In this thesis, the link between substance abuse and family dysfunction is examined, and an argument is made for the assessment of family dysfunction when treating clients with substance abuse issues. Family dysfunction has been associated with a broad range of problems in children (e.g., low self esteem, increased risk of child abuse) through to adolescence and adulthood (e.g., increased risk of mental disorders such as depressive disorders, substance abuse disorders, and personality disorders) (Kaplan & Sadock, 1998). It is not the purpose of this thesis to suggest that family dysfunction causes substance abuse but rather to highlight that family dysfunction can in some cases place the individual at greater risk of substance abuse. Therefore, in order to understand the reasons why substance abuse developed and how it is maintained in the present requires the assessment of family dysfunction. Further, the importance of assessing the role and impact that family dysfunction may have had on the client, may help to better understand the nature and extent of substance abuse so that relevant and appropriate treatment goals for change may be set, progress monitored, and risk of relapse reduced. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to this thesis, and Chapter 2 is a review of the literature on the impact of family dysfunction including poor parental attachment and supervision, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, in adolescence and adulthood. Four case studies are presented to illustrate how family dysfunction and substance abuse may be related, thus highlighting the importance of assessing family dysfunction when treating substance abuse clients. All of the case studies include an individual with a substance abuse disorder (namely heroin) but they are diverse in terms of the types and extent of family dysfunction. The final chapter discusses the case studies in relation to the literature reviewed. Lastly, it gives consideration to the implication of a history of family dysfunction, and how it may impact negatively on treatment and therefore prognosis.

Prosocial behaviour is an important building block of children's future social relationships and overall life achievement. The purpose of this study is to increase our knowledge of how various social pathways influence the developmental trajectories of prosocial behaviour in children between the age of 4 and 11. Conceptually, this study rests on the family stress model and its mediating effects, augmented by parental perceptions of neighbourhood social relationships moderating those family pathways. Research is conducted using data from Statistics Canada's National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth (NLSCY), and latent growth models (LGM) in four parenting domains: positive interaction, effectiveness, consistency, and rationality. The study supports the hypothesis that family pathways, such as parental depression, family dysfunction, and parenting practices, mediate the relationship between family SES and children's prosocial development. Study findings also demonstrate the important direct effect sizes of all parenting practices on children's prosocial growth. Results suggest that the magnitude of the direct effects of parenting practices on prosocial behaviour, which are non-negligible and positive, are to a great extent negatively affected by the variables defined in the family stress model. Moreover, this research provides new insights about the types of moderation, and the focus of these moderating effects on the family stress model. Thus, findings support the hypothesis that parents' perceptions of neighbourhood cohesion and social support mitigate one or more family pathways more proximal to the child. Overall, this research study contributes in a distinctive manner to the current literature on children's prosocial behaviour development.

South Africa is perceived as a violent society, with an average murder rate significantly higher than in the rest of the world. The family is a core system within the broader community and is traditionally seen as a safe environment. The reality, however, is that a high percentage of all murders is committed by someone known to the family or a member of a family or household. The aim of the research was to understand the child who commits family murder. The researcher wanted to determine the contributing individual and systemic factors that led to murder and whether a sample specific profile of such a child could be compiled. A qualitative research design was followed and qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. A phenomenological approach was used to investigate the phenomenon without possible personal or theoretical prejudice. Documents on nine cases were studied and interviews were conducted with experts in the field. The main findings of the study relate to weak or no attachment to the primary caregiver. The weak attachment as well as the accumulated individual and environmental stressors led to feelings and perceptions of rejection. A safe and supportive family environment was often absent, and in several cases the children presented with a desire to escape their circumstances, for instance through alcohol and drug abuse. The child’s emotional needs were not acknowledged and these children were not supported adequately when they experienced loss. Family dysfunction, which included abuse and extreme parenting styles, were apparent. The accumulated stressors often led to feelings of anxiety and aggression. Interpersonal relationship problems were noted. In two of the cases the characteristics of conduct disorder was identified. The individual and systemic stressors that accumulated over several years ultimately resulted in family murder. When children commit family murder, there is often only one victim. However, in this study there was more than one victim in six of the cases. / Suid-Afrika word as ’n gewelddadige samelewing beskou, met ’n gemiddelde nasionale moordsyfer wat beduidend hoër is as in die res van die wêreld. Die familie is kernsisteem binne die breëre gemeenskap en word tradisioneel as veilige sisteem beskou. Die realiteit is egter dat ’n groot persentasie moorde in Suid-Afrika deur ’n kennis, familielid of lid van ’n huishouding gepleeg word. Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om die kind as oortreder van familiemoord beter te verstaan. Die navorser wou bepaal watter individuele en sistemiese faktore aanleiding gee tot familiemoord en of steekproef-spesifieke profiel vir sodanige kinders saamgestel kon word. ’n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp is gevolg en kwalitatiewe inhoudsontleding is vir data-analise gebruik. ’n Fenomenologiese benadering is gebruik om die verskynsel sonder moontlike vooropgestelde persoonlike of teoretiese idees te ondersoek. Die dokumente van nege gevalle is in-diepte bestudeer en onderhoude is met kundiges gevoer. Die hoofbevindinge was dat die kind wat familiemoord pleeg dikwels swak of geen band met die primêre sorggewer gehad het. Die swak band asook die akkumulatiewe individuele en omgewingstressors het gelei tot gevoelens en persepsies van verwerping. Geborge huislike omstandighede het dikwels ontbreek. In sekere gevalle het die kinders van ontvlugting gebruik gemaak, wat onder andere dwelm- en alkoholmisbruik ingesluit het. Die kind se emosionele behoeftes is in die meerderheid gevalle grotendeels misken en verlies is in verskeie gevalle nie toereikend hanteer nie. Gesinswanfunksionering, wat mishandeling en ekstreme ouerskapstyle ingesluit het, was opvallend. Akkumulatiewe stressors het dikwels gevoelens van angs en onderliggende aggressie tot gevolg gehad. Interpersoonlike verhoudingsprobleme was opmerklik. Kenmerke van gedragsafwyking was in twee gevalle opgemerk. Die akkumulatiewe individuele en sistemiese gebeure het oor jare plaasgevind en veroorsaak dat die kind uiteindelik familiemoord gepleeg het. In die geval waar ’n kind familiemoord pleeg is daar dikwels net een slagoffer, maar in ses van die gevalle wat in die studie ondersoek word, was daar meer as een slagoffer. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted

The diploma thesis deals with adolescents who grew up in a dysfunctional family environment. The content of the literary-review part of the diploma thesis will be devoted to dysfunctional family systems in which the basic needs of the child are not met. It will also address the key areas of development for understanding the child's experience within individual ages of development up to adolescence. Attention will also be paid to coping strategies and child support resources during development. The research survey will consider the qualitative design, which will take place through an interview with the help of adolescents. The target group will be adolescents who grew up in a dysfunctional family environment. The aim of this research will be to describe the experience of adolescents in dysfunctional family systems. Thanks to the research part, the elaboration of this diploma thesis can be a tool for understanding the feelings and experiences of children who grew up in this environment. It can thus be applied in working with adolescents, but also with the parents of these children. At the same time, it can be a source for the prevention of mental decompensation and the possible development of more serious mental problems. Keywords Family; Dysfunction; Development; Adolescents; Coping

The present study examined the efficacy of two parent training programs in reducing perceived parental stress in a sample of Spanish speaking migrant farmworkers of Hispanic origin. Sixty-eight Spanish-speaking mothers, referred for parenting classes because one of their children was experiencing behavioral or emotional difficulties, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: (1) 1-2-3 Magic, a behaviorally-based program; (2) Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP), an Adlerian-based program; (3) attention-placebo condition; and, (4) wait-list control group. All treatment conditions were presented in Spanish, and offered at convenient times and locations for participants. Parental stress was measured with the Spanish version of the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF), using the Total Stress Score, and the three subscale scores: Parental Distress Score, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction Score, and Difficult Child Score. Assessments were completed at pretest, posttest, and at a three-month follow-up. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance on the dependent measures revealed significant differences for groups across the three assessment periods. Subsequent analyses indicated that the behaviorally-based program produced significantly greater reductions on the Total Stress Score and Parental Distress Score at posttest and follow-up than the Adlerian program, the attention-placebo group, and the wait-list group. The behaviorally-based program was also more effective in reducing parent-child dysfunctional interaction than the attention-placebo group at posttest and follow-up, and the wait-list control group at follow-up, but not in comparison to the Adlerian program. These results lend support for behaviorally-based parent training in reducing perceived parental stress in this migrant farmworker population. To ensure treatment integrity, a parent trainer validity check was used in which expert parent educators rated randomly selected videotaped segments of each parent training session on five criteria. Statistical analysis of treatment validity revealed no significant differences in mean scores of expert raters across parenting groups, suggesting that the parent trainer behaved consistently on the criteria across all treatment conditions. The results are also discussed in relation to the literature on parent training. In addition, the limitations of the present study, as well as future directions for research are discussed.

