Thesis (M Social Work)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The emotional development of a preschool child is of great importance, since it serves as a basis for later emotional development. South African policy and legislation emphasizes the protection of preschool children and the provision of programmes that support the development of preschool children. Mothers are often the caregivers of preschool children and need to facilitate the emotional development of their preschool child. Therefore a study that examines mothers’ knowledge of the facilitation of preschool emotional development was conducted. An exploratory and descriptive study was conducted with 30 mothers that served as the primary caregiver of a preschool child or children. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each mother where quantitative as well as qualitative questions were asked. These questions were based on basic preschool emotional development in order to study mothers’ knowledge, perception and needs regarding preschool basic emotional development. Mothers’ knowledge of the Child Care Act 38 of 2005 was also researched. In this study mothers had good knowledge of basic preschool emotional development, but regardless of this knowledge, most mothers still had a need to learn more about preschool emotional development. Since only basic preschool emotional development was assessed, a study that investigates secondary emotional development needs to be conducted in order to create programmes that enhance knowledge of preschool emotional development. Regardless of mothers’ good knowledge of basic preschool emotional development, knowledge of the Child Care Act 38 of 2005 was poor. The Child Care Act 38 of 2005 is a national legal document that is applicable to all mothers and therefore it is important that mothers have knowledge regarding the content of this document. In this study mothers also indicated a need to learn more about the Child Care Act 38 of 2005, therefore the improvement of knowledge of the Child Care Act 38 of 2005 is a recommendation for service delivery for social workers at welfare organisations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die emosionele ontwikkeling van ‘n voorskoolse kind is belangrik omdat dit dien as ‘n basis vir latere emosionele ontwikkeling. Suid-Afrikaanse beleid en wetgewing beklemtoon ook die beskerming van voorskoolse kinders en die voorsiening van programme wat ontwikkeling in hierdie ouderdomsgroep fasiliteer wat op die belangrikheid hiervan dui. Moeders is dikwels die versorgers wat emosionele ontwikkeling van voorskoolse kinders fasiliteer. Daarom is ‘n studie na die kennis wat moeders oor beskik om hierdie ontwikkeling te fasiliteer uitgevoer om areas vir vermeerdering van kennis te kan identifiseer. ‘n Verkennende en beskrywende studie is met 30 moeders wat die primêre versorgers van hul voorskoolse kinders is, onderneem. ‘n Semi-gestruktureerde onderhoud is met elke moeder gevoer, waarin kwantitatiewe sowel as kwalitatiewe vrae gevra is oor basiese voorskoolse emosionele ontwikkeling om moeders se kennis, persepsies en behoefte aan kennis te ondersoek. Moeders se kennis van die Suid-Afrikaanse Kinderwet 38 van 2005 is ook ondersoek. Daar is bevind dat moeders oor goeie kennis beskik rakende die basiese emosionele ontwikkeling van ‘n voorskoolse kind. Alhoewel kennis van basiese emosionele ontwikkeling goed was, het meeste moeders meegedeel dat hulle oor ‘n behoefte aan verdere kennis beskik. Deurdat slegs basiese emosionele ontwikkeling ondersoek is, moet verdere studies onderneem word om sekondêre ontwikkeling te ondersoek en daarvolgens moet programme saamgestel word om areas waar kennis onderbreek, aan te vul. Ten spyte daarvan dat moeders se kennis van basiese voorskoolse emosionele ontwikkeling in hierdie studie goed was, was kennis van die Kinderwet 38 van 2005 min. Die Kinderwet 38 van 2005 word nasionaal toegepas op moeders met kinders en daarom is dit belangrik dat moeders van hierdie Wet kennis dra. In hierdie studie is‘n behoefte aan hierdie kennis rakende die Kinderwet 38 van 2005 aangedui en is die verbetering van kennis ten opsigte van die Kinderwet 38 van 2005 as ‘n aanbeveling vir dienslewering deur maatskaplike werkers by gesinsorgorganisasies gemaak.

