The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between Life Events, Social Support, Locus of Control, Sex, Polygamy (for the Saudi students), Culture, Identity and Health in British and Saudi students. Participants were 524 students. 173 British males and females mainly from London University and 351 Saudi males and females from King Saud University. Five measures were used in this study: (1) The List of Recent Experience, (2) The Cornell Medical Index, (3) The Locus of Control of Behaviour, (4) The Social Support Scale for University students and (5) The Identity Scale. The last two measures were especially developed for this study. Two methods of estimating the impact of experiences; subjective and objective and two designs: retrospective and longitudinal were used in this study. The retrospective data revealed that life events are significantly associated with health. The longitudinal data also revealed that this association between these two variables is significant when life events were combined with locus of control or social support for the British students, and that concurrent events only were significantly associated with health for the Saudi students. Social support, locus of control and identity were found to be significantly and independently related to health. Polygamy (for the Saudi students) was correlated with health only when combined with life events.Results also revealed that the relationships between life events, social support, locus of control, identity and health were similar in both cultures. Life events, social support, locus of control and identity were associated with health in a selective manner. They seem to be more related to some sections of health than to other sections. In general higher incidents of life events, low social support, externality and negative self concept were related to more symptoms. Subjective estimation of life events predicts variations in health more than objective estimation of life events. Sex was found to play a role in the relationships between psychosocial factors and health especially for the Saudi students. The relationships between life events, social support, locus of control, polygamy, identity, sex and health were discussed in the light of the present results and a model of these relationships was suggested in the last chapter of this study.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Life skills are coping skills taught to learners, with the purpose of developing self-reliant and confident people with skills, to cope with important life's challenges in times of change. Where life skill education initiatives are being set up, much time and resources are channelled into training teachers, promoting, disseminating and implementing life skill education. For life skill education to be effective and continue to be relevant, research needs to be undertaken as an integral part of the whole process. This study focuses on the 'Life Skills Train the Trainer Programme'. The aim being to evaluate the success of this programme in empowering teachers to teach life skills. It was found that although life skill education has been found to be an important area in every learner's life, there are obstacles that may affect an effective implementation of life skill education in schools. These obstacles need to be attended to. / ewensvaardighede word aan leerlinge onderrig met die doe! om selfstandigheid en selfversekerdheid te ontwikkel, sodat hulle in staat is om lewenseise te midde van veranderende tye te kan hanteer Wanneer lewensvaardighede-onderrig gelnisieer word, word baie tyd en hulpbronne gekanaliseer in die opleiding van onderwysers, asook in die promovering, verspreiding en implementering van sodanige onderwys. Vir lewensvaardighede-onderrig om effektief te wees en relevant te bly, moet navorsing 'n integrale dee! van die hele prose vorm. Hierdie studie is gerig op die "Life Skills Train the Trainer Programme". Die doe! was om vas te stel tot watter mate hierdie program bydra tot die bemagtiging van onderwysers in die onderrig van lewensvaardighede. Die bevinding was dat alhoewel erkenning gegee word aan die belangrikheid van lewensvaardighede-onderrig, daar tog struikelblokke is wat effektiewe implementering in skole kan belemmer Hierdie struikelblokke moet aangespreek word. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / Life skills are coping skills taught to learners, with the purpose of developing self-reliant and confident people with skills, to cope with important life's challenges in times of change. Where life skill education initiatives are being set up, much time and resources are channelled into training teachers, promoting, disseminating and implementing life skill education. For life skill education to be effective and continue to be relevant, research needs to be undertaken as an integral part of the whole process. This study focuses on the 'Life Skills Train the Trainer Programme'. The aim being to evaluate the success of this programme in empowering teachers to teach life skills. It was found that although life skill education has been found to be an important area in every learner's life, there are obstacles that may affect an effective implementation of life skill education in schools. These obstacles need to be attended to. / ewensvaardighede word aan leerlinge onderrig met die doe! om selfstandigheid en selfversekerdheid te ontwikkel, sodat hulle in staat is om lewenseise te midde van veranderende tye te kan hanteer Wanneer lewensvaardighede-onderrig gelnisieer word, word baie tyd en hulpbronne gekanaliseer in die opleiding van onderwysers, asook in die promovering, verspreiding en implementering van sodanige onderwys. Vir lewensvaardighede-onderrig om effektief te wees en relevant te bly, moet navorsing 'n integrale dee! van die hele prose vorm. Hierdie studie is gerig op die "Life Skills Train the Trainer Programme". Die doe! was om vas te stel tot watter mate hierdie program bydra tot die bