Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie navorsing handel oor ouderdom en geslag as veranderlikes in die salutogenese paradigma. Die salutogenese paradigma het sy ontstaan en ontwikkeling aan verskeie navorsingsperspektiewe te danke. Daar is reeds op internasionale gebied breedvoerig navorsing oor hierdie paradigma gedoen. In die Suid-Afrika is die navorsing van Strumpfer en Wissing goed bekend. In hierdie navorsing is daar deur middel van faktorontleding gepoog om die onderliggende dimensies van die konstrukte gevoel van koherensie en geharde persoonlikheid bloot te le. Daar is onderskeidelik twee duidelike faktore vir beide konstrukte bepaal. Die faktore op die Lewensorientasievraelys (OLQ) het noue ooreenstemming getoon met die komponente betekenisvolheid en hanteerbaarheid (OLQ1 ), en verstaanbaarheid (OLQ2) soos deur Antonovsky (1987) bespreek. Die faktore op die "Personal Views Survey" (PVS) het ooreenstemming getoon met die komponente verbintenis en beheer (PVS1) en uitdaging (PVS2), soos deur Kobasa (1979) daargestel. Hierdie navorsingsresultate toon verder dat ouderdom wel die mate van gevoel van koherensie wat 'n individu mag ervaar, kan be"invloed. Alhoewel geslag in 'n mindere mate 'n invloed op die mate van gevoel van koherensie getoon het, behoort geslag (in perspektief van die totale steekproef beskou) nie 'n bepalende invloed uit te oefen nie. In terme van die mate van geharde persoonlikheid wat 'n individu mag ervaar, het ouderdom en geslag geen invloed getoon nie. Daar is ook geen interaksie-effek tussen ouderdom en geslag en die onderskeie konstrukte vasgestel nie. / This research project deals with age and gender as variables in the salutogenesis paradigm. The salutogenesis paradigm owes its origin and development to various research projects. Research in the international field has already been done on this paradigm on a wide sphere. The research of Strumpfer and Wissing is well known in South Africa. In this area of research an attempt is made through the analysis of factors to expose the underlying dimensions of the construct sense of coherence and the construct hardy personality. Two certain factors for both constructs have been indicated. The factors influencing the Orientation to Life Questionnaire indicated a close resemblance with the components of meaningfulness and manageability (OLQ1), and comprehensibility (OLQ2), discussed by Antonovsky (1987). The factors of the Personal Views Survey (PVS) demonstrated a similarity with the components commitment and control (PVS 1) and challenge (PVS2), as stated by Kobasa (1979). The results of this research demonstrates that age may well influence the measure of the sense of coherence which an individual may experience. Although gender indicated a minor measure of influence on the degree of sense of coherence, gender should not (in perspective of this research findings) have a deciding influence. Age and gender indicated no deciding influence in the measure of hardy personality experienced by an individual. Age and gender did not manifest any interaction in the various constructs. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Bedryfsielkunde)

Optimal aging is strongly related to personality factors along with health-behavior habits. Personality has played a key role in understanding the interactions between human behavior and the environment and as a vital predictor in determining health outcomes of individuals. Although previous studies have found links between personality traits and health, less is known about more process-oriented personality constructs, such as goals and self-regulatory strategies as linkages between traits and health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to explore the dynamic linkages of personality and health by examining how daily health-goal progress is associated with daily positive and negative affect as well as whether the association between health-goal progress and positive and negative affect can be predicted by personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness. Main research questions are: 1) Are daily positive and negative affect associated with daily health-goal progress? 2) To what extent are the traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness related to the overall levels of daily health-goal progress over a 100-day time period? 3) Do neuroticism and conscientiousness moderate the relationships between daily positive affect and daily health-goal progress as well as between negative affect and daily health-goal progress? This study was guided by developmental systems theory (Ford & Lerner, 1992) and the six-foci model of personality (Hooker & McAdams, 2003). This study utilized data from the "Personal Understanding of Life and Social Experiences" (PULSE) project that was a 100 day internet-based, daily study of Oregon residents over the age of 50. The sample for this study (N = 76) included participants who have participated at both baseline (initial survey) and the microlongitudinal phase (over 100 days). Personal health goals, neuroticism, and conscientiousness were measured at baseline. Daily health-goal progress, daily positive affect, and negative affect were measured over 100 days. Multilevel modeling analysis was used to examine within-person variations and between-person differences in daily health-goal progress and daily positive and negative affect by estimating an intercept (initial status) and slope (change) for each individual. The results of this study show that first, daily health-goal progress was positively coupled with daily positive affect and negatively coupled with daily negative affect within persons. Second, the associations between daily positive affect and daily health-goal progress and between daily negative affect and daily health-goal progress varied between individuals. Third, health-goal progress on the previous day was positively related to concurrent positive affect and negatively related to concurrent negative affect. Fourth, individuals high in neuroticism and individuals high in conscientiousness were only marginally likely to experience higher levels of health-goal progress over the 100-day period compared to those with low scores. Fifth, individuals high in neuroticism when experiencing high levels of negative affect tended to report lower levels of daily health-goal progress. These findings may provide enhanced knowledge of patterns of day-to-day variability within persons and lead to better health care. Moreover, the findings of the current study suggest that health-improving interventions could be targeted individually to participants based on knowledge of the linkages between daily goal progress and daily affect and personality traits. Ultimately, the personality of older adults may act as risk factors and/or protective factors in the processes of aging during the second half of life. / Graduation date: 2013

Social Work / MA(SS)(MENTAL HEALTH)

Social Work / MA(SS)(MENTAL HEALTH)