Introduction: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) accounts for the vast majority of all paediatric TBI cases. It is an important public health concern, yet the long-term psychiatric and behavioural outcomes remain imperfectly understood. Aim. This study aims to examine the association between paediatric mTBI and psychiatric and offending outcomes in adulthood, while considering the impact of sex, age at injury and duration since injury on outcome. Participants: Participants with mTBI (n=57) were compared to those with moderate/severe TBI (n=62) and to orthopaedic injury controls (n=42). All participants were injured at age 17 or younger and were 18 years or older at the time of assessment. Outcome measures: Based on the DSM-IV-TR criteria, structured interviews were used to assess participants’ experience of symptoms consistent with major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders (including generalised anxiety disorder, panic attacks and panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and specific phobia), and substance abuse and/or dependence. Participants’ were asked to report on their lifetime involvement with offending, arrests, and diversions and/or convictions. Results: At age 18-31, participants with a paediatric mTBI were significantly more likely than orthopaedic injury controls to endorse symptoms consistent with major depressive disorder by 3.17 times, anxiety disorders by 5.81 times, and internalising disorders in general by 5.80 times and the risk in the mTBI group was greater than that for those with moderate/severe TBI. Females with mTBI were significantly more likely than males, by five times, to endorse an internalising disorder. Paediatric mTBI was not significantly associated with externalising problems when compared with controls; however, males with mTBI were 6.57 times more likely to endorse externalising behaviours than females. Conclusions: Paediatric mTBI is a risk factor for internalising disorders in adulthood, particularly for females. Such findings have implications for assessment and treatment of problems associated with paediatric mTBI.

The aim of this research were to investigate by means of both the literature review and empirical research, the nature of externalising and internalising of AIDS orphan learners, to investigate the ideas of Ubuntu, Bathe, Vumunhu communitarianism in the context of AIDS orphans suffering as a result of the death of their parents, to investigate the nature what kind of the death of their parents, physical and social problems, to determine which social systems are available in communities to render psychological, physical and social support to AIDS orphan learners, to determine the nature and extent of the educator's knowledge about psychological, physical and social difficulties that AIDS orphan learners experience; and to develop a program with Ubuntu, Bathe and Vumunhu communitarian ideas for supporting AIDS orphan learners in various communities. Findings from the empirical research revealed among others, that orphans in most cases are not aware of the parents' status before they pass away, orphans after they had heard their parents' status, tend to get affected psychologically, socially and emotionally. Orphans are usually not coping with the circumstances they find themselves in, orphans tend to have fear of disclosing causes of death of their relatives, orphans of HIV/AIDS are normally stigmatised and discriminated against by their relatives and members of the community. Orphans usually blame themselves or are blamed by their relatives and community members for being affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. Orphans normally do not have support from their communities, orphans in most cases do not cope financially and materially and they need financial and materialistic support. Most of the orphans do not receive grants from Social Development because they do not have the necessary documentation. Most of the orphans, teachers are usually aware of their situations at homes as well as their parents. Caregivers in most cases are aware of what causes the death of their relatives, caregivers usually know the status of their relatives before they pass away. Caregivers usually do not tell their family members that they are staying with HIV/AIDS orphans, caregivers are normally devoid of family support as well as community and caregivers tend to struggle to survive with financial support. Educators in most cases know the orphans in their classes. Educators usually are aware of the orphan's social problems and orphans usually have a lot of problems that educators do not get help for, because educators have a lot of work to do. Social workers usually have challenges when working with HIV/AIDS orphaned learners. The recommend future research is that it should consist of a larger sample, including participants form different provinces in South Africa. This will help to provide more exact information about the nature and extent of lived experiences of HIV/AIDS orphan learners. There is a need to investigate ways in which educators can be trained by the Department of Education to support learners in the inclusive classroom setting. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The aim of this research were to investigate by means of both the literature review and empirical research, the nature of externalising and internalising of AIDS orphan learners, to investigate the ideas of Ubuntu, Bathe, Vumunhu communitarianism in the context of AIDS orphans suffering as a result of the death of their parents, to investigate the nature what kind of the death of their parents, physical and social problems, to determine which social systems are available in communities to render psychological, physical and social support to AIDS orphan learners, to determine the nature and extent of the educator's knowledge about psychological, physical and social difficulties that AIDS orphan learners experience; and to develop a program with Ubuntu, Bathe and Vumunhu communitarian ideas for supporting AIDS orphan learners in various communities. Findings from the empirical research revealed among others, that orphans in most cases are not aware of the parents' status before they pass away, orphans after they had heard their parents' status, tend to get affected psychologically, socially and emotionally. Orphans are usually not coping with the circumstances they find themselves in, orphans tend to have fear of disclosing causes of death of their relatives, orphans of HIV/AIDS are normally stigmatised and discriminated against by their relatives and members of the community. Orphans usually blame themselves or are blamed by their relatives and community members for being affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. Orphans normally do not have support from their communities, orphans in most cases do not cope financially and materially and they need financial and materialistic support. Most of the orphans do not receive grants from Social Development because they do not have the necessary documentation. Most of the orphans, teachers are usually aware of their situations at homes as well as their parents. Caregivers in most cases are aware of what causes the death of their relatives, caregivers usually know the status of their relatives before they pass away. Caregivers usually do not tell their family members that they are staying with HIV/AIDS orphans, caregivers are normally devoid of family support as well as community and caregivers tend to struggle to survive with financial support. Educators in most cases know the orphans in their classes. Educators usually are aware of the orphan's social problems and orphans usually have a lot of problems that educators do not get help for, because educators have a lot of work to do. Social workers usually have challenges when working with HIV/AIDS orphaned learners. The recommend future research is that it should consist of a larger sample, including participants form different provinces in South Africa. This will help to provide more exact information about the nature and extent of lived experiences of HIV/AIDS orphan learners. There is a need to investigate ways in which educators can be trained by the Department of Education to support learners in the inclusive classroom setting. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

<b>Introduction:</b> Identifying aspects of parenting that are protective for child emotional and behavioural outcomes is important for informing parenting intervention. Attachment theory and social learning theory represent two major theories that propose different mechanisms for how parenting influences child functioning. The aim of this study was to compare dimensions of early positive parenting associated with these two theoretical frameworks as predictors of child conduct and emotional problems. <b>Method:</b> Data were from a US based longitudinal study (the Early Steps study, Dishion et al., 2008) following a sample of 731 toddlers from age 2 to 7.5, from low income families and at high risk of early onset of child problem behaviours. Associations between observed parenting (age 2-3 and age 5) and parent reported child externalising and internalising behaviour (age 3, 4, 5 and 7.5) were examined in structural equation models. <b>Results:</b> Parenting related to attachment theory ('warmth') had little short-term association with child outcomes, but over time this parenting dimension increasingly predicted lower levels of child problems. Parenting associated with social learning theory ('effective management') was related to lower child conduct and emotional problems short-term, but in the long-term it had no predictive effect on child functioning. <b>Discussion:</b> Differences between parenting dimensions in terms of their respective short-term and long-term effects might be explained by the underlying mechanisms linking parenting and child outcomes. Attachment theory emphasises internal and emotional processes, and these may be slow building but more enduring. Social learning theory proposes that behaviours are driven largely by external motivations and inspirations, and these might be relatively instantaneous but short-lived. <b>Conclusion:</b> Results of this study indicate that early childhood parenting associated with attachment theory is an important protective factor for children's longitudinal outcomes. For enhancing longer term, more enduring outcomes, it is likely that parent intervention and prevention programmes in early childhood should emphasise programme components drawing on attachment theory. However, it would be necessary to test this before making any firm recommendations.

