M. Ed. (Psychology of Education) / This study investigated stress prevalence among high school adolescents in Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho. The aim was to suggest guidelines on how to deal with adolescents’ stress. A total of 300 respondents were purposively chosen from 5 high schools in Maseru. The subjects completed a self adopted instrument based on reviewed literature and Adolescence Stress Questionnaire (ASQ). The results showed that most adolescents in the sample experienced stress. There was no significant difference in the experience of stress between female and male adolescents. The adolescents in the higher grade reported more stress than those in the lower grade. Home problems were perceived as the most stressful factors while academic and other factors were seen as lesser concerns. Availability of money was considered as the least important source of stress. Most adolescents preferred to be alone when they were under stress and a few used drugs. Implications of the findings for adolescents, parents, teachers and educational psychologists are discussed. / Teacher Education

Many of the academic and popular treatments of hip-hop overlook the complexity of the phenomenon. Hip-hop is often portrayed solely as a source of corruption and regressive tendencies or, alternatively, as a sort of savior for otherwise marginalized individuals and source of revolutionary power. This thesis situates hip-hop between these poles and draws out its progressive and regressive aspects for analysis. Considering its vast global influence and a growing body of academic literature, hip-hop has been notably understudied in the field of psychology. Alternatively, educational theorists and practitioners have realized the power of hip-hop in revisualizing an emancipatory education that fosters critical consciousness. This project goes beyond other hip-hop education projects in that it attends more directly to the psychological phenomenon of identity. As youth develop a strong connection to social and political identity and increase their level of critical consciousness (an additional goal of this and most other hip-hop based curriculums) they are more likely to participate and have the tools to be successful at actions aimed at progressive social change. This thesis grew out of a larger project titled Moving to the Beat, a community-based multi-media endeavor that includes both the Moving to the Beat documentary film and curriculum guide. The Moving to the Beat curriculum guide strives toward the goals of emancipatory education. The film and the curriculum guide stay near the experience of hip-hop identified youth while attempting to avoid generalizations and stereotypes. Further, the developments of the film, curriculum guide, and this thesis have been guided by academic literature from a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, cultural studies, and education. The thesis focuses on two primary questions: (1) How do youth engage the Moving to the Beat curriculum guide and documentary film? (2) Do the Moving to the Beat materials facilitate the development of critical consciousness and/or social identity in youth? Two primary waves of data collection were conducted to answer these questions. At each location, Moving to the Beat was shown and an outside facilitator guided youth through the curriculum discussions and activities that centered on identity. During these workshops, multiple sources of qualitative data were collected, including participant observations, interviews, student produced lyrics, and feedback forms. These sources of data pointed to six primary themes across locations and sources of data: traditional gender roles, "everyone is all equal", "you doing you", the new hip-hop generation, development and maturity, and youth resistance. This thesis represents the first assessment of the Moving to the Beat documentary and curriculum, the results of which will be used to alter the curriculum guide and prepare it for publication.

A large body of evidence suggests physical activity is inversely associated with several cardio-metabolic risk factors among children and adolescents. Despite these health benefits, a majority of youth are not meeting the physical activity guidelines set forth by the USDHHS. Schools have been identified as an ideal vehicle for interventions; however, research evidence indicates school-based interventions are not effective at increasing outside of school physical activity. Goal setting may be a potential effective strategy for increasing physical activity among youth; however no previous studies have examined the effects of goal setting on cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity in middle school students. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of a S.M.A.R.T. goal setting and self-monitoring intervention on fitness and physical activity in middle school students. Two middle schools in Tallahassee, FL participated in this study. One school served as the intervention and the other served as a delayed intervention measurement only control. The students in the intervention school completed a one-time S.M.A.R.T. goal setting lesson. During the lesson, students were taught the definition of a goal, the importance of goal setting, and how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals. As part of the lesson, students completed a S.M.A.R.T. goal setting worksheet. The objectives of the worksheet activity were to teach students the concepts of S.M.A.R.T. goal setting and to apply this knowledge by creating personal fitness goals. Student fitness goals were entered into an interactive website that acted as a self-monitoring tool. Before and after the intervention, participating students completed a survey assessing student demographics, physical activity, and physical activity self-efficacy. Cardiorespiratory fitness levels, assessed by the PACER test, were also measured pre and post. Betweengroup differences in post-test scores, adjusted for baseline levels, were assessed for statistical significance using ANCOVA. Additional covariates included gender, race/ethnicity, grade level and weight status. After adjustment for baseline levels, students in the intervention school exhibited significantly higher PACER laps in comparison to the control school ((F[subscript (1,257)] = 58.0) p<0.0001)). The PACER scores in intervention school increased from 40.6 laps to 45.9 laps while the PACER scores in the comparison school decreased. There were no significant between-group differences for physical activity or self-efficacy Although these results require replication in larger studies using a group randomized study design and objective measures of physical activity, the results suggest that teaching students about S.M.A.R.T. goal setting may be a potentially effective strategy for increasing fitness in middle school students and worthy of further investigation / Graduation date: 2013

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Communication

Not available / text

Due to the rapid onset of westernization, there is a remarkable change in the life styles and the family structure of the black South African population in favour of smaller and economically manageable families. There is also an increase in political as well as family violence in black communities. children, adolescents and young adults are subject to these rapid changes. Family structures and life styles are also affected by these changes. The present study seeks to investigate the relationship between family structures and styles of coping with stressful life events. Hypotheses concerning this relationship are that adolescents from nuclear and extended family structures differ in handling stressful life events. Questions relating to family relations, stressful life events and ways of coping.were administered to 100 standard. 9 and ' 1 0 students, of which 80 were females and 20 were males. The level of stress was assessed by Moos' "Family Environment Scale" and coping efforts were assessed by Folkman and Lazarus' s "Ways of Coping Checklist". All these instruments were translated into zulu to avoid second language problems. A statistical analysis of the results was undertaken. The results did not show significant differences between coping styles of adolescent members of the two family structures. There were, however, some overlaps between the nuclear and the extended family structures concerning the way stressful life events were perceived. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

This study investigated whether the current provision of sex education made available through the Life Orientation Curriculum in South African Secondary Schools is directly applicable and relevant to the sexual developmental and identity formation needs of learners at a senior secondary school level. This study resulted from the desire to point out that students at this stage in their lives require more than the precautionary biological information that is often readily available to them through the curriculum as well as other parental and health care sources. A survey was carried out at two single gender schools on the Bluff in Durban and an attempt was made to gather data on the gender differences that arose between the two samples in terms of the sources of sex education from which they are drawing. The sample size was 179 learners with 89 female learners and 90 male learners. The preferred source of sex education by both girls and boys were parents accounting for 34,5% of the girls and 18,6% of the boys. The second highest rated source for boys was their teachers with a frequency of 17,5%. However, girls indicated a greater preference for professional sex educators than teachers with 7,3% and 5,1% respectively. This was different from the sources that the students were actually receiving their sex education from, with boys and girls regarding teachers as their best source with a frequency of 16,5% for boys and 13,6% for girls. The next best rated source for boys with a frequency of 14,2% were male and female friends with a very similar distribution of the boys indicating a preference for male or female friends with a frequency of 7,4% and 6,8% respectively. Girls had a higher satisfaction level than boys with current knowledge of sex however had lower satisfaction level than boys on finding out about things to do with sex. The mean score for girls (M=5,35) is significantly lower than for boys (M=5,44), t=0.386, df172, p<.005 on the topic of satisfaction about finding out about things to do with sex. The mean score for boys for the topic of satisfaction with current knowledge of sex (M=5.60) is significantly lower than the mean score for girls (M=5,77), t=0,925, df171, p<.005. Both boys and girls indicated that parents were not an adequate source of sex education and fathers were less likely than mothers to be involved in communication on the topic of sex with them. Boys were more likely than girls to engage in sexual behavior and activities and be sexually active as indicated by the regression where gender contributed 22,4% to the model (The Sexual Activities Scale) at 0.003 level of significance. It seems that girls are more comfortable to share information iv amongst themselves than boys are. Boys seem more willing to communicate and learn from both genders in their peer groups. The Life Orientation Curriculum has been efficient in informing students on precautionary biological information however boys and girls are interested in learning about sex and sexuality and are not receiving this information from their scholarly source but rather from a number of different sources. There is also evidence that gender differences exist when it comes to learning about sex and thus may suggest that the Life Orientation Curriculum’s sex education component should be segmentable on the basis of gender i.e. the messages about sex should be sculpted in a different manner for boys as compared to girls. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Child sexual abuse and its potential negative psychological effects exists the world over. In view of the unique history of South Africa, characterised by inequality and incumbent socio-economic ills, a history of CSA is likely to add to a tapestry of cultural, political, social and economic afflictions for a great number of affected adolescents. Additionally, HIV/AIDS estimates indicate that a growing number of children are infected and orphaned daily. The present research therefore investigated the prevalence of child sexual abuse and explored the relationship between a history of sexual abuse and psychological adjustment, in South African adolescents. The sample included 330 Grade 9 learners from two high schools in the rural, urban and peri-urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data related to experiences of abuse. To assess adjustment, the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Scale Inventory was also incorporated into the questionnaire. The current study showed a 57.6% prevalence rate of sexual abuse amongst the sample. There were no statistically significant differences between sexually abused adolescents and those without a history of abuse on the psychological adjustment scale. However, there was a significant association between gender, age at time of abuse, being abused by a step-parent, late disclosure, and interface with the police, in relation to psychological adjustment problems. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

South Africa is one of the countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, and the impact on children living in affected households and communit ies is significant. The loss of a parent or caregiver due to an AIDS. related illness has le ft many children orphaned. Understandings of bereavement. particularly amongst African adolescents. and adults’ responses to orphans’ psychological and emotional d ifficulties, remains under.developed. This paper explored adolescents’ experiences of par ental AIDS.related illness and bereavement. Ten adolescents participated in this s tudy. Qualitative methods such as observation, individual interviews and a focus grou p were the means of data collection. Key findings of the study were that: adolescents we re profoundly affected by the death of their parents with some showing signs of great anxi ety in relation to their future; were in need of emotional and material support; and were af fected by the intense stigma associated with HIV/AIDS which resulted in secrecy and shame. This study suggests that if we listen to the voices of children, we will learn about thei r emotional, psychological, developmental, and behavioural needs, which in turn will inform interventions working with vulnerable and orphaned children. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

Although more women are successfully breaching the social, economic and political barriers that can prevent them from participating as electoral candidates, few women campaign for elected office. A dearth of female candidates may be understandable, given research demonstrating that women tend to avoid competition and competitive environments. Thus, elections – competitive by design – may attract fewer women than men. This thesis posits that the inherent competitiveness of electoral politics may deter women from campaigning for office. However, this work also forwards that competitive sport socialization during adolescence may prepare women for electoral competition. This paper examines the results of a self-administered survey mailed to 449 female candidates for municipal office. The survey investigated candidates’ adolescent experiences in competitive sports and attitudes relating to internal political efficacy. The results appear to demonstrate a strong correlation between competitive sport socialization and either positive or neutral evaluations of political competition. / x, 163 leaves ; 29 cm