Mentoring is defined as an “intense caring relationship in which persons with more experience work with less experienced persons to promote both professional and personal development” (Caffarella, 1992, p. 38). It is “a powerful emotional, and passionate interaction whereby the mentor and protégé experience…intellectual growth and development” (Galbraith & Zelenak, 1991, p. 126). In cross-cultural mentoring, mentors and protégés from different cultures confront social and cultural identities, goals, expectations, values, and beliefs (Cross & Lincoln, 2005) to “achieve a higher level of potency in education and society” (Mullen, 2005, p. 6). Cross-cultural mentoring research explores attitudes, behaviors, linguistics and motivators of the more visible racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. (Elmer, 1986, Ulmer, 2008). The cross-cultural mentoring experiences of Indo-Caribbeans in the U.S. are obscured from the research despite their rich socio-historic culture. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of Indo-Caribbean protégés regarding the effects of their cross-cultural mentoring experiences in the United States. Phenomenology is “the systematic attempt to uncover and describe…the internal meaning structures, of lived experience [by studying the] particulars or instances as they are encountered” (Van Manen, 1990, p. 10). Criterion and snowball sampling were used to recruit 15 participants. A semi-structured interview guide was used to gather data and Creswell’s (2007) simplified version of Moustakas’s (1994) Modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen Method of Analysis of Phenomenological Data was used to analyze the data. Three themes emerged: (a) “Sitting at the feet of gurus” taught protégés how to accept guidance, (b) Guru-Shishya: Learning and Discipleship, ways that protégés perceived mentors’ guidance related to work, skill acquisition, and social or emotional support, and (c) Samavartan sanskar: Building Coherence, helped protégés understand, manage and find meaning. Protégés’ goals and professional expectations determined what they wanted from cross-cultural mentoring relationships and what they were willing to endure within those relationships. Since participants valued achievement and continuous improvement, mentor support was integral to making meaning and developing a sense of coherence in their lives. Implications regarding cross-cultural mentoring relationships together with recommendations for future research conclude the study.

Cultural diversity in the workplace is the presence of multiple cultures or groups within the work environment. This diversity in culture can be as a result of a difference in origin or nationality, difference in society, difference in religion or a difference in tradition. A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a transnational company is an organisation that is registered and operates in multiple countries but is managed from the home country. Today’s ever increasing rate of globalization and the expansion of organisations into countries other than their own has created workplaces where cultural diversity is the norm and where workplaces are no longer characterized by a single or monoculture. This study explores the cultural diversity of an Argentinian multinational company, My Multinational Company (MMC), operating in Argentina and South Africa. MMC is a market leader in the production, procurement and export of citrus products. There is a plethora of information on cultural diversity which identifies various factors which influence cultural diversity. The purpose of this study is therefore to enhance the current understanding of cultural diversity within a multinational company by identifying the factors which influence cultural diversity in a multinational company. The approach to this study is quantitative in nature and the paradigm to be followed is positivistic, based on an empirical study and questionnaire. The empirical study assesses previous work relating to cultural diversity and identifies the factors which influence cultural diversity. The questionnaire was developed from the literature and distributed to MMC employees in Argentina and South Africa in order to determine their similarities and differences. The results of the empirical study identified areas of improvement for MMC. Recommendations were then made based on the literature review and the analysis of the empirical results.

