This study aimed to gain insight into the nature and extent of traditional and cyberbullying among Grade Six and Seven learners in four public primary schools in Benoni. Using the Social Learning Theory as a basis for understanding bullying as a learned behaviour (socially learned through the observation of authoritarian parents), a quantitative research method was applied which utilised an online self-report questionnaire to examine the relationship between bullying and the Authoritarian parenting style. Results indicate that 50.4% of learners had been victimised, while 31.6% and 8.8% had engaged in perpetrating traditional and cyberbullying, respectively at least once (N = 279). Further results revealed that the Authoritarian parenting style is significantly related to the perpetration of both types of bullying. These results bring to the fore the reciprocal relationship between both types of bullying, and indicate a need for systemic intervention at the primary school level (involving parents/caregivers). Interventions should therefore not seek to separate types of bullying into discreet problems, but rather focus on their common underlying aspects, including parenting behaviours / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

M.A. (Research Consultation) / Adolescent and sexual reproductive health has been identified as among the most important health and development priorities by the South African development (Department of Health, 1995; African National Congress, 1994). The South African government, like many governments in the sub-Saharan region view with concern the region’s rapid population growth and high birth rates particularly among adolescents. This study investigated the perceptions of young mothers regarding teenage pregnancy. Eight participants who live in Vredendal, a predominantly Coloured area in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, were selected for interviewing using convenient sampling. Transcripts of unstructured interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings of the study suggest that young mothers initially perceive teenage pregnancy negatively. These perceptions progressively changes to a positive one. Furthermore, the results indicate a limited awareness of available preventative interventions. Results further show participants tend to experience their relationships with significant others as positive. / Psychology

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Leadership development is an essential and valuable tool for capacitating police leaders in the South African Police Service to deal with the diverse challenges that they face in the policing environment. There seem to be a need for leadership development processes that can stimulate change, and for perspective transformation to enable police leaders to find alternative ways of dealing with the challenges experienced in their working environment. This thesis explored transformative learning as a tool to enhance the leadership development processes of police leaders. The essential elements of transformative learning are: centrality of experience; critical thinking; rational discourse; and policy praxis. Theory development were chosen as best to carefully construct the foundational argument through non-empirical literary-based sources, in which the literature itself became the database towards theoretical formulation in this non-empirical study. The alignment and integration of the elements of transformative learning were explored as a strategy to capacitate police leaders to: reflect on past experiences; think critically about ways of dealing with policing challenges based on experiences; discuss these challenges with other police leaders; and act on reflections made during leadership development processes. The study is limited to the analysis of the status of leadership development in the South African Police Service, which was the context of this study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Leierskapsontwikkeling is ‘n essensiële en waardevolle hulpmiddel om leiers in die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiediens te bemagtig om die uiteenlopende uitdagings waarmee hulle te kampe het, beter te hanteer. Dit blyk egter dat daar ‘n behoefte is vir leierskapsontwikkelingprosesse wat intrinsieke verandering en ‘n paradigmaskuif vir polisieleiers te weeg kan bring en wat hulle in staat kan stel om die uitdagings binne hul beroepsveld meer doeltreffend te hanteer. Hierdie tesis ondersoek transformatiewe leerteorie as ‘n instrument om leierskapsontwikkeling van polisieleiers te bevorder. Die hoofelemente van transformatiewe leerteorie is: sentralisering van ondervinding; kritiese denke; rasionele diskoers en beleidsvorming. Teorie-ontwikkeling as navorsingsmetodologie was selekteer as die mees geskikste metodologie om die argument deur nie-empiriese literêre bronne te konstrueer, waarvolgens die gekose literatuur die databasis van die teoretiese formulasie rondom die argument gevorm het in hierdie nie-empiriese studie. Groepering en integrasie van bogenoemde elemente was ondersoek as ‘n strategie om polisieleiers te bemagtig om te reflekteer oor vorige ondervindinge; kritiese denkwyses oor hantering van uitdagings in beroepsveld met inagneming van vorige ondervindinge toe te pas; diskoers oor uitdagings met ander polisieleiers te hê en om aktief te reageer op refleksies tydens leierskapsontwikkelingsprosesse. Die studie is beperk tot die analise van die status van leierskap in die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiediens as konteks waarbinne hierdie studie onderneem is.

