Thesis (DPhil (Psychology))—University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Very little is known about the experiences of black children living in poverty in South Africa. This compromises the delivery of appropriate psychological services. This dissertation considers the contribution that psychoanalytic infant observation might make to a needs assessment process within the community psychology paradigm. To date, infant observation has predominantly been used for training psychotherapists and other professionals in Western contexts. The goal of the present project was to conduct a "classical" observation of a mother and child in a lowincome South African community in the first year of the infant's life, in order to ascertain what kind of description it would yield. The question was whether such a description is useful for the needs assessment process, and ultimately, whether infant observation is a viable tool for psychologists working in low-income communities in South Africa. The study was set in a poor, semi-rural, so-called coloured township in the Western Cape. The data were analysed using an intersubjective psychoanalytic lens and a social constructionist grounded theory approach. In overview, the findings relate to two main areas, namely a) the nature and content of the resultant description, and b) the effect of the process. The analysis of the case material showed that the observation produced an extremely detailed account of the experience of poverty and oppression, involving the way in which it influences all relationships, including the one between mother and child. The knowledge gained offers clear pointers to the kind of intervention that would benefit the particular infant in the present study, and potentially other infants in vulnerable social contexts as well. One surprising outcome was the extensive way in which the observation functioned therapeutically for the whole family. It is therefore concluded that infant observation can provide a very rich contribution to low-income communities on a number of levels, if it is able to make both the theoretical and practical adjustments needed. It is thus argued that it is necessary to look at infant observation in more critical ways, both in terms of how it has traditionally been conceptualised and how it is and can be applied across all contexts.

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between life stress, emotional adjustment and family relationships in early adolescents from low-income urban areas. A non-experimental, survey research design was adopted for this study. The sample consisted of 119 early adolescents, aged between 12 and 14 years, from 3 low-income neighbourhoods on the Cape Flats.

“A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA by Coursework and Research in the field of Industrial/Organisational Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 15 March 2016.” / Student well-being has become an increasing concern for universities both locally and internationally, with an increased interest in the prevention of academic burnout and the promotion of academic engagement due to their respective negative and positive influence on students. Accordingly, the Job Demands-Resource (JD-R) model was developed as a theoretical framework, incorporating environmental characteristics that predict symptoms of engagement and burnout in individuals. A major criticism of the JD-R model is its lack of consideration for the impact of personal resources on individual well-being. Emanating from this concern, the current study used the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to empirically investigate whether the personal resource of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) interacted within the health impairment and motivation processes of the JD-R model. More specifically, it examined whether PsyCap mediated the relationship between demands/resources and burnout/engagement within a South African university environment. Few studies have attempted to integrate personal resources into the JD-R model, and no known studies have applied this integration within a student-university context. This provides a unique and novel context for application, warranting further research. Research participants either accessed an online questionnaire via a web link made available to them on the university’s student portal, or a hard copy version of the questionnaire was distributed during lecture time. The questionnaire included a self-developed demographic questionnaire, an adapted version of the Student Stress Scale (Da Coste Leite & Israel, 2011), an adapted version of the Factors of Academic Facilitators Scale (Salanova, Schaufeli, Martinez, & Breso, 2010), the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Scale (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma, & Bakker, 2002), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student (Schaufeli, Salanova, et al., 2002), and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007; Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007). The final sample (N=331) consisted of both full-time and part-time undergraduate students in their first, second or third year of study at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.” “Results of the current study demonstrated that PsyCap mediated the relationship between academic obstacles and academic engagement, as well as, the relationship between academic facilitators and academic engagement. It also demonstrated, however, that PsyCap was not significantly related to academic burnout, and therefore was not a mediator in the relationship between academic obstacles/facilitators and academic burnout. Furthermore, results indicated that direct, positive relationships between academic obstacles and academic burnout; academic facilitators and PsyCap; and PsyCap and academic engagement existed, while a direct, negative relationship between academic obstacles and PsyCap existed. These findings were supported with previous research and literature. In addition, the current study also produced some non-hypothesised, but not unexpected, findings. Firstly, academic burnout and engagement was found to be moderately and negatively related, and secondly, engagement appeared to mediate the relationship between PsyCap and academic burnout. Additionally, an indirect, positive and weak relationship was found to exist between academic obstacles and burnout, while an indirect, negative and weak relationship was found between academic facilitators and academic burnout”. In conclusion, the current findings provide support for JD-R and COR theoretical assumptions, as well as the significant role personal resources play in the JD-R model in predicting student well-being. / MT2017

