Please read the abstract in the section, 00front, of this document / Thesis (PhD (Augmentative and Alternative Communication))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / unrestricted

Thesis (MEd) -- Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, School of Education, 2008. / Bibliography: leaves 86-89. / Introduction -- Literature review -- The challenge program -- Methodology -- Analysis of questionnaire data -- Analysis of interviews -- Discussion of results. / This study investigates the effects of a week long challenge program on adolescents' social skills and in particular social competence. Current research has shown that there can be positive outcomes for participants attending outdoor education programs, however little is known about the nature and causes of such effects for short term programs. -- Thirty six students attending schools in the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney were nominated by teachers to attend the week long program and subsequent follow-up sessions. The Life Effectiveness Questionnaire H-1 (Neill, Marsh & Richards, 2003) was completed pre and post program and again six months later. This was used to quantify any change that occurred in the eight constructs measured by the questionnaire deemed to constitute "life effectiveness' in the post program period. -- A cohort of students (n=100) was interviewed immediately after the program and six months later. The questioning sought to determine if participants observed changes in their own social skills and those of others. Interviwees were also asked to identify specific activities that they felt were of general benefit and assisted in the development of personal social skills. The instructor and supervising teacher who attended the same program were asked to identify changes in participants and significant events that may have contributed to participants' reported changes. -- Results from the questionnaire showed significant gains in the constructs of Social Competence and Time Management. These however declined over the sixth month period after the program. It appears that the effect of short term outdoor education programs on Life Effectiveness is short lived. In contrast, the qualitative data collected from interviews showed that participants had observed changes in their social skills and attributed these to the challenge and group activities within the program. Participants reported that these benefits were long lasting. -- The findings of this study demonstrate the positive benefits of short term outdoor education programs and the need to further investigate the post program experience. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / viii, 94 leaves ill

An investigation was undertaken to examine two measures of personality and their utility with adolescent patient populations. The Rorschach, scored using Exner's (1991) Comprehensive System (2nd Ed.), and the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY; Lachar & Gruber, in press) were explored as to their ability to distinguish inpatients from outpatients, males from females, and diagnostic groups from one another. COP, AG, CDI, DEPI, SCZI, and HVI scores on the Rorschach were utilized, as were the DIS, SOM, FAM, RLTY, WDL, and SSK scores from the PIY.

The current study examined the process by which adolescents choose who to dislike in a sample of Finnish 10th graders. Information was available for the adolescents on their victimization, bullying behavior, problem behavior, school burnout, school grades, and their depressive symptoms. The initial analysis consisted of assessing which characteristics made individuals more likely to dislike someone, after taking into account the characteristics of the individual being nominated. This analysis found that individuals form antipathy for dissimilar others. This process is hypothesized to be a result of mechanisms of threat. The secondary analysis compared the characteristics of unilateral and mutual antipathies. This analysis found that mutual antipathies are characterized by elevated differences between individuals on victimization. These results identify and describe important aspects of the adolescent peer environment. / by Christopher A. Hafen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study examined the consequences of self-image failure among narcissistic children. It was hypothesized that narcissistic children who perceive themselves as falling short of their hoped-for grandiose self (e.g., whose self-esteem is low) would not only increase over time in general aggression and decrease prosocial behavior, but also increase in the tendency to direct aggression specifically toward more socially successful peers (i.e., their putative rivals for social status). Participants were 195 (101 boys) fourth through seventh-graders who were tested in both the fall and the spring of a school year. Results yielded some support for the hypotheses. Narcissism combined with low self-appraisals of the real self to predict decreases in prosocial behavior and increased aggression toward popular and attractive peers. These findings not only provide longitudinal evidence for the self-image failure hypothesis but also underscore the importance of a target-specific approach to investigating children's aggression. / by Rachel E. Pauletti. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Current theoretical accounts of gender role development argue that children are active participants in their own and their peers' gender role development (Liben & Bigler, 2002; Ruble, Martin, & Szkrybalo, 2002). Specifically, children have been reported to bully peers whose behaviors do not conform to gender norms (Ruble & Martin, 2002). Gender-related bullying is especially problematic among adolescent boys who use gay-baiting (calling a boy gay when he does something atypical of his gender) to publicly harm male peers whose behaviors are incongruent with society's definition of masculinity (Pollack, 1998; Kimmel, 2003a; Kimmel, 2003b). Relationships among endorsing traditional masculine gender roles for the self-and others, contingent self-esteem, gender-based bullying, and academic performance have been hinted at in the literature, although there has not been a study connecting these themes. The purpose of this dissertation, therefore, is to determine the relations among (a) endorsing traditional masculine gender roles via sex-typing of the self and others, (b) contingent self-esteem, (c) gender-related bullying, and (d) academic success. In addition, I propose and test the notion that contingent self-esteem mediates the relationship between sex-typing of the self and others and gender-related bullying (perpetrators and victims). Participants included 103 7th grade boys (31 European Americans, 72 Latinos) who reported on (a) their personal sex-typed attitudes (OAT-PM) and sex-typed attitudes towards others (OAT-AM), (b) levels of contingent self-esteem, and (c) gender-related bullying (perpetrators and victims) in the spring of 2008. Students' final GPAs were also obtained. Results indicated that Latino boys were more likely than European American boys to be perpetrators of gender-related bullying. European American boys, in contrast, were more likely than Latino boys to become victims of gender-related bullying. In addition, boys were more likely to engage in gender-related bullying if they were highly sex-typed and if their self-esteem was contingent upon proving their masculinity. Such findings suggest the need for researchers to develop intervention programs designed to teach students to have more flexible conceptions of gender in order to minimize the amount of gender-related bullying in the schools. / text

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Boston University, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 560-575).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (University of Texas Digital Repository, viewed on Sept. 9, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--La Salle University, 2003. / ProQuest dissertations and theses ; AAT 3108287. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-52).

Ever since the earliest times much emphasis has been placed on the physical appearance of women. Particularly in western cultures idealized images of perfection are constantly promoted and the message that comes across in various media outlets is that a woman ought to have a 'perfect' appearance in order to be competent and desirable. This puts a great deal of stress on women and particularly on adolescent girls who are going through a phase of increased sensitivity about their appearance. The literature suggests that people, and women in particular, are fundamentally affected by the way they view their bodies. The body image furthermore has a strong relationship with the self concept, which affects other areas of a person's life such as her academic achievement and her social 'life. Against this background an attempt was made in this study to determine the relationship between the body image of adolescent girls and their academic achievement, their sport participation and their social involvement. The subjects were 180 girls drawn from two rural secondary schools. The survey involved the completion of two questionnaires, namely an adapted form of the Physical Self Subscale of the Tenessee Self Concept Scale (used to determine a score for body image) and a questionnaire on social involvement and sport participation, which was drawn up by the researcher. Biographic data as well as academic scores were gathered from school records. Data was analysed statistically by means of the BMDP Software Version 1990: programme (Sun Unix). Pearson's chi square tests of independence, as well as a one-way analysis of variance with co-variate were carried out. The results reveal that the body image and academic achievement of this group of girls are not significantly correlated. There are, however, significant correlations between the body image and social involvement of these girls, between their body image and sport participation, as well as between their social involvement and sport participation. iv These findings have important implications for"'e"ducation and consideration is given to addressing these issues in schools.