D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / In the Republic of South Africa, there is a growing consciousness of the importance of sex education, and specifically of relationship education, for the youth. Research indicates that the peer group and the media are the main sources of information regarding heterosexual relationships. That these sources are not very reliable, is indicated by the fact that South Africa has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies (among all population groups) in the world. The additional threat of AIDS has shifted the responsibility for guidance regarding heterosexual relationships increasingly towards institutions of education, such as schools, colleges and universities. Bearing this in mind, it stands to reason that student teachers should be equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding heterosexual relationships. This would not only aid their personal growth, but would be of immense value to them as teachers. The problem is that up to now only a few Colleges of Education in the R.S.A. have been offering limited training in family education. No college, however, offers a course exclusively directed to student teachers' own heterosexual relationships. Research was therefore undertaken to investigate the attitudes of student teachers in respect of those facets of heterosexual relationships which featured prominently in the literature studied, namely self concept, sexuality, sex roles, empathy and communication. The empirical component of the investigation was based on the implementation of a questionnaire, which was completed by all the students of an Afrikaans medium College of Education.

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2778. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-51).

Thesis (M.A.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2000. / Thesis advisor: Marc B. Goldstein. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts [in Psychology]." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 25-30).

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.

No description available.

The thesis was designed to analyze authors' viewpoints on values and standards in ten college health education textbooks pertaining to premarital sexual behavior.The sample of the study consisted of ten college health education textbooks dating from 1970 to 1973. Nine judges were selected by the investigator to analyze the content excerpts from each of the ten books. Each judge was mailed a premarital sexual questionnaire and two scales pertaining to values and standards on the topic of premarital sexual behavior.The judges involved in the investigation were qualified and noted authorities in the field of health education--all of whom had demonstrated some instructional research or publication expertise in the topical area of sex education. The study itself was based totally upon the judges' responses to the mailed instruments. The first instrument to be responded upon was the premarital sexual behavior questionnaire. The judges were asked to respond with a yes or no answer to each of the ten questions pertaining to the ten excerpts.The second instrument used in the study consisted of the two scales. The first was comprised of a range of value systems subdivided into seven categories. Each category represented a particular value system. The judge was to select one of the values that best described his perception of the author's viewpoints on premarital sex was The judge to pick a value system for each of theten excerpts being reviewed. The second scale consisted of five categories. Every category represented a definite standard or behavioral code pertaining to premarital sexual activity. The judge was to choose one of the standards that best represented his concept of the author's viewpoints relating to premarital sexual behavior.Three major hypotheses were considered in this study:1. The majority of authors, based on their viewpoints, will fit into the Enlightened Asceticism or Humanistic Liberalism categories of sexual value systems.2. A majority of the authors' views will lean heavily toward total or partial abstinence as a premarital sexual standard.3. A majority of the judges will have greater agreement on the authors' viewpoints from a direct premarital sexual question type of response and a greater diversity of agreement on the two premarital sexual values and standards scales.In summary, the following conclusions were drawn:1. The majority (at least 50 percent) of the authors' viewpoints used a definite preference (bias) for value systems of Enlightened Asceticism and Humanistic Liberalism in expressing their content.2. Less than 50 percent of the authors designated the premarital sexual standard of Abstinence as a means of expressing their viewpoints.3. In a direct question type response to an author's viewpoint within his content, the judges had a 78 percent agreement. The judges' agreement on the two scales was much less in percentage. The judges perceived the authors to be expounding heavily upon two primary value systems. These value systems were Enlightened Asceticism and Humanistic Liberalism. The total percentage of response for both categories was 56 percent. The total percentage of response for the premarital sexual standard category of Abstinence was 34 percent.For both of the scales used the judges seemed to feel somewhat differently in their interpretation, as was not the case with the questionnaire. This tells the investigator that a purely cognitiverepresentation of the statement within the content is more readily observed, as in the questionnaire. On the other hand, the judges felt somewhat less agreeable or even confused as to the affective representation of the two scales. Direct statements in college health education textbooks seem to be easier to write about and judge pertaining to premarital sexual values and standards.

Typescript. / Thesis (D.P.H.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves [198]-215. / xi, 215 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2632. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-225).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2007 / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Social Work. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-59).