Paper one: The attitudes and reasoning of abusive behaviour in adolescents who have been exposed to domestic abuse Exposure to domestic abuse in childhood can go on to negatively affect every aspect of that individual’s life. During adolescence, the impact of exposure to domestic abuse may go beyond the borders of the family and the individual, and affect the development of intimate relationships. This study explores the attitudes and reasoning of eleven young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are displaying perpetrator behaviours. Results reveal a complex interaction between experiences and skill deficits at a crucial time of identity formation, resulting in the formation and maintenance of destructive attitudes and contradictory reasoning about abusive behaviour. The direct implications of this study, suggestions for further research, and for Educational Psychology Services are discussed. Paper two: An evaluation of an intervention for adolescents who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are displaying perpetrator behaviours Where domestic violence occurs, children and young people are likely to have been exposed to such abuse. Evidence suggests that this is likely to have a detrimental impact on them. There is an acute gap in provision for such individuals, despite evidence suggesting a link between exposure to domestic abuse in childhood, and involvement in abusive dating relationships in late adolescence and adulthood. There has been little research testing the effectiveness of intervention programmes which aim to reduce this risk. In this study a before and after design was used to evaluate a cognitive-behavioural intervention programme for young people who have been exposed to domestic abuse and are displaying abusive behaviours. This evaluation was based on the views of the young people on this programme. Results indicate that certain elements of the programme were more successful in achieving the programme aims. Considerations for the development of further programmes which target this client group are discussed.

This study aimed to gain insight into the nature and extent of traditional and cyberbullying among Grade Six and Seven learners in four public primary schools in Benoni. Using the Social Learning Theory as a basis for understanding bullying as a learned behaviour (socially learned through the observation of authoritarian parents), a quantitative research method was applied which utilised an online self-report questionnaire to examine the relationship between bullying and the Authoritarian parenting style. Results indicate that 50.4% of learners had been victimised, while 31.6% and 8.8% had engaged in perpetrating traditional and cyberbullying, respectively at least once (N = 279). Further results revealed that the Authoritarian parenting style is significantly related to the perpetration of both types of bullying. These results bring to the fore the reciprocal relationship between both types of bullying, and indicate a need for systemic intervention at the primary school level (involving parents/caregivers). Interventions should therefore not seek to separate types of bullying into discreet problems, but rather focus on their common underlying aspects, including parenting behaviours / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology)

Denna studies inledning ger en övergripande bild av att svenska ungdomar generellt skattar sin hälsa som hög, däremot skattas den psykosociala hälsan lägre vilken innefattas av att vara nöjd med sig själv. Att vara nöjd med sig själv och sin kropp omfattas av kroppsbildsuppfattningen. Sociala medier tar allt mer tid i anspråk och används i större utsträckning som ett kommunikationsmedel. Levnadsvanor, miljö och det tidiga livets villkor har en betydelse för individens hälsa. Denna studies syfte var att undersöka ungdomars kroppsbildsuppfattning och användande av sociala medier samt undersöka relationen mellan dem. Metod: En kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie utfördes. Enkäter användes som datainsamlingsmetod bland skånska elever i åk 1-3 på gymnasiet, där 249 elever besvarade enkäten. Resultatet visade att 33 procent av flickor hade högre kroppsuppfattning än pojkar (14%) och att 38 procent av pojkarna hade lägre kroppsuppfattning än flickorna (18%) (p=0,001). Flickor använder sociala medier i större utsträckning än pojkar. Sättet flickor och pojkar använde sociala medier på skiljde sig åt. Flickor hade fler olika roller på sociala medier än pojkar, samt pojkar spelade mer onlinspel än flickor. Konklusion: Eftersom pojkarna i denna studie hade lägre kroppsbildsuppfattning och spelade mer onlinespel än flickorna är det utifrån ett genus och jämställdhetsperspektiv lämpligt att studera pojkars kroppsbildsuppfattning i relation till onlinespelande. Därför bör ytterligare forskning med inriktning på pojkars kroppsbildsuppfattning bedrivas utifrån både en kvalitativ och kvantitativ metodaspekt, med ändamål att försöka förstå vilka faktorer som ligger till grund för deras kroppsbildsuppfattning. / The study's introduction is given as an overall picture of the fact that Swedish youth generally estimate their health as high but the psychosocial health is estimated to be lower, which includes being satisfied with themselves. Being content with yourself and your body is covered by the body image perception. Social media takes more time and it's used to a greater extent as a communication medium. Living habits, the environment and the conditions of early life have a bearing on the individual's health.The aim of this study was to investigate the body image of young people and the use of social media and to investigate the relationship between them. Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study was performed. The survey was used as a data collection method among Scanian students in grades 1-3 in high school, where 249 students answered questionnaires. The result showed that 33 percent of girls had a higher body image than boys (14 percent) and that 38 percent of boys had a lower body image than girls (18 percent) (p = 0.001). The way girls and boys used social media differs. Girls use social media to a greater extent than boys. The way girls and boys used social media differed. Girls had more different roles on social media than boys, and boys played more online games than girls. Conclusion: Since the boys in this study had lower body image perception and played more online games than girls, it is appropriate from a gender and gender perspective to study boys' body image perception in relation to online gaming. Therefore, further research with a focus on boys' body image should be conducted on the basis of both a qualitative and quantitative method aspect, with the aim of trying to understand which factors underlie their body image perception.

