<p>The thesis is based on a field study conducted in a South African secondary school and seeks answers to how young people living under harsh conditions in a disadvantaged environment experience the opportunity to practice drama and performing arts in an after-school programme. Drama is often mentioned as an educational tool and a strategy to self-development. But how is it perceived by the adolescents themselves? How do they experience the drama activities? And what meanings do they put into these activities as a part of their daily lives?</p><p>The drama and performing arts project, concerned in this study, was set up in collaboration between the social science research programme HealthWise South Africa and the performing arts company Brown Paper Studio. HealthWise South Africa aims at promoting youth development, for example through facilitation of healthy leisure opportunities. Brown Paper Studio aspires to create a positive and secure environment where creativity, talent and self/group expression can be explored and encouraged, and skills learned, through drama exercises and performing arts.</p><p>In this study, the experiences of the participating adolescents have been investigated through a phenomenological research approach. An analysis, which has been thoroughly worked out with focus on the empirical data, will be presented and discussed.</p>

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The thesis is based on a field study conducted in a South African secondary school and seeks answers to how young people living under harsh conditions in a disadvantaged environment experience the opportunity to practice drama and performing arts in an after-school programme. Drama is often mentioned as an educational tool and a strategy to self-development. But how is it perceived by the adolescents themselves? How do they experience the drama activities? And what meanings do they put into these activities as a part of their daily lives? The drama and performing arts project, concerned in this study, was set up in collaboration between the social science research programme HealthWise South Africa and the performing arts company Brown Paper Studio. HealthWise South Africa aims at promoting youth development, for example through facilitation of healthy leisure opportunities. Brown Paper Studio aspires to create a positive and secure environment where creativity, talent and self/group expression can be explored and encouraged, and skills learned, through drama exercises and performing arts. In this study, the experiences of the participating adolescents have been investigated through a phenomenological research approach. An analysis, which has been thoroughly worked out with focus on the empirical data, will be presented and discussed.

The objective of this thesis is to identify ways that international actors can be most effective in influencing policy change pertaining to women’s safety and security in India. Since the 1970s, domestic groups within India and international organizations have focused on promoting gender equality and combatting problematic social norms that beget discrimination and violence against women. This thesis examines some of the programs and campaigns that Indian governments and civil society actors – domestic and international – have implemented to promote the rights and protections of women. This thesis considers examples of finance, social networking, training, education, and information propagation, which are key ways that international actors can participate in efforts to combat prevailing attitudes that undermine the human dignity of girls and women in India. Because violence against women is systemic in nature, and because it is a social malaise that transcends culture, development professionals should frame issues of gender violence in terms of basic human rights. Fundamentally, international organizations are most effective in enhancing the status of women in India by providing grassroots organizations with critical resources to which they would not otherwise have access.

The primary objective of this thesis was to examine the relevance of intergovernmental decisions and western risk-focused social crime prevention to reducing youth crime within Chongqing, China. This involved a review of the existing literature that might be relevant to: (i) the current youth crime situation in the city of Chongqing, (ii) risk factors that might contribute to youth crime within Chongqing, (iii) the scientific evaluations of ‘evidence-based’ risk-focused crime prevention strategies for different age groups of youth, and (iv) implementation strategies for evidence-based innovations to reduce youth crime. Based on this knowledge, interviews with six key stakeholders of Chongqing were conducted for the purpose of obtaining initial perceptions regarding the utility and practicality of crime prevention through social development within Chongqing. Ultimately, this study demonstrates the preliminary relevance of western studies and action, recalls China’s endorsement of intergovernmental recommendations, and provides a foundation for further research.

No description available.

Social cognition is a fundamental aspect of human experience that enables us to have relationships with and understanding of other people. Social relationships have been shown to mitigate cognitive decline in old age and benefit cognitive functioning, and the social interaction on which these relationships rely requires an extensive network of cognitive processes, and by extension neural systems, that have not, as of yet, been widely studied in older adults. Nor has the function of these systems been tied to social relationships in the real world. Here, I will compare self-reports of real-world quality and extent of social networks with behavioral and neural measures of other-regard in the laboratory. It is hoped that by so doing we will be able to link social neuroscientific measures in the laboratory with persons’ perceptions of the quality and extent of their social relationships. In this study, other-regard in older adults was operationalized with a reaction-time measure in an implicit turn-taking task, neural measures were provided by dense array EEG, and all participants also completed self-report measures of empathy subscales and of the quality and extent of their social networks. I found that measures of empathic personal distress decreased with increased other-regard (r = -0.36, p = 0.01, beta = 0.47), while increased quality and extent of social networks associated marginally with increased other-regard (r = 0.20, p = 0.11, beta = 0.39). Neural analyses are ongoing and are expected to show differential activation consistent with cognitive processes such as theory of mind, empathy, joint attention, and executive control.