This study utilized an ethnographic methodology to examine and describe the various aspects and processes occurring in a children's group as the members created their own puppets and accompanying puppet plays. Individual and interactive behavior patterns were isolated and analyzed as a means of gaining an in depth understanding of the puppetry process. The puppetry process, in turn, was viewed in terms of information it provided regarding the individual members and the group process. The facilitative and non-facilitative aspects of the procedure were delineated. The adult leader met with a group of six boys, in grades four and five, for 12 one-hour sessions in which they made puppets and then created puppet plays around issues that they had articulated as problems. The group sessions were videotaped and transcribed. The transcriptions were coded in an effort to extensively analyze the puppetry process and the group process, and the ways in which the two processes interacted. An independent observer/rater was utilized in order to provide some validity for the researcher's reported results. The puppet-making task appeared to offer an opportunity for individuals to begin to come together in a common, but individual task. Characteristic styles and individual personality dynamics were evidenced. General response to the task was enthusiastic, with varying degrees of satisfaction expressed regarding their finished products. The play-creating and performing process met with less success than the puppet-making. While the group members appeared to be generally amenable to contributing ideas for the puppet plays, the process met with far more resistance in the cooperative task of putting their ideas into a finished product. The group discussion and interaction that occurred around these tasks provided a vehicle by which to view levels of interpersonal skills and the group's overall stage of development. The puppets the children created appeared to act as metaphors in expressing the group members' views of themselves and in enabling the symbolic representation of some of their central concerns. The plays they created paralleled the process that actually took place in the group. The subject matter and content of the puppets and plays provided information and evidence as to how each member approached and solved problems. The discrepancies in the ways in which the researcher and the independent observer/rater viewed the positive and negative social/emotional interactions of the group members, coupled with the small number of subjects included in this study preclude generalizing to other groups of children at this time. Further studies, with additional groups of children, utilizing parametric statistics are called for before any such generalizations can be made.

One of the hypotheses put forth by the Gender Self-Socialization Model (GSSM) is the stereotype emulation hypothesis. This hypothesis states that one role of gender identity is to motivate children to follow gender stereotypes that they have internalized. The GSSM also states that each of the constructs of gender identity, gender stereotypes, and gender typing is product of the cognitive interplay between the other two. Egan and Perry (2001) conceptualized gender identity as multidimensional, and one of these dimensions is felt pressure against other gender behavior. This study found that there was an interaction between one aspect of gender identity (felt pressure) and gender stereotypes, supporting the stereotype emulation hypothesis. This study also found that the interaction between felt pressure and sexism was more powerful in predicting adjustment in children than looking only at the main effect of felt pressure. / by Stephanie Franz. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to compare expressive communication, receptive communication, and socialization achievement in 18- to 34-month-old ELD toddlers to the same skills in normally-speaking children. The questions this study sought to answer were, how do the three skill areas in ELD toddlers compare with the same skills in normal toddlers?, will ELD subjects evidence specific profiles of deficits involving not only expressive but receptive and social skills as well? and, within the ELD subjects will two subgroups emerge, one group having poor expressive skills only, and a second group having deficits in addition to expression.

Faculty of Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-286)

Children and young people with ADHD often experience social difficulties, which are associated with poor psychological, behavioural, and academic outcomes. As yet, underlying mechanisms of poor social functioning are unknown. The social functioning of fifty-two children (M = 14.13 years) who had been diagnosed with ADHD four years previously and their matched controls were assessed using several measures: the ratings of parents/guardians and teachers, and children's self-reports; a conversation task; the Otago Social Dilemma Test. Analyses were conducted for the whole sample plus a Socially-Impaired subgroup (clinically significant social problems), and a Persistent-ADHD subgroup (continued to meet DSM-IV ADHD criteria). First we compared the social functioning of children in the ADHD group with that of children in the control group by analysing the questionnaire responses of parents/guardians, teachers, and children's self-reports. Children in the ADHD group and Socially-Impaired sub-group were rated as experiencing more social problems and having fewer social skills than control children, across all informants. Children also estimated their own popularity, and despite experiencing social difficulties, no differences in children's popularity ratings were observed between children in the ADHD group and control group. Given that children in the ADHD group showed social difficulties, we investigated whether these deficits were driven by children's conversation skills. Children engaged in a 15-minute conversation with an adult confederate. The frequency of conversation skills were coded and analysed. Across all groups, ADHD children asked more questions, were less likely to offer extended information in response to a question, and were more likely to make at least one unco-operative statement. The number of extended verbal responses accounted for a significant amount of the variance in participants' social skills. Overall, however, the conversations of children with and without ADHD were remarkably similar. It appears, therefore, that it may be language style that influences social difficulties. Next we investigated a second mechanism that might account for social difficulties observed in children with ADHD; social problem solving skills. Children completed the Otago Social Dilemma Test, which involved viewing vignettes of social dilemmas and generating possible solutions to these problems. Children in the ADHD group provided poorer descriptions and showed less understanding of the problems portrayed. Although the ADHD participants were able to generate a similar number of solutions to the social problems as the children in the Control group, they made poorer decisions about what was the 'best solution'. ADHD participants' choice for best solution significantly added to a model of their social problems, even after IQ and severity of inattentive symptoms had been added. Taken together, the present study supports research showing that children with ADHD experience social difficulties, but they may lack insight into the effect of their behaviour on their status among peers. Children's conversation and their problem solving abilities may be factors influencing poor social functioning. Interventions that focus on teaching children to recognise social cues and generate appropriate solutions to social dilemmas may be beneficial.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Julie A. Hubbard, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

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