On t.p.: Degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) / Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: HIV-infection and AIDS are major problems not only in South Africa, but worldwide. It has become evident that not only is HIV-infection and AIDS rife amongst the youth of South Africa, but the rate of infection is likely to increase within the next few years. Second to the HIV-infection pandemic in South Africa, is the high prevalence of teenage pregnancies. These have been shown to increase rapidly with more teenage girls becoming pregnant than a few years back. Teenagers tend not to use contraceptives and do not make use of their parents as sexual informants. It is believed that parents do not play an active role in the imparting of knowledge and sexual information. The youth and especially teenage girls' sense of personal agency are limited, when they are confronted with dangerous sexual situations. Furthermore, it has been argued that a person's socio-economic status plays an important role in HIV-infection, contraceptive use and pregnancy - with teenagers from lower socio-economic groups more likely to be the higher risk group. This study proposed to address the need for research on female reproductive health in all the diverse South African communities, by focusing specifically on working-class mothers' constructions of daughters' sexuality in a "coloured"! semirural area of South Africa. In the current study, data were obtained from ten women aged 32 to 55 years about their views of their daughters' sexuality and their experiences with their own sexuality. All of the participants were mothers of teenage daughters. The women all came from a semi-rural "coloured" community and mostly varied only in terms of age and educational level. All of these participants were from a working-class background. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the women and using a feminist social constructionist grounded theory these women's accounts were explored and analysed. The analysis revealed that women still uphold the belief that sexuality is an entity that should be feared. The focus of mothers' discussions with their daughters centered on the dangers of sexuality. Furthermore the analysis indicated that mothers aspired to reduce the sexual dangers that their daughters face. They endeavored to protect their daughters by continuously subjecting them to various messages - such as "sex is bad", "sex and sexuality can ruin one's future" and "virginity is the key to successful womanhood". Mothers also strived to protect their daughters through constant scrutiny. However, mothers, in their efforts to preserve their daughters innocence, were unwittingly seen to endanger the girls. They were endangering their daughters by keeping them ignorant and through shaming sexual experimentation and sexual curiosity. A restricted focus on the danger and perils of sexuality is found to be extremely hazardous. It overshadowed all the other sexual experiences that women might have. The emphasis on danger portrays women solely as victims and as sexually vulnerable. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Statistieke toon dat alle seksueel-oordraagbare infeksies, MIV-infeksie, VIGS en reproduktiewe gesondheidsprobleme op globale vlak toeneem, asook in Suid-Afrika. Baie duidelik is die invloed van MIV-infeksies asook VIGS onder die jeudiges van Suid-Afrika. Daar word gespekuleer dat die aantal infeksies aansienlik oor die volgende paar jaar sal toeneem. Naas die MIV-infeksie pandemonium is die hoë tienerswangerskappe 'n verdere probleem onder Suid-Afrikaanse tieners. Swangerskappe neem al hoe meer toe met meer tienerdogters wat swanger raak as 'n paar jaar gelede. Verder maak tieners nie gebruik van voorbehoedmiddels nie en gebruik ook nie hulouers as seksuele inligtingbronne nie. Daar is ook bevind dat ouers nie 'n aktiewe rol speel om seksuele informasie met hulle kinders te deel nie. Tieners, en veral tienerdogters, se siening oor hul persoonlike agentskap is beperk en veral wanneer hulle gekonfronteer word met gevaarlike seksuele situasies. Verder is daar bevind dat 'n persoon se sosio-ekonomiese status 'n belangrike rol speel by MIVinfeksie, die gebruik van voorbehoedmiddels en swangerskap. Tieners van 'n laer sosio-ekonomiese agtergrond is geïdentifiseer as die hoër risiko groep. Die huidige studie het beoog om die leemte van navorsing oor reproduktiewe gesondheid van vroue in alle diverse gemeenskappe in Suid- Afrika aan te spreek deur te fokus op "kleurling" werkersklas ma's in 'n semi-landelike area van Suid-Afrika. Tien vroue het aan die huidige studie deelgeneem. Hulle ouderdomme het gewissel vanaf 32 tot 55 jaar. Inligting aangaande hulle sienings oor hul dogters se seksualiteit sowel as hul eie was verkry. Al die vroue was ma's van tienerdogters en afkomstig uit 'n semi-landelike "kleurling" gemeenskap. Die deelnemers was almal vanuit 'n werkersklas agtergrond afkomstig. Semi-gestruktureerde in-diepte onderhoude is met die vroue gevoer. Die "feminist social constructionist grounded theory" metode is gebruik om die onderhoude te analiseer. Uit die analise blyk dit dat vroue glo dat seksualiteit 'n entiteit is wat gevrees moet word. Die fokus van ma's se besprekings met hulle dogters sentreer op die gevare van seksualiteit. Die analise toon verder dat ma's aspireer om die seksuele gevare te verminder wat hulle dogters in die gesig staar. Ma's wil hulle dogters beskerm deur hulle gedurig dop te hou asook deur boodskappe wat die ma's aan hulle dogters weergee. Boodskappe soos "seks is nie goed nie", "seks en seksualiteit kan jou toekoms verongeluk" en "maagdelikheid is die sleutel tot suksesvolle vrouwees" is van die boodskappe wat ma's aan hulle dogters weergee. Alhoewel ma's probeer om hul dogters se onskuld te beskerm, is hulle terselfdertyd onbewustelik besig om hulle dogters aan gevaar bloot te stel. Deur hulle dogters onkundig te hou en deur seksuele eksperimentasie asook seksuele nuuskierigheid as skandalig en onbetaamlik voor te hou, stel ma's hulle dogters bloot aan gevaar. Daar is 'n risiko verbonde aan die beperkte fokus op die gevaar van seksualiteit. Dit oorskadu alle ander seksuele ervarings wat vroue mag hê. Die klem op seks as 'n bedreiging stel vroue slegs voor as slagoffers en as seksueel weerloos.