In training programs designed to help immigrant women adapt to Canada, drop-out rates are frequently high and attendance is often low. Investigating some reasons behind this observation was the motivation for this thesis. A literature review revealed that curricula used in existing programs are often developed from experts' understanding of immigrants' needs; research on immigrant women's curricular needs as perceived by themselves is virtually nonexistent. An objective of this thesis was to address this knowledge gap. This study inquired into what curricular needs immigrant women have, how these needs differ, and what relationship exists between the women's backgrounds and their curricular needs. A questionnaire was developed and validated by an expert panel, and then administered to graduates from an orientational training program. Post-survey interviews were conducted. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), factor analysis, and linear discriminant analysis. It was found that the program, although well received, did not reflect the curricular needs perceived by the immigrant women themselves. Life skills instruction was unwanted by many students while English and computer lessons were in demand. A desire to regain higherquality jobs partially explained the women's curricular needs. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The cross-cultural applicability of the PTSD diagnosis has been widely disputed in recent years. Consequently, an examination of the psychometric properties of instruments that are used to assess traumatized individuals of various cultures is of utmost importance. To respond to this need, the overall goal of this dissertation was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ; Mollica et al., 1992), a measure that was developed to assess trauma symptoms across cultures. In the first study, I conducted a search of all publications and dissertations that used the symptoms scales of the HTQ. This search revealed that the HTQ is commonly used by trauma researchers, however only a minority of them reported using established translation and cultural adaptation procedures to adapt the instrument for their specific sample. In addition, of the 384 studies considered for inclusion, only 44% of them reported internal consistency estimates of their sample. I then performed reliability generalization analyses on Cronbach’s alpha coefficients to assess the reliability properties of the HTQ symptom scales. Overall, 103 samples were included in the analyses, representing various cultures, languages and countries of study. The findings of this study indicated that both the HTQ-16 and 30 symptom scales are likely to provide reliable scores across diverse populations. However, the evidence supporting the reliability of scores produced for the re-experiencing, avoidance/numbing and arousal subscales is less strong. Significant moderating effects were found for various sample and methodological variables, such as the gender composition of the sample, cultural group, cultural orientation of the country of origin and trauma type. Building upon the findings of study 1, I performed validity generalization (VG) analyses to assess the overall construct validity of the HTQ symptom scales in Study 2. Seventy-five independent samples were included in the VG that evaluated the convergent and discriminant validity properties of both the HTQ-16 and HTQ-30. The findings revealed that the convergent validity properties of the HTQ-16 are supported to some extent, but the discriminant validity properties are not. Furthermore, there was limited support for either the convergent or discriminant validity of the HTQ-30. Several significant moderating effects were also found for both scales (i.e. age, gender, cultural group, recruitment site, trauma type, being an original sample). Although these studies shed some light into the overall psychometric strength of the HTQ symptom scales, the decision whether to use this instrument for the assessment of PTSD should also be guided by evidence-based assessment guidelines.

Perfectionistic standards are ubiquitous features conveyed in several aspects of life. Although some aspects of perfectionism may be beneficial to promote achievement, continuously targeting perfection and flawlessness has been shown to impede on one’s psychological adjustment, motivation, and self-regulation (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). Essentially, there still exists no consensus among researchers to identify whether perfectionism—or at least, some facets of perfectionism— is likely to promote or undermine positive outcomes (e.g., Gotwals, Stoeber, Dunn, & Stoll, 2012). The 2 × 2 model of perfectionism (Gaudreau, 2012; Gaudreau & Thompson, 2010) is a welcome addition for researchers studying perfectionism because it proposes an open-ended theoretical system in which novel hypotheses are amenable to empirical scrutiny, thus offering leeway for researchers to theorize and reinterpret those past mixed findings. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to address some of the gaps of the perfectionism literature in order to better understand under which circumstances perfectionistic standards are useful to foster achievement without thwarting psychological adjustment. Accordingly, the current dissertation used the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism as theoretical framework to propose four original studies regrouped under three articles. In Article 1, we aimed at providing a multilevel extension of the 2 × 2 model in order to better understand how the relationships between subtypes of perfectionism and indicators of positive and negative psychological adjustment may vary according to the level of analysis that is being studied. In other words, in this study, we examined the within-person relationships between subtypes of perfectionism and psychological adjustment (i.e., accounting for the fact that these relationships may vary within each person from one life domain to another) in complement to the between-person relationships (i.e., accounting for individual differences across people). A sample of 338 undergraduate students completed measures of perfectionism, vitality, goal progress, affect, and stress for each life domain in which they reported being invested. Preliminary analyses of multilevel confirmatory factor analysis supported the multilevel factorial structure of our measure. Furthermore, results of multilevel regressions with random coefficient supported most hypotheses of the model with positively-, but not negatively-worded outcomes, deserving further discussion. In an attempt to better understand these unexpected yet interesting findings, Article 2 aimed at extending the findings of Article 1 by examining the multilevel associations between subtypes of perfectionism and coping strategies of undergraduate students. Two studies were conducted to examine the between- and within-person relationships respectively. Accordingly, 332 undergraduate students completed measures to assess their dispositional perfectionism and coping tendencies in Study 1 (i.e., between-person). In Study 2, 203 undergraduate students completed repeated measures of perfectionism and coping for each life domain in which they reported being invested (i.e., within-person). Results of multiple regressions from Study 1 (i.e., between-person) showed similar findings than those obtained in past research with task- and disengagement-oriented coping, and support of all four hypotheses was obtained with relative coping (i.e., proportion of task-oriented compared to one’s overall coping). Results of multilevel regressions with random coefficient from Study 2 (i.e., within-person) provided support for all hypotheses with disengagement-oriented coping, two hypotheses with task-oriented coping, and three hypotheses with relative coping. Finally, in Article 3, we aimed at identifying the potential role of moderators in the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism, particularly the role of sociocultural identity. A sample of 697 undergraduate students (538 Euro Canadians and 159 Asian Canadians) completed measures aimed at assessing perfectionism and indicators of school achievement (i.e., satisfaction and grade-point average). Preliminary multi-group confirmatory factor analyses with invariance testing supported the factorial structure of our measure across both samples, thus rendering the measure equivalent across both sociocultural groups. Furthermore, results provided support for our socially prescribed perfectionism as a cultural makeup hypothesis, suggesting that Asian Canadians with a subtype of mixed perfectionism (i.e., high self-oriented and high socially prescribed perfectionism)—in contrast to their Euro Canadians counterparts—were able to reach both the achievement and satisfaction targets known to play an important part in the positive academic experience of students. Overall, the current dissertation bears significant theoretical implications by providing further validation of the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism, as well as supporting a multilevel and cross-cultural extension. It also holds methodological contributions by supporting the factorial invariance of the short-Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale across levels of analysis and sociocultural groups. Furthermore, this dissertation involves practical implications for clinical psychologists by underlining the need to compare clients to their own average across significant domains of their life (e.g., to monitor their progress or areas of concern) along to the normative standards designed to compare them with individuals (e.g., to monitor their levels in comparison to the population).