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between life stress, emotional adjustment and family relationships in early adolescents from low-income urban areas. A non-experimental, survey research design was adopted for this study. The sample consisted of 119 early adolescents, aged between 12 and 14 years, from 3 low-income neighbourhoods on the Cape Flats.

M.A. / Stress related problems within the South African Police service have escalated in recent years. Symptoms that can be identified are the high number of suicides, alcohol abuse, family violence, aggression, depression, emotional blunting, lack of motivation and decreased interest in the outside world. The amount of diverse tasks that are expected of a police officer are multiple. Some of them are confronted with life threatening situations on a daily basis and are often exposed to death and its gruesome aspects. This study maintains that there appears to be a gap between the police officer in need and the psychological unit which is supposed to look after his mental well being. It seems as if the support rendered is predetermined by those in the helping professions and police management, without taking the unique needs and expectations of police officers into account. This study then focuses on such experiences in an attempt to bridge this gap. The study makes use of the narrative research method within the framework of social constructionism. This research attempts to co-constuct the meaning attached to the working experiences of members of a flying squad unit. This unit was specifically selected on the basis of members' broad exposure to life threatening and traumatic situations. Informal interviews were conducted with six members of the flying squad and their narratives may be found in the following pages. Themes identified from their interviews include: feelings of isolation, work circumstances, perceived lack of support, relationships, views of life and encounters with death. The researcher hopes that these stories will be heard.

By adopting a positive psychology framework, the aim of this study was to explore and describe the level of curiosity and exploration amongst psychologists-in-training, and how they dealt with uncertainty in the context of their professional development. A mixed-method exploratory-descriptive research design was employed to collect the quantitative data by means of the Curiosity and Exploratory Inventory. The qualitative data were collected using semistructured interviews to explore how psychologists-in-training have dealt with uncertainty. Purposive-availability sampling was used to select the participants at three South African universities. A total number of 50 participants completed the CEI and six participants were interviewed. The data were analysed using mixed-method data analysis. It was found that participants had moderate-to-high levels of curiosity and exploration, with higher levels of exploration than absorption. The majority of participants reported that they actively sought as much information as they could and frequently looked for new opportunities to grow as persons. The strategies used by the selected group of participants to deal with uncertainty included: reliance on clinical supervision; consultation with peers; self-enhancement; reliance on theory; learning from practical experience; using certain cognitive appraisals; and self-care. Certain conclusions and recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.

M.A. (Psychology) / The improvement of the attitudes of members of all race groups towards other groups appears to be an essential precondition for the promotion of constructive intergroup relations in South Africa. At present, whites play a dominant role in South African politics. Relevant research has shown that Afrikaans-speaking whites have more negative attitudes towards other race groups than English-speaking whites. Afrikaans-speaking white students are identified as an important target group for attitude-modification programmes: it is likely that this group contains a number of future leaders and opinion- formers with regard to attitudes towards other race groups. This group is also accessible for research. As an attitude object, "other race groups" is very diffuse and difficult to define. A more specific attitude object is used in this dissertation, namely "black participation in democratic political institutions in South Africa". This attitude object can be clearly defined, and probably has a central position· in the race attitudes of Afrikaans-speaking whites in South Africa. An appropriate measuring instrument with adequate psychometric properties is an essential requirement for research which relates to the improvement of the attitudes of a target group towards an attitude object. A literature survey of research which involves the psychometric assessment of race attitudes in South Africa indicates that an appropriate measuring instrument which offers an adequate psychometric assessment of the attitudes of Afrikaans-speaking, white students towards black participation in democratic political institutions in South Africa has not yet been developed.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / In this study an attempt was made to ascertain if there Is a difference In personality traits between behaviorally handicapped children from Intact homes and behaviorally handicapped children from divorced homes. In South-Africa one out of every two marriages tend to end up In divorce. Divorce has a negative Influence on children and more children from divorced homes show deviant behaviour and are failures at school, than children from Intact homes. Boys are more adversely affected by divorce than girls ...