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La dépendance à l’héroïne pose des problèmes graves, vu sa propagation parmi les jeunes et son lien avec l’autodestruction, la transgression et la délinquance. Depuis des années, les perspectives psychanalytiques et systémiques, malgré leurs différences conceptuelles, se rejoignent sur l’importance des facteurs familiaux chez les jeunes qui développent des conduites de dépendance à une substance, notamment l’héroïne. La dépendance à l’héroïne semble comporter une prévalence de familles dysfonctionnelles avec des mandats familiaux destructurants, des carences ou des excès dans les fonctions maternelles, des défaillances majeures des fonctions paternelles, ainsi que des conflits familiaux et parentaux, dont les causes dépassent le présent et trouvent leurs racines dans des transmissions transgénérationnelles. Les comportements de dépendance perçus sous l’angle du générationnel et du transgénérationnel n’ont pas été étudiés dans l’expérience libanaise. Il nous semble que les jeunes libanais dépendants à l’héroïne tentent de résoudre, à travers des prises de drogue, une dépendance qui les relie à un passé envahissant et reflète par leur dépendance des histoires familiales, non résolues, qui se répètent d'une génération à une autre. De ce fait, discerner les problématiques de la dépendance à l’héroïne au Liban, étudier le rôle central des relations précoces que vivent les héroïnomanes et mettre en évidence les caractéristiques transgénérationnelles du génogramme familial, peuvent fournir des pistes importantes dans le discernement des pathologies de l’addiction et permettent aussi de mieux viser les interventions thérapeutiques. / Addiction to Heroin poses serious problems, given its spread among the youth and its relationship to self-destruction, transgression and crime.For years, and despite their conceptual differences, psychoanalytic and systemic perspectives concur on the importance of family related factors in young people who develop addictive behaviors to substances, including Heroin.Addiction to Heroin appears to be prevalent in dysfunctional families where parenting roles are destructive, the maternal functions being deficient or excessive and the paternal functions showing major failures, as well as familial and parental conflicts that can be traced to causes that are beyond the present and rooted in transgenerational transmission.Addictive behaviors seen under the generational and transgenerational angles have not been studied in the Lebanese experience. It seems to us that the Lebanese youth addicted to Heroin are trying to resolve, through their drug intake, a dependency that is connected to a pervasive past and is reflective of an unresolved family history which repeats itself from one generation to another.Thereby discerning the problematics of Heroin addiction in Lebanon, examining the central role of early relationships experienced by heroin addicts, and highlighting the generational characteristics of the family genogram can provide important clues in understanding the addiction’s pathologies and also allow a better targeting of therapeutic interventions