The main focus of this research was to determine the functional relationship that exists when mental ability and language competence are separately and simultaneously measured with regard to their influence on the effective treatment of verbal information. The subject sample comprised 100 men and women, aged 20-60 years, who were chosen to be representative of the employable population of the Greater Vancouver area. The assessment of language in these subjects included skill in .syntax, exemplified by verb-form competence, the variety of clausal structures employed, and the presence of other modifying devices common to adult language. The procedures for assessing these competencies were originally developed by the author from raw data supplied by Koopman (1985). Comprehension was measured by means of a standard reading comprehension test, which comprised a series of graded paragraphs. Multiple-choice questions were posed on specific information regarding the characters and events, inferences and implications of the content, and recall of the actions and settings presented in the paragraphs. Intelligence was measured by a non-verbal intelligence test, which called for the identification of geometrical patterns and learned skills in matching, analogies, classifications, intersections, and progressions. Skill in processing verbal information was assessed from the subjects' written productions. Six controversial topics were presented to the subjects by means of questions and related collages. The subjects were asked to present, in writing, a solution to one of the issues. The time suggested for this task was approximately fifteen minutes. The compositions were scored for quality of argument and maturity of judgment. All scores were analyzed by regression and multiple regression procedures. Demographic data were investigated by canonical correlation analysis. The main finding of this present research was that skill in syntax is the major component in English composition, particularly in exercises which call for critical analysis and the making of sound judgments. This finding suggests that the assessment procedures used in this research may be a feasible means of judging the quality of adults' written language. The results also indicated that skill in the use of language is of greater significance than is mental ability in the treatment of verbal information. The demographic variables of the subjects do not serve to differentiate between high and low performance in language in any reliable way, although level of education has some bearing on ability in language and category of occupation among the middle and upper age-groups. Finally, practical application of these assessment procedures in education and suggestions for further research directly concerned with this study and with issues in related fields are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This study investigated certain aspects of the cross-cultural adaptation process of Afghan returnees who have repatriated from Iran to Afghanistan. The study’s particular focus is the issue of cross-cultural adaptation in the current context of Afghanistan; that is, what challenges face Afghans returning from Iran to their country of origin following years of exile in Iran. Afghan immigration to Iran has a long history. Using Young Yun Kim’s cross-cultural adaptation theory as the leading theoretical framework, the researcher investigated the cultural adaptation of those who have lived in Iran for more than 10 years and have repatriated voluntarily to Afghanistan at least three years before the data for this thesis were gathered. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for collecting primary data from participants for the thesis. Twelve young returnees from Kabul City, aged 18 to 40, volunteered to take part in the interviews. Results revealed that language barriers, cultural knowledge and environmental challenges were some of the dominant difficulties that returnees experienced after their repatriation. Furthermore, the findings showed that the three main strategies used by the young returnees to adapt to their unfamiliar, new environment of Kabul City included social interaction, using mass media, and keeping an open mind on current issues. The findings of the interviews revealed the ongoing changing nature of identity formation of the returnees after their repatriation to Afghanistan and, also the majority of participants (9 out of 12) voiced a strong sense of belonging and attachment to Afghanistan.