The aims of this research were to describe in rich phenomenological detail the recollected childhood experiences described by three South African adults of growing up with animals in the context of a traditionally African cultural perspective in South Africa; as well as to document the emotional, physical and social effects of inter-species relationships as described by these participants, in order to explore and situate these experiences in relation to broad international perspectives on the contribution of animals to human development. The question of how these described experiences correlate with broad international perspectives on the contribution of animals to human development comprised the hermeneutic of the study. Here it was found that the experiences of these South African individuals were generally in keeping with the trends found in the literature. Participants attributed to their childhood relationships with animals a variety of benefits. These benefits occur on a range of levels, from the physical to the cognitive, and the psychosocial. The emotional attachment of the participants to animals with whom they had interacted in childhood correlated with the nature of interspecies relationships as anticipated by the literature. Cultural differences in the conceptualisation of inter-species relationships, between western and traditionally African ideologies, appeared to influence the moral and ethical positions assumed by the participants, while the subjective nature of the described attachment between participants and animals remains qualitatively similar across cultures, when explored in relation to international research. The similarities between the experiences of the participants and international research findings lend credence to Wilson’s hypothesis that all human beings are potentially able to connect in deep and profound ways with their natural environment, and that this connection contributes to the development of social and cognitive skills, as well as constituting emotional support and stability. The research concludes with an examination of its own limitations and suggestions are made for further research.

M.Ed. / This investigation forms part of a greater research project on identity and the factors influencing identity as perceived by the learners themselves. A research team of the Department of Educational Sciences of the Rand Afrikaans University conducted the research project. The focus of this study is the contribution of the geographical environment to the identity of secondary school learners as perceived by the learners themselves. Aspects of the geographical environment are addressed as factors contributing to the identity of secondary school learners as perceived by the learners themselves. In chapter two a literature study to the contribution of the geographical environment to the identity of secondary school learners as perceived by the learners themselves was undertaken. This information was used to support the investigation and to make conclusions based on factual information. Aspects of the geographical environment that make a contribution to the identity of the learners as perceived by the learners themselves were discussed. In chapter three the instrument of research was discussed. Questionnaires were completed by secondary school learners of different schools in the Johannesburg district of the Gauteng Department of Education. The information from the completed questionnaires helped the researcher to ascertain to what extent the aspects of the geographical environment contributed to their identities as perceived by the learners themselves. The analyses and interpretation of empirical data were discussed in chapter four. The validity of the research instrument was investigated. Chapter five focused on the importance of research on the contribution of the geographical environment to the identity of secondary school learners as perceived by the learners themselves. Teachers and parents should be aware of the contribution of the geographical environment and how this affects the secondary school learner's personal and social development as well as his/her expectations for the future. The findings of this research essay suggest that secondary school learners do perceive the geographical environment as contributing to their identities. Data indicate that learners seem to put a higher value on 'mobility' and `home' followed by 'health' than in other aspects. Data also show that learners seem to have a lower opinion of the contribution of the geographical environment to their identities concerning 'educational and recreational facilities' as well as on 'security in their surroundings' despite literature that proves that these aspects are very important in the development of an adolescent's identity.