Numerous skill deficits interfere with the social functioning of children with intellectual (ID) and learning disabilities (LD). Due to the limited effectiveness of social skill interventions for this population, it is necessary to explore additional opportunities for social skill acquisition. Research suggests that extracurricular activity participation positively influences adolescent development; however, little is known about the benefits of activity participation for children with ID and LD. This study investigated the impact of frequency and type of extracurricular activity on the social competence of 7-12 year old children with ID (n=42) and LD (n=53), in comparison to their typically developing peers (TD; n=24). More time involved in unstructured activities was related to higher ratings of social competence. Greater participation in unstructured extracurricular activities was particularly beneficial for children with ID. Future research on the quality of involvement is necessary to further understand what specific aspects of activities facilitate social development.

Die vorliegende Arbeit betrachtet Partizipation aus einer interaktionalen Perspektive und nimmt zunächst eine interdisziplinär orientierte Begriffsbestimmung vor. Daran anschließend werden anhand einer Längsschnittstudie Entwicklungsbedingungen sozialer Partizipationskompetenzen im Vorschulalter untersucht und Förderempfehlungen abgeleitet. Partizipation (Teilhabe) soll in Kontexten wie Schule oder Arbeitswelt Entscheidungen demokratisch legitimieren, individuelle Ressourcen ausschöpfen und soziale Grundbedürfnisse des Menschen befriedigen. Ein engeres Verständnis von sozialer Partizipation aus einer interaktionalen Perspektive erfordert die Beteiligung an den Aktivitäten einer bereits bestehenden Gruppe und die Aushandlung eigener Interessen innerhalb dieser Gruppe und wird in der Arbeit als Prozess anhand dreier Phasen (Anbahnung, Projektierung und Realisierung) dargestellt. Im Vorschulalter werden wichtige Grundsteine für eine erfolgreiche soziale Entwicklung und für den Erwerb von sozialen Partizipationskompetenzen gelegt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden deshalb die Zusammenhänge und Wechselwirkungen zwischen sozialen Partizipationskompetenzen (Bereitschaft und Fähigkeit) und (1) kognitiven Leistungsparametern (Intelligenz und Perspektivenübernahme), (2) dem Selbstkonzept und (3) dem Konfliktverhalten (Aggression und Schüchternheit) mit 5- bis 7jährigen Kindern mit Hilfe von Kreuzpfadanalysen untersucht. Zudem wurde die Situationsgebundenheit sozialer Partizipationskompetenzen und die Bedeutung struktureller Parameter der Familie und der Kindertageseinrichtung auf explorativer Ebene analysiert. Die Stichprobe bestand aus 334 Kindern (51,5 % weiblich, Altersdurchschnitt zum ersten Messzeitpunkt 5,4 Jahre) in 71 Kindergartengruppen in 21 Kindertageseinrichtungen in vier Bundesländern. Die längsschnittliche Datenanalyse basiert auf drei Messzeitpunkten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass soziale Partizipationskompetenzen über verschiedene Situationen hinweg bedeutsame, aber nur mäßig ausgeprägte, Zusammenhänge aufweisen. Hohe Ausprägungen kognitiver Leistungsparameter gehen mit hohen Erziehereinschätzungen sozialer Partizipationskompetenzen einher. Über die Zusammenhänge hinaus zeigen sich im Längsschnitt bedeutsame Wechselwirkungen zwischen kognitiver Entwicklung und sozialen Partizipationskompetenzen im Vorschulalter. Selbsteinschätzungen zur eigenen Kompetenz hängen im Vorschulalter hingegen nur gering mit Erziehereinschätzungen der sozialen Partizipationskompetenz zusammen. Im Längsschnitt zeigt sich, dass junge Kinder bei der Beurteilung ihrer Kompetenzen zunächst auf soziale Partizipationserfolge zurückgreifen. Später hingegen scheint der Partizipationserfolg dann umgekehrt eher durch das Selbstbild bedingt zu sein. Geringe Partizipationskompetenzen gehen mit hohen Erziehereinschätzungen beim aggressiven (schwach signifikant) und schüchternen Verhalten (mäßig signifikant) einher. Hinsichtlich der Aggression und des schüchternen Verhaltens ergaben sich längsschnittlich betrachtet nur schwache Wechselwirkungen zur sozialen Partizipationskompetenz. Die Kumulation familiärer Belastungssituationen (z.B. Krankheit und akute Finanznot) stellen eine größere Bedrohung für die kindliche Entwicklung dar als der sozio-ökonomische Status der Familie. Mit Blick auf die Förderung sozialer Partizipationskompetenzen lassen sich die Ergebnisse mit einem sozial-konstruktivistischen Ansatz verbinden. Dessen Ziel ist es, intra- und interpersonelle