The present study investigated what helped and what hindered multicultural supervision. The participants consisted of 19 females, and 6 males, including Asian-Canadians, Indo- Canadians, First Nations, Latin-Canadian and Afro-Canadian. They were individually interviewed, following an expanded version of Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique. There were 340 relevant meaning units related to positive incidents and 386 meaning units related to negative incidents. Forty-two meaning units were associated with coping efforts, and 87 meaning units were on recommendations. Categories extracted from these meaning units were grouped as follows: (a) 20 positive categories, (b) 15 negative categories, (c) 15 coping categories, and (d) 33 recommendations. The reliability of classifying meaning units according to these categories was satisfactory, based on inter-judge agreement (80% and higher). The validity of content analysis was established by (a) confirmation by participants, (b) crossvalidation by other participants, (c) cross-validation by an independent judge, and (d) cross-validation by other researchers. The most frequently cited positive categories were subsumed under five key areas: (a) personal attributes of the supervisor, (b) supervision competencies, (c) mentoring, (d) relationship, and (e) multicultural supervision competencies. The most frequently reported negative categories were associated with the following five areas: (a) personal difficulties as a visible minority, (b) negative personal attributes of the supervisor, (c) lack of a safe and trusting relationship, (d) lack of multicultural supervision competencies, and (e) lack of supervision competencies. The coping efforts employed were grouped into four areas: (a) help seeking, (b) existential coping, (c) active coping, and (d) emotional coping. Finally, recommendations were also grouped into four broad areas: (a) needs to improve the quality of supervision, (b) needs to improve multicultural supervision competencies, (c) needs for educational institutions to make changes, and (d) needs for minority students to make changes. The study provided a comprehensive picture of what works and what does not work in multicultural supervision. The results support a mentoring model, which posits that supervision is effective to the extent that the supervisor takes on the role of a mentor. The practical implications of the study include the need for cross-cultural supervision competencies and mentoring graduate students. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

M.A. / The aim of this research is to ascertain the unique character of late-adolescence in order to strengthen the counselling and ministry of late-adolescents. The first aim was to ascertain the particular problems of identity development and psychosocial adjustment of late-adolescents. The research concentrates on different aspects of development such as cognition, sexuality, self-actualisation and commitments. In order to comprehend the complexity of late-adolescents, the following aspects should be taken into account: identity, body-image, intimacy, careerchoice, personal values and philosophy of life. A literature study was done to draw a comparison between the developmental theory of Erik H Erikson and the classical and more contemporary views on these concepts. Erikson described eight life stages in human development. The research focuses on the first six stages which culminates in achievement of intimacy and identity. The research showed that six concepts, trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity and intimacy, are intertwined in the development of a healthy personality. This information need to be used in the counselling and ministry process. The second aim was to measure the psychological adjustment of late-adolescents by means of two questionaires: the EPSI-scale. (Eriksonian Psychological Stage Inventory) and the Erikson-scale. The questionaires were structured to measure the six major concepts of Erikon's theory. The lack of correlation between the EPSI and Eriksonian scales opens the door to research on a questionaire which can measure the Eriksonian concepts of psychosocial development. The following methods were used in the processing of the results of the questionaires: Student T-test for small groups and the Spearman correlational coefficient. The variables that were tested were sex, age and ethnicity. There were no statistical significant differences among the scores of the three ethnical groups. This leads to the conclusion that Erikson's theory is applicable to the South African adolescent population. Identity and psychosocial adjustment are major concepts in the development of lateadolescents and could be regarded as a relevant field of study.

M.A. (Information Science) / The potential formative value of children's literature has repeatedly been proven by research. A child's perception of society is shaped early and the beneficial contribution of literature in bringing about a framework of awareness and understanding about society, cannot be denied. South African society is pre-eminently multicultural - a fact which is reflected in the rich diversity of ethnic groups, cultures, languages and creeds. A given political policy compelled the different ethnic groups in South Africa to live in separate areas, under divergent circumstances. This resulted in a deeply divided South African society in which alienation, distrust and conflict still prevail. However, fundamental changes are occurring in political, socio-economic and educational spheres. Amidst all of these changes, the South African child has to establish and enhance a cultural identity of its own. Secondly, a broadened South African identity must be attained. There is doubt whether the children of South Africa are equipped to cope with this new phase into which South African society is entering. The value of multicultural children's literature and.its potential to bring about understanding and acceptance with regard to the rich cultural diversity in South African society, offers a field of research which up to now has not been explored in South Africa...