The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R). The goal was to test the factorstructure equivalence of the BULIT-R across two samples of college students from two different cultures, Spain and the U.S. Researchers using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) have reported different model solutions for the factor structure of the BULIT-R: a one-factor model (McCarthy et al., 2002); a four-factor model (Vincent et al., 2002), a five-factor model (Thelen et al., 1991) and a six factor model (Santos, 1996). For any of the two samples, CFA did not support any of the models previously reported in the literature. EFA supported a six and a four factor models for the US and Spanish samples, respectively.

Different value systems are a major source of diversity between people and culture groups. A better understanding of these differences can be a valuable tool when a diverse work force, as found in South Africa, has to be managed. Values can act as a unifying theory for the field of human motivation, as a way of organising the different needs, motives and goals proposed in other theories. The values theory describes aspects of the human psychological structure that are fundamental, aspects presumably common to all humankind. The objective of this study was to investigate the construct equivalence of the values as measured by the Work and Organizational Values Scale for new applicants from different language groups in the South African Police Service (SAPS), and to investigate the relationship between the value patterns of the different language and gender groups. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of two groups who applied for jobs in the South African Police Services (SAPS). The first group consisted of civilians (N=3 400), while the second group consisted of police applicants (N=1 800). The Work and Organizational Values Scale was administered. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analyses, and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the results. Principal component analysis with a direct oblimin rotation resulted in two factors. The first factor was interpreted as self-enhancement (power, materialism and prestige) versus conservation (conformity and security). The second factor was interpreted as collectivism (social commitment, relations, and environment) versus individualism (goal-orientedness. stimulation and self-direction). These factors were found to be equivalent for four language groups. Statistically significant differences were found between the value priorities of different language groups as well as genders. However, larger practically significant differences were found between males and females than between different language groups. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Different value systems are a major source of diversity between people and culture groups. A better understanding of these differences can be a valuable tool when a diverse work force, as found in South Africa, has to be managed. Values can act as a unifying theory for the field of human motivation, as a way of organising the different needs, motives and goals proposed in other theories. The values theory describes aspects of the human psychological structure that are fundamental, aspects presumably common to all humankind. The objective of this study was to investigate the construct equivalence of the values as measured by the Work and Organizational Values Scale for new applicants from different language groups in the South African Police Service (SAPS), and to investigate the relationship between the value patterns of the different language and gender groups. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of two groups who applied for jobs in the South African Police Services (SAPS). The first group consisted of civilians (N=3 400), while the second group consisted of police applicants (N=1 800). The Work and Organizational Values Scale was administered. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analyses, and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the results. Principal component analysis with a direct oblimin rotation resulted in two factors. The first factor was interpreted as self-enhancement (power, materialism and prestige) versus conservation (conformity and security). The second factor was interpreted as collectivism (social commitment, relations, and environment) versus individualism (goal-orientedness. stimulation and self-direction). These factors were found to be equivalent for four language groups. Statistically significant differences were found between the value priorities of different language groups as well as genders. However, larger practically significant differences were found between males and females than between different language groups. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The application of personality assessment measures for clinical and personnel decisions has long been a major activity for psychologists all over the world. In South Africa personality assessment tools are often used to aid decisions relating to selection, placement, determination of job satisfaction and development. Psychological testing in South Africa was originally initiated with white test-takers in mind, and currently none of the personality questionnaires available have been found to provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (and language) groups living in South Africa. The promulgation of the new South African constitution in 1996 and, more specifically, the Employment Equity Act of 1998 have resulted in a stronger demand for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. In this study, the implicit perspectives of personality of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans were determined to further the goal of developing a personality assessment tool that can be applied fairly to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was applied with an interview as data-gathering instrument. Afrikaans-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview a purposive stratified sample of 120 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. From the 7 184 responses obtained through this process, personality-relevant adjectives, nouns and metaphors were identified. Content analysis was subsequently used to analyse, interpret and reduce the descriptors to a total of 378 personality characteristics, which imply the most important perspectives of personality for Afrikaans-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into 12 categories, namely Altruism/ Agreeability, Extraversion, Integrity, Conscientiousness, Emotionality, Intellect, Dynamism, Forcefulness, Humility, Moralism, Conventionality, and Autonomy. While Afrikaans- speaking persons do not hesitate to pronounce themselves and others as stubborn, impatient and short-tempered, they also generally refer to their agreeable nature by describing themselves and familiar others as friendly, helpful, loving and generous. Valuing the virtues associated with conscientiousness, Afrikaans-speaking respondents also made noteworthy reference to religiousness, a sense of humour and aspects of honesty and integrity. Limitations in the research have been identified and recommendations for future research have been presented. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The application of personality assessment measures for clinical and personnel decisions has long been a major activity for psychologists all over the world. In South Africa personality assessment tools are often used to aid decisions relating to selection, placement, determination of job satisfaction and development. Psychological testing in South Africa was originally initiated with white test-takers in mind, and currently none of the personality questionnaires available have been found to provide a reliable and valid picture of personality for all cultural (and language) groups living in South Africa. The promulgation of the new South African constitution in 1996 and, more specifically, the Employment Equity Act of 1998 have resulted in a stronger demand for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests. In this study, the implicit perspectives of personality of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans were determined to further the goal of developing a personality assessment tool that can be applied fairly to all South African cultural (language) groupings. A qualitative research design was applied with an interview as data-gathering instrument. Afrikaans-speaking fieldworkers were recruited to interview a purposive stratified sample of 120 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans. From the 7 184 responses obtained through this process, personality-relevant adjectives, nouns and metaphors were identified. Content analysis was subsequently used to analyse, interpret and reduce the descriptors to a total of 378 personality characteristics, which imply the most important perspectives of personality for Afrikaans-speaking individuals. The personality characteristics were divided into 12 categories, namely Altruism/ Agreeability, Extraversion, Integrity, Conscientiousness, Emotionality, Intellect, Dynamism, Forcefulness, Humility, Moralism, Conventionality, and Autonomy. While Afrikaans- speaking persons do not hesitate to pronounce themselves and others as stubborn, impatient and short-tempered, they also generally refer to their agreeable nature by describing themselves and familiar others as friendly, helpful, loving and generous. Valuing the virtues associated with conscientiousness, Afrikaans-speaking respondents also made noteworthy reference to religiousness, a sense of humour and aspects of honesty and integrity. Limitations in the research have been identified and recommendations for future research have been presented. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which a rural school youth indicates trauma in a single sand tray scene. An empirical study of limited extent, which was conducted from the interpretivistic paradigm and qualitative by nature, was undertaken. A clinical case study was utilised as research design and document analysis was employed as data collection method. The case record of a Grade 9 learner with a complex trauma history, who attended a secondary school in a low-resourced community in Mpumalanga, was selected as the principal participant in the study. Sandplay assessment, trauma indicators and rural youths were the main concepts guiding the study. The findings of the empirical study were, firstly, that the ways a rural school youth indicated trauma in a single sand tray scene corresponded with trauma indications in Sandplay literature, of which, secondly, scenes appearing hostile, sexualised, bounded-off, rigid, obstructed or empty and devoid of life (e.g. people, vegetation) and scenery were examples. This reflected the universal dynamism of trauma. Another finding was that the utility of a single sand tray scene as a screening tool for trauma with a rural school youth was high and valuable as it identified different types of trauma and trauma-related suffering (symptoms). / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

The Brazilian-Portuguese Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (BP-MCMI-III) is a newly developed translation of the original MCMI-III and requires validation before it can be used in cross-cultural research and clinical settings. This study was the first validation study with the BP-MCMI-III and examined the validity of its Alcohol Dependence and Drug Dependence scales for identifying substance-related disorders in a Brazilian sample. The diagnostic validity of these scales was examined by comparing participants' scores on the BP-MCMI-III against group status (controls versus patients receiving substance abuse treatment) and against clinical diagnoses made based on a DSM-IV-TR symptom checklist. In addition, diagnostic validity statistics were also computed for both scales. The construct validity of the Alcohol Dependence scale was examined by comparing the subjects' scores with their performance on a Brazilian version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The total sample used in this study consisted of 126 Brazilians residing in the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Of the total sample, 75 were inpatients at treatment facilities for substance abuse and 51 were not receiving treatment for alcohol- or drug-related problems at the time of testing. The results of this study supported the validity of the BP-MCMI-III for diagnosing substance-related disorders among Brazilians.