The fundamental advancement of information technology has given rise to distance education industry hence it has helped to the popularity of distance education among people. However, for employing innovative and advanced tools universities need financial resources. Reaching to these resources is not easy and accessible. Interaction equivalency theorem can be a good solution for overcoming the financial problems but designers are reluctant to utilize it because they think that education quality will decrease due to lack of teacher interaction. This study demonstrated that students’ perception toward interaction equivalency is positive as long as they have high level of interdependency with other students. Without this level of, students are not motivated in order to continue their courses. This study by providing techno-pedagogical design and IS design theory for support of IE helps e-learning practitioners who want to design an acceptable distance educational system with limited financial resources. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

Evidence derived from the 2012 and 2015 College Senior Surveys (CSS) noted showed that college seniors, at a historically Black university, graduated with little to average soft skills. Soft skills, such as personal characteristics and relations with others, are needed for students to succeed in postgraduate careers. The purpose of this study was to assess the level to which performing arts instruction (PAI) courses developed college-level students' soft skills. Kolb's experiential learning theory, which defines the learning process as knowledge and skills developed through experiences, and Stufflebeam's evaluation model, which uses context, input, process, and product, were used to guide this study. A case study design was used to discern students' perceptions of PAI to help develop their soft skills and meet employers' expectations. Maximum variation sampling was used to select 15 participants who met the criteria of being a senior performing arts student at the target site. All 15 participants were interviewed. In addition, the collected data were coded, organized into themes, and then I triangulated the participants' responses with the CSS summary report. Findings indicated that while PAI helped students meet employers' hiring expectations in areas of soft skills, it was also revealed that there is a need for soft skills development to be embedded in other programs of study at the target site. Both a 3-day student and a 1-day faculty professional development) session were developed to instruct both groups on the use of soft skills. Implications for positive social change are that a campus-wide model to improve students' soft skills across all academic disciplines may result in improved employment opportunities, thus contributing to the global economy.

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The impact of affect on learning and performance has caused many researchers in the field of cognitive psychology to acknowledge the value of motivationally supportive instruction. Goal orientation, which refers to the perceptions and behaviors of the learner in achievement situations, has been the most predominant theory in learning motivation. However, research suggests multiple components are responsible for affecting student cognitive engagement. The traditional framework distinguishes individuals who are self-motivated to master challenging tasks from those who are motivated to earn favorable judgments of performance as intrinsic and extrinsic learners, respectively. In addition, learners may be further categorized by an eagerness to ensure a positive outcome or by their vigilance in avoiding negative outcomes. As such, my research explores how these motivational categories can be utilized to construct a more robust instructional model. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of adaptive remediation strategies on motivation and learning performance. Research suggests the cost of integrating cognitive tasks with error analysis outweigh the benefits of sparse learning gains. However, further investigation is required to understand how feedback can improve these outcomes. The experiment presented here seeks to evaluate the adaptive instruction of two pedagogical agents embedded within two separate versions of the Virtual BNI Trainer. The basic coach uses a model of the learner's experience level to determine an appropriate level of elaboration required during remediation. In contrast, the motivationally enhanced coach uses a model of the learner's goal orientation to construct feedback that appeals to their natural disposition. A controlled experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of adaptive instruction on student self-efficacy, engagement, and learning performance in the Virtual BNI Training Environment. The results of this experiment are used to establish guidelines for integrating goal orientation, error analysis, and feedback within a virtual coach, to improve motivation and learning performance. In addition, these findings also indicate areas for future research.