M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Initial romantic attraction is a universal social phenomenon and can broadly be defined as the awareness for the potential of a long-term romantic relationship or the positive regard an individual has for another. In essence, it is the initial feelings an individual has toward a potential mate. Due to the significance of romantic relationships it is a well-researched topic however, most existing studies on the topic are quantitative in nature focusing on testing specific theories or principles. Consequently a qualitative study focusing on the experience of initial romantic attraction would add great value in terms of facilitating a better understanding the phenomenon. Furthermore, no qualitative studies pertaining to initial romantic attraction have been done using South African participants. Initial romantic attraction starts with an awareness of a potential partner. Previous studies have indicated that there are many different factors that influence who an individual may be attracted to once awareness of a partner has been established. The current study hopes to identify the factors leading to initial romantic attraction for white heterosexual South African men. Three white heterosexual South African men were sourced as participants. Openended interviews were conducted with each participant. The interviews were then transcribed verbatim and analysed according to specific descriptive phenomenological steps. The analyses yielded central themes pertaining to initial romantic attraction that could be organised into three broad categories namely, personal characteristics, interpersonal characteristics and external factors. Common personal characteristics leading to initial romantic attraction were physical attractiveness, hair, eyes, petiteness, slim physique, cleanliness and teeth. Common personality traits leading to initial romantic attraction were sense of humour, confidence/independence, mysteriousness, intelligence and good conversation skills and common interpersonal characteristics were reciprocal attraction, similarities, contrasting qualities and eye contact. The only common external factor that led to initial romantic attraction was novelty.It is hoped that the results of the current study will lead to a richer understanding of the factors that lead to initial romantic attraction for white heterosexual South African men.

M.A. / At about the same time as Gayspeak was developing across the Atlantic, 'coloured' and white South African gay men were also starting to use their own in-group form of communication. It became known as Gayle, a name which derives from the lexical item Gail, which means 'chat' in the language. This study will endeavour to classify the type of language variety of Gayle, as it clearly is not a separate language on its own. It will also examine why South African gay men have used, and continue to use Gayle in their everyday lives. Given what we said earlier about legitimising Gayle as an incontestable reality within serious linguistic study, and the dearth of serious research in this area, it is important that this topic take its rightful place in the field of sociolinguistics. As language is an integral part of culture, it is also important that a comprehensive lexicon of Gayle be compiled, in line with Joustra's Homo-erotisch Woordenboek, Courouve's Vocabu/aire de l'Homosexualite Masculine and Rodgers' Gay Talk: A (sometimes Outrageous) Dictionary of Gay Slang, as Gayle is an undeniable component in the history of South African culture. In the course of the empirical research component of this study, approximately 90% of respondents indicated an interest in, and need for, such a dictionary.

Socio-cultural constructions of the way in which individuals perceive their own bodies are a fundamental aspect of personal identity, and how people view and pursue their relations with others, and how they determine their position and role in society. Contemporary South African consumer culture, facilitated by globalisation, has promoted increasingly homogenous, unrealistic norms regarding what constitutes a “desirable” person. The aim of this study is to explore young men’s accounts of ideal masculine body-image and discuss the implications that these constructions have on their identities. It aims to provide an account of the discourses participants use when discussing their own and other male bodies, explore the ways in which consumerism and the media facilitate certain constructions of body-image amongst young South African men and forefront particular practices, and to highlight the social dynamics which facilitate emphasis on some discourses around the desirable ideal male body and the silencing of others. This study uses a qualitative research design and a social constructionist theoretical framework. Data was collected using semi-structured, individual interviews with 12 young men between the ages of 18 and 26 from Durban, South Africa and the data collected was analysed using discourse analysis. The results discussed six main discourses evident amongst the texts, namely, the natural body, functionality over form, the necessity of progression, the body for self and others, the body is secondary and the homosexual aversion. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal-Durban, 2013.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Arts of the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Clinical Psychology. Johannesburg, January 1993. / Research has revealed that many gay men continue to participate in high-risk sexual practice them at risk of expoasure to the AIDS viirus. The locus of control construct and the Health Belief Model were employed by this study in an attempt to identify those psychosocial factors which might influence gay men to adopt or neglect health protective behaviour.[Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]. / AC2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters Of Arts in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2017 / The overall aim of the study was to gain insight into what it means for an African man to seek marital therapy when confronted with marital problems. The study also sought to understand the circumstances that often influence African men to consult with marital therapists. The barriers experienced by men towards utilising marital therapy were also explored. The study adopted the qualitative research method, and data were collected using semi-structured interviews. Thirty (30) Black African men participated in the study from the province of KwaZulu-Natal, in the Durban area. The results were analysed thematically, and the findings demonstrated different factors that contributed towards how Black African men give meaning to seeking marital therapy. The results also indicated that marital therapy was considered as the last resort for some of the participants in this study. Perceived stigma, marital status of the therapist, access to marital therapy and the gender of the marital therapist were identified as barriers towards utilising these services. The findings were discussed in relation to pertinent literature, and recommendations for professional practice, training and for future research are offered in the last chapter.

