anxiety was strong for the monitoring subscale, r = .079, p = .221, but not the blunting subscale, r = .478, p <.001. Confirmatory factor analysis of the MBDS indicated adequate fit for a two factor monitoring-blunting model (RMSEA = .079), but unacceptable fit for a one factor model (RMSEA = .095). A similar finding was observed when confirmatory factor analysis of the CBSS-M was conducted. These confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the monitoring and blunting theoretical constructs cannot be justifiably regarded as representing poles of a single underlying dimension, but are better regarded as distinct, related constructs. A content analysis of children’s comments about the coping strategies they might adopt in several dental scenarios indicated that these strategies were largely classifiable within monitoring-blunting theory, with blunting-type strategies much more commonly mentioned. Given further validity evidence, the MBDS could be a useful measure when attempting to tailor anxiety-reducing interventions in dental settings to children with diverse coping preferences.