Cross-cultural assessment in South Africa has become more prominent since the first democratic elections held in April 1994, and stronger demands for the cultural appropriateness of psychological tests have arisen. The use of psychometric testing, including personality assessment in the workplace, is now strictly controlled by legislation, among others the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995), and the Employment Equity Act (55 of 1998), and the Health Professions Act (56 of 1974). Much controversy has arisen regarding the relevance and applicability of assessment instruments in South Africa. The majority of assessment procedures still make use of imported instruments that are either used in their original or adapted form. Psychological assessment instruments imported from abroad have an insufficient suitability in the multicultural South African context. There are various perspectives regarding the appropriate measurement of personality across cultures. In this research study implicit perspectives of personality, the lexical approach, indigenous psychology and the emic approach were used to determine the personality perspectives of the Tsonga culture in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate how personality is conceptualised in literature, to identify the problems surrounding personality measurement for the South African context, to explore how personality perspectives could be determined and to investigate the personality descriptive terms in the Tsonga language group. A qualitative research design was used to collect the data of this research. A total of 5 502 personality descriptors were obtained through the 1 0-item interview questionnaires. Content analysis was used to analyse, reduce and interpret the data obtained from the participants. The personality descriptors obtained were reduced by removing superfluous words. These personality descriptors were then interpreted and categorised into a total of 109 personality dimensions. These characteristics were categorised into nine clusters, namely Optimism, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Narrow-mindedness, Intelligence, Conscientiousness, Aggressiveness, Dominance and Sociability. The following personality dimensions had the highest frequency: Emotional Stability, Caring, Helpful, Hard working, Advising, Generous, Traditional, Aggression, Recreational, Substance use, Religious, Sociable and Loving. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Beliefs are social in nature. and are widely shared within social groups, such as cultures. Shared beliefs reflect how people construct their social world and how they seek meaning and understanding of social realities. and they are context specific. General beliefs are context free and related to a wide spectrum of social behaviours across diverse contexts, actors, targets and periods. These general beliefs function like axioms in mathematics, thus they are basic premises that people endorse and on which they rely to guide their actions. A better understanding of beliefs can therefore be a useful instrument in managing a diverse workforce, such as the workforce found in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate the replicability of the Social Axioms Survey (SAS) in the South African Police Service (SAPS), to examine the construct equivalence and item bias. and to assess the reliability. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of applicants (N=1535) who applied for jobs in the SAPS. The SAS instrument was administered. Descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, scale and item level analysis and estimation of reliability were used to analyse the results. An exploratory factor analysis utilising target rotation applied on all 60 items of the SAS revealed four interpretable factors (Factor 1 = Social Cynicism; Factor 2 = Reward for Application; Factor 4 = Fate Control; and Factor 5 = Spirituality Religiosity) congruent with the model of Leung et al. (2002). The third factor, namely Social Complexity did not replicate. Values of Tucker's phi higher than 0.90 were found for seven culture groups (Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Tsonga, Venda and Pedi). This provided a strong indication of the structural equivalence. Analyses of variance showed that item bias was not a major disturbance. Cronbach's alpha reported lower levels of reliability. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Beliefs are social in nature. and are widely shared within social groups, such as cultures. Shared beliefs reflect how people construct their social world and how they seek meaning and understanding of social realities. and they are context specific. General beliefs are context free and related to a wide spectrum of social behaviours across diverse contexts, actors, targets and periods. These general beliefs function like axioms in mathematics, thus they are basic premises that people endorse and on which they rely to guide their actions. A better understanding of beliefs can therefore be a useful instrument in managing a diverse workforce, such as the workforce found in South Africa. The objectives of this study were to investigate the replicability of the Social Axioms Survey (SAS) in the South African Police Service (SAPS), to examine the construct equivalence and item bias. and to assess the reliability. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of applicants (N=1535) who applied for jobs in the SAPS. The SAS instrument was administered. Descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, scale and item level analysis and estimation of reliability were used to analyse the results. An exploratory factor analysis utilising target rotation applied on all 60 items of the SAS revealed four interpretable factors (Factor 1 = Social Cynicism; Factor 2 = Reward for Application; Factor 4 = Fate Control; and Factor 5 = Spirituality Religiosity) congruent with the model of Leung et al. (2002). The third factor, namely Social Complexity did not replicate. Values of Tucker's phi higher than 0.90 were found for seven culture groups (Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Tsonga, Venda and Pedi). This provided a strong indication of the structural equivalence. Analyses of variance showed that item bias was not a major disturbance. Cronbach's alpha reported lower levels of reliability. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.