M.A. / The aim of this study was to investigate possible differences in the six facets of the Neuroticism subscale of the NEO Personality Inventory Revised (measuring Emotional Stability / Instability) in relation to two eating disorder inventories, namely the EDI (Eating Disorder Inventory) and the EI (Eating Inventory) in males. The six facets of the Neuroticism scale are Anxiety, Angry Hostility, Depression, Impulsiveness, Self-Consciousness and Vulnerability. Based on the literature review, it was hypothesised that males with differential Neuroticism scores would show different scores on the eating disorder inventories. The sample consisted of 98 white, male, English speaking university students between the ages of 18 and 28, drawn from two tertiary education institutes in South Africa. The males were divided into high, medium and low groups for each facet of the Neuroticism scale according to the norm tables provided in the NEO PI-R manual. The NEO PI-R, the EDI and the EI were administered to all subjects. The results indicated that there are statistically significant differences between males with high, medium and low scores on the Anxiety, Depression, Self-Consciousness and Vulnerability facets of the Neuroticism subscales of the NEO PI-R in terms of the 11 subscales of the EDI taken together. There were also statistically significant differences between the males with high, medium and low scores on the Depression and Impulsiveness facets of the Neuroticism subscale of the NEO PI-R in terms of the 3 subscales of the EI taken together. It can be deduced that certain temperament traits may be related to eating disordered symptomatology and cognition. The above hypothesis was thus supported. These findings are also supported by findings from previous research which has found that emotional instability is evident in eating disordered individuals, even from childhood, and studies that have found that eating disordered individuals have tendencies towards neurotic personalities.

Research Report: Masters in psychology - Coursework and research report , 07 June 2017 / The study investigated the challenges that black middle class men experience in negotiating the masculine identities within the South African context. The adopted understanding was that of Connell in that there are many ways of being a man. The findings were that men are given a standard or expectations to live by but there are never guided on how to go about meeting them. This was portrayed by the interwoven themes and discourse that in some instances work against each other and render the black middle class men vulnerable in terms of identities. / MT2018

MA (Psychology) / Department of Psychology / See the attached abstract below

The main goal of this study was to develop assessment and intervention guidelines that will provide practitioners with a framework to develop and implement batterer intervention programmes. The development of batterer intervention programmes must be informed by risk-based assessment and the study has identified this as a priority. This priority was informed by the popular notions that batterer intervention by itself, is futile and that intervention efforts were misdirected and useless. The author was of the opinion that if specific risk markers were identified, the batterer intervention efforts could be a tool to influence the values, beliefs and dangerous behaviours of abusive men. This study attempted to formally identify those risk factors that should be considered with batterers so that appropriate guidelines for assessment and intervention could result.

The main goal of this study was to develop assessment and intervention guidelines that will provide practitioners with a framework to develop and implement batterer intervention programmes. The development of batterer intervention programmes must be informed by risk-based assessment and the study has identified this as a priority. This priority was informed by the popular notions that batterer intervention by itself, is futile and that intervention efforts were misdirected and useless. The author was of the opinion that if specific risk markers were identified, the batterer intervention efforts could be a tool to influence the values, beliefs and dangerous behaviours of abusive men. This study attempted to formally identify those risk factors that should be considered with batterers so that appropriate guidelines for assessment and intervention could result.