Konflikte auszulösen, deren erfolgreiche Bewältigung produktive Lernprozesse auf kognitiver, emotionaler und behavioraler Ebene anstoßen. / The present work examines participation from an interactional perspective and starts with an interdisciplinary-grounded definition. Subsequently, developmental requirements of social participation competencies in preschool years are examined based on a longitudinal study and pedagogical recommendations are derived. The purpose of participation is to ensure the democratic legitimation of decisions, exploit individual resources, and satisfy basic needs of humans. More narrowly defined from an interactional perspective social participation implies the involvement of an individual in the activities of an already existing group of people and the negotiation of own interests within this group. In the present work it is described as a process with three phases (initiation projection, and realization). Important foundations for successful social development and for the acquisition of social participation competencies are laid in preschool years. Therefore the present work examined the interaction between social participation competencies (motivation and ability) and (1) cognitive parameters (intelligence and perspective taking), (2) self-concept, and (3) conflict behavior (aggression and shyness) in 5- to 7-year old children using cross-lagged panel analysis. In addition, the study addressed the question to what extent social participation competencies are context-bound and examined the importance of structural parameters of family and day care on an explorative basis. The sample consisted of 334 children (51.5 % female, average age at first measurement point 5.4 years) in 71 day care groups in 21 day care institutions stemming from four German federal states. The longitudinal data analysis is based on three measurement points. Results showed significant but moderate correlations of social participation competencies across different situations. High levels of cognitive abilities are associated with high social participation competencies rated by preschool teachers. In addition, longitudinal analyses revealed a close interaction between intelligence and social participation competencies in preschool years. Self-ratings of own competencies, however, are only weakly related to teacher ratings of social participation competencies in preschool children. Longitudinal analyses suggest that when judging about their competencies young children draw on their social participation successes. Later, however, success in participation efforts conversely seems to be more determined by the self-concept. Low participation competencies go along with high levels of aggressive (weakly significant) as well as high levels of shy behavior (moderately significant) as rated by teachers. Regarding aggression and shy behavior only weak interactions with social participation competencies were found based on longitudinal analyses. The accumulation of critical family events (e.g. health or acute financial difficulties) represents a greater threat for the development of children than the socio-economic status of the family. Addressing the promotion of social participation competencies the present results can be linked to a social-constructivist approach. One goal of this approach is to produce intra- and inter-individual conflicts which, in case of successful conflict resolution, initiate productive learning processes on a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral level.

The purpose of my study was to find out how staff in after-school activities thinks they work with norms and values, we may call this values education, and how this in turn may influence children's norms and values. By extension, how children are socialized with each other and develop socially. In my research, I have interviewed five of the after-school activities staff who work with children aged 6-9 years at a school in the neighbourhood Rinkeby-Kista in northwestern Stockholm.The results show that after-school activity according to the staff can play a very important and sometimes crucial role in children's social development. Staff believes that if they do not learn the social rules by participating in playing and games in early childhood, when growing up they are outside and cannot participate. By their pedagogical approaches, in terms of values and norms, the adults in after-school activities can help children to become socialized into a community of solidarity and eventually as adults become responsible citizens able to function and participate in society.