The Hurricane Notebooks is a manuscript-length memoir of the narrator's quest to piece together the enigmatic character of her late father. She does this through her discovery of his private notebooks as well as her unearthing of four generations of family turmoil. / by Mary Ann Hogan. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The purpose of this study was to test Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theoretical framework of stress and coping as it applied to daughters who have parents living in care facilities. Specifically, the effects of personal and environmental influences, cognitive appraisals, and coping on positive affect and depression were examined in two subsamples of daughters: daughters with parents with dementia (n=100) and daughters with parents with other health difficulties (n=89). The data were collected from a volunteer sample of 189 daughters (M age 51.3) in the Greater Vancouver region. Daughters completed three parts of a questionnaire over a six-week period. Specific variables of interest included prior communal behaviors, support satisfaction, care satisfaction, appraisals (perceived control and perceived stress), coping strategies (relationship-focused, problem-focused, emotionfocused), positive affect, and depression. Negative affectivity (NA) was examined as a confounding variable. Path analysis using LISREL VIII (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) was undertaken to examine the hypothesized relationships between antecedent, mediating, and outcome variables that are central to Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theoretical framework. Initial results revealed a poor fitting model for both the dementia and other health groups. However, a revised model, taking into account theoretical and empirical support for a direct relationship between support satisfaction and emotion-focused coping, provided an acceptable fit for both groups. The overall pattern of relationships for the variables in the model offer some support for the hypothesized model and for Lazarus and Folkman's theoretical assumptions. For both groups, greater control over the stressful aspect of facility care was related to more problem-focused coping, which in turn was related to more positive affect. For the other health group, greater appraised stress was related to more emotion-focused coping, which was in turn was related to greater depression. Among daughters with parents with dementia, low levels of care satisfaction and high communal behaviors were associated with greater perceived control. The hypothesized mediational role of appraisals and coping was not supported. The results point to the importance of understanding caregiving in the context of chronic stress and the unique contribution of personality, health type, and positive aspects of caregiving to a daughter's stress process.

The purpose of this study was to test Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theoretical framework of stress and coping as it applied to daughters who have parents living in care facilities. Specifically, the effects of personal and environmental influences, cognitive appraisals, and coping on positive affect and depression were examined in two subsamples of daughters: daughters with parents with dementia (n=100) and daughters with parents with other health difficulties (n=89). The data were collected from a volunteer sample of 189 daughters (M age 51.3) in the Greater Vancouver region. Daughters completed three parts of a questionnaire over a six-week period. Specific variables of interest included prior communal behaviors, support satisfaction, care satisfaction, appraisals (perceived control and perceived stress), coping strategies (relationship-focused, problem-focused, emotionfocused), positive affect, and depression. Negative affectivity (NA) was examined as a confounding variable. Path analysis using LISREL VIII (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) was undertaken to examine the hypothesized relationships between antecedent, mediating, and outcome variables that are central to Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) theoretical framework. Initial results revealed a poor fitting model for both the dementia and other health groups. However, a revised model, taking into account theoretical and empirical support for a direct relationship between support satisfaction and emotion-focused coping, provided an acceptable fit for both groups. The overall pattern of relationships for the variables in the model offer some support for the hypothesized model and for Lazarus and Folkman's theoretical assumptions. For both groups, greater control over the stressful aspect of facility care was related to more problem-focused coping, which in turn was related to more positive affect. For the other health group, greater appraised stress was related to more emotion-focused coping, which was in turn was related to greater depression. Among daughters with parents with dementia, low levels of care satisfaction and high communal behaviors were associated with greater perceived control. The hypothesized mediational role of appraisals and coping was not supported. The results point to the importance of understanding caregiving in the context of chronic stress and the unique contribution of personality, health type, and positive aspects of caregiving to a daughter's stress process. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This is a creative work in the genre of non-fiction writing, in the sub-genre of memoir. When Again Comes Back to You is a memoir that traces the effects of abuse as it works upon the life of a young girl who grows in the shadow of an abusive family. As the girl grows, and becomes a mother herself, the story explores how the effects of abuse can extend into the next generation.