Drug abuse is a very common problem these days; and this problem is especially rampant among the young people of South Africa. Early problems in family management, the antisocial behaviour of the child, and peer pressure and rejection ignite the early onset of substance abuse. Treatment programmes and therapeutic methods to treat chemical dependency are available and utilised, but the high relapse rate and lack of support from family members and dysfunctional families, as well as the fears and challenges expressed by in-patient youth about being reintegrated with their families and a lack of supporting literature in this regard remain a cause for concern and need to be considered by the social work profession in order to plan effective intervention strategies. In response to this situation a research project was undertaken with the purpose of exploring and describing the perceptions, expectations, fears and needs of chemically dependent youth in a rehabilitation centre about being integrated into their family systems in an attempt to forward recommendations to assist social workers in rendering effective therapeutic services to service users in rehabilitation centres who have a substance abuse problem. A qualitative approach was utilised following an explorative, descriptive and contextual research design. The study was conducted at an in-patient rehabilitation centre called the Dr Fabian and Florence Ribeiro Treatment Centre in Cullinan, Gauteng Province in South Africa. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. A sample of participants was selected by using purposive sampling from a population of service users in the Dr Fabian and Florence Ribeiro Centre who are chemically dependent. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (cited in Creswell, 2003). Guba‘s model (cited in Krefting, 1991) was employed for data verification. The research findings point to the fact that participants had both negative and positive perceptions about going back to their respective families. On the one hand, there were negative perceptions shared. These were founded on a feeling of worry about the fact that their families criticised them a lot or that their families would not accept that they had changed, would still treat them like addicts, and not trust them. Furthermore, they feared relapse, triggers in their environment and family members who were abusing a substance. On the other hand, some participants perceived the reintegration with their families, following treatment, in a positive light as they were looking forward to joining them again after being in v treatment for three months.They were excited about the fact that they had been granted an opportunity where they could show their families that they have changed and have the chance of starting a new life. Moreover, part of the research findings point to the fact that some of the participants‘ families had already organised employment, a place for them to stay and financial assistance. From the research findings it became clear that the participants harboured the following expectations towards the families with whom they were reuniting: They need the family‘s love and support; to trust them again: to mend severed relationships and spend quality time together; to provide practical and material help, and for the family to be educated on addiction and for the family to accompany them to aftercare. In terms of research findings directed at the site (i.e., the rehabilitation centre) where the research was conducted the participants indicated that they needed more activities, they would like their families to be part of their recovery process, and expressed the need for individual sessions apart from group sessions and aftercare services. In terms of recommendations it was apparent that community members, community organisations and the government sector need to develop and launch chemical substance abuse prevention and awareness programmes through various media, (i.e. articles in newspapers, magazines, talks and documentaries on radio and television, community gatherings and meetings in all communities). Moreover, it is recommended that parents should take responsibility for monitoring and countering substance abuse in their children. Families need to be empowered through talks, attending parenting skills training, workshops and group meetings. South Africa needs to develop a policy focusing on families. Furthermore, it is recommended that treatment centres need to provide individual sessions, family therapy, aftercare services and more extramural activities, if these are not included in their treatment regime. / Social Work / M.A. (Social Science)

The genre of comics has had a tumultuous career throughout the twentieth century: it has careened from wildly popular to being perceived as the source of society’s ills. Despite having been relegated to the lowest rung of the artistic ladder for the better part of the twentieth century, comics has been gaining in quality and respectability over the last couple of decades. My introductory chapter provides a broad, basic introduction to the genre of comics––its historical development, its different forms, and a survey of comics criticism over the last thirty years. In chapter two I clarify the nature of comics by comparing it to literature, film, and pictorial art, thereby highlighting its hybrid nature. It has elements in common with all of these, and yet it is a distinct genre. My primary focus is on Chris Ware, whom I introduce in chapter three, a brilliant creator who has garnered widespread recognition and respect. His magnum opus is Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, the story of four generations of Corrigan men, most of whom have been negligent in raising their children. Jimmy Corrigan, as a result, is an introverted, insecure thirty–something–year–old man. Among comics creators Ware is unusual in that his story does not address socio–political issues, like most of his peers, which I discuss in chapter four. Jimmy Corrigan is an isolated tale with a very specific focus. Ware’s narrative is somewhat like those of William Faulkner, whose stories have a narrow focus, revolving around the lives of the inhabitants of Yoknapatawpha county, rather than encompassing the vast landscape of national socio–political concerns. Also, in chapter five I explore the intriguing combination of realist and Gothic elements––normally at opposite ends of the generic continuum––that Ware merges in Jimmy Corrigan. This feature is especially interesting because it is another way that his work explores aspects of hybridity. Finally, in my conclusion I examine the current state of comics in American culture and its future prospects for development and success, as well as the potential for future comics criticism.

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