Background/Aims: Understanding predictors, moderators and mediators of child externalising behaviour problems could lead to improvements in engagement and outcomes for children and their families. Parental cognitions, including self-efficacy and attributions, have been proposed as mediators in the relationship between parenting and child behaviour problems. Although mediation is increasingly recognised as an effective way of examining relationships between variables, only a small proportion of studies that identify potential mediators actually conduct a mediation analysis. This thesis consists of two studies: a systematic review (Journal Article 1) and an empirical study (Journal Article 2). The systematic review investigated the ways in which mediation analysis has been used to examine the role of parental cognitions in studies of child behavioural problems, and to assess the methodological quality of these studies. The empirical study investigated the role of parental cognitions and characteristics in relation to pre-school child externalising behaviour problems. Methods: In Journal Article 1, a systematic search of three electronic databases, a quality assessment of included studies, and a subsequent narrative synthesis were conducted. In Journal Article 2, 125 parents of children aged 3-6 years old attending a community-based parent management training programme, across three local authorities, completed a battery of self-report questionnaires before and after the intervention. Correlational and mediation analyses were conducted to investigate relationships between child behaviour and parental attachment style, metacognition, dysfunctional attributions and parental stress. We also tested the possibility that parents' reported levels of stress and child behaviour problems, and their demographic variables, played a role in whether they completed the intervention. Results: In Journal Article 1, after screening, 14 studies were reviewed using an adapted quality criteria tool. The most commonly studied parental cognition was parental self-efficacy, with a small number of studies investigating parental attributions. A variety of approaches to mediation analysis had been used and caution should be exercised when interpreting the results of many of the reviewed studies. Despite a growing recognition of the limitations of some traditional methods (e.g. causal steps approach), research into mediators of child externalising behaviour could be improved by a wider adoption of more appropriate tools, in line appropriate theoretical frameworks. In Journal Article 2, as hypothesised, the results indicated significant relationships between parents' attachment insecurity and baseline levels of parental stress, parental attributions and child behaviour problems. Support was found for the hypothesis that parental attributions mediated the relationship between attachment insecurity and child externalising behaviour problems. We did not find significant that any demographic variables other than parent age predicted whether parents completed the programme. Conclusions: Taken together, the two studies provide evidence of a complex relationship between parental factors, particularly parental cognitions, and externalising child behaviour problems. The systematic review found some evidence that parental cognitions mediate how aspects of parenting (e.g. behaviour and affect) and child externalising behaviour problems are associated, and the empirical study also showed that parental attributions are important in relation to child behaviour problems. Of particular interest was the finding that they mediate the relationship between child behaviour problems and attachment insecurity. However, to advance the field both theoretically and clinically, future studies should endeavour to ensure adequate sample size and power, using optimal study designs, in conjunction with strong theoretical grounding. Exploring cognitive mediators beyond self-efficacy, such as parental attributions, will allow us to further develop our understanding of the relationship between child behaviour and parenting.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the association between family structures and adolescents' externalising and internalising problems. This study also explored if adolescents' perceived parental support and teacher support might differ across different type of family structures. It further assessed whether the association between family structures, externalising and internalising problems among adolescents might be attributed to the individual level of parental and teacher support. The data was derived from the Stockholm School Survey carried out by the Stockholm City Administration in 2014. A total of 5,569 students age 15-17 from both public and private schools in the municipalities of Stockholm was included in this study. This study showed that lower perceived parental and teacher support was found among those living in stepparents and single parent families. Results from linear regression also indicated that adolescents from non-nuclear families were at higher risk of developing externalising and internalising problems. As this study found that those associations were attributed to individual level of parental and teacher support, the findings of this thesis bring together the evidence on the need for spesific programs given by the school for prevention and intervention of externalising and internalising problems among adolescents. Moreover, this study also highlights the importance of family policy as an instrument to attain a healthy work-life balance that may enable parents to increase their support towards their children.

The prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in secondary school adolescents is regarded as widely spread globally. Their effects/pitfalls are also a concern that cannot be ignored. Thus, this study dealt with this issue among adolescents, as well as with pitfalls and practices of secondary schools in Ethiopia, with particular focus on East Showa Administrative Zone of Oromiya National Regional state. Consequently, the study intended to:  examine what social competence problems (activity problems, social activities problems and academic performance problems) are experienced by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  determine the relationship between sex groups and social competence problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  examine the trends of emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems among secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  determine the relationship displayed between sex groups and emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia.  examine the relationship display between age groups and emotional/internalising and behavioural/externalising problems by secondary school adolescents of Ethiopia. To address the objectives of the study, a descriptive survey and correlational study were employed. To achieve this target, the Amharic and the Afan-Oromo versions of Achenbach’s (2001) youth self-report (YSR) were used to collect data from 714 research participants of secondary school adolescents out of 27,643 in the East Showa Administrative Zone of Oromiya Regional State-Ethiopia, from 8 secondary schools. In analysing the data, basic descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, percentiles and T-scores as well as ANOVA were employed. In general, the results of the study demonstrated that the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems of Ethiopian secondary school adolescents was relatively lower (about 9%) in comparison to many other countries. Moreover, girls showed more internalising problems (11.58%) than boys (9.63%) and vice versa in externalising problems. Consequently, girls accounted for 8.6% who fell into a clinical category whereas amongst boys, 14.83% were classified into such as category. In contrary to the other findings males were scored higher than females in withdrawal/depressed subscales (4.23% and 2.74% respectively). Furthermore, statistically significant relationships between academic competences with activities, social activities, somatic complaints, social problems and externalising problems were discovered. Fulfilling and rendering appropriate guidance and counselling services in the schools comprised the first dimension of the recommendations of this work. Furthermore, establishing school based mental health services to alleviate the problems is another key point of the recommendation to assist adolescents with emotional and behavioural problems in secondary schools of Ethiopia. / Psychology / Ph.D. (Psychology)

<p>In this thesis, pre-school teachers’ perceived control, is examined in relation to problem behaviours of children and the actions of teachers in the classroom. In addition, other factors that are thought to relate to teachers’ perceived control were studied.</p><p>The results of <i>Study I </i>indicate that pre-school teachers’ high perceived control was related to high intentions to act in the event of child behaviour problems. Teachers’ high satisfaction with their work was also related to high perceived control. <i>Study II </i>showed that low perceived control was associated with having a high proportion of children with a high level of externalising behaviours and of boys in the classroom. <i>Study III </i>shows that children who had a high level of externalising behaviours at the beginning and throughout the school year had teachers with low perceived control. Teachers’ perceived control was not related to their perception of internalising behaviours in the same way as to externalising behaviours and it was unrelated to a change in any direction of problem behaviours. Concerning changes in problem behaviours, no other factor was found, except a low child to adult ratio for a positive change of internalising behaviours. In <i>Study IV</i>, the aim was to examine naturally occurring child–teacher interactions. Teachers’ responding with commands to children was associated with teachers’ low perceived control, whereas restrictive teacher responses were not related to teachers’ perceived control.</p><p>The present study indicates that teachers’ perceptions of children are important for their perceived control. It provides evidence that teachers’ low perceived control is associated with their difficulties in handling externalising behaviours and the behaviour of the boys in the classroom. Responding to problem behaviours can be explained by teachers’ perceived control, and their perception of a child’s sex and externalising behaviours.</p>

In this thesis, pre-school teachers’ perceived control, is examined in relation to problem behaviours of children and the actions of teachers in the classroom. In addition, other factors that are thought to relate to teachers’ perceived control were studied. The results of Study I indicate that pre-school teachers’ high perceived control was related to high intentions to act in the event of child behaviour problems. Teachers’ high satisfaction with their work was also related to high perceived control. Study II showed that low perceived control was associated with having a high proportion of children with a high level of externalising behaviours and of boys in the classroom. Study III shows that children who had a high level of externalising behaviours at the beginning and throughout the school year had teachers with low perceived control. Teachers’ perceived control was not related to their perception of internalising behaviours in the same way as to externalising behaviours and it was unrelated to a change in any direction of problem behaviours. Concerning changes in problem behaviours, no other factor was found, except a low child to adult ratio for a positive change of internalising behaviours. In Study IV, the aim was to examine naturally occurring child–teacher interactions. Teachers’ responding with commands to children was associated with teachers’ low perceived control, whereas restrictive teacher responses were not related to teachers’ perceived control. The present study indicates that teachers’ perceptions of children are important for their perceived control. It provides evidence that teachers’ low perceived control is associated with their difficulties in handling externalising behaviours and the behaviour of the boys in the classroom. Responding to problem behaviours can be explained by teachers’ perceived control, and their perception of a child’s sex and externalising behaviours.

Background: Whereas the role of externalizing disorders is relatively well established in predicting the onset of cannabis use (CU) or cannabis use disorder (CUD), the status of anxiety and mood disorders in predicting CU and CUD remains controversial. Objective: (1) To examine cross-sectional and prospective associations of CU and CUD with a range of mental disorders and whether anxiety and mood disorders are associated with CU/CUD after adjusting for externalizing disorders. Methods: N = 1395 community subjects aged 14–17 at baseline were followed-up at three waves prospectively over 10 years. Substance use, substance disorders and mental disorders were assessed using the DSM-IV/M-CIDI. Results: (1) The baseline prevalence rates where 19.3% at t0 for CU and 2.6% for CUD. Cumulative incidence rates at t3 were 54.3% for CU and 13.7% for CUD. (2) In cross-sectional and prospective analyses other substance use disorders, mood and anxiety disorders were associated with CU and CUD. (3) Associations of panic-anxiety with CU and of depressive and bipolar disorders with CU and CUD were significant after controlling for externalizing disorders. Conclusion: A range of psychopathological conditions, including depressive, bipolar and less consistently anxiety disorders as well as the degree of their comorbidity are significantly associated with incident CU and progression to CUD, even when controlling for externalising disorders. A better understanding of this complex interplay may result in better aetiological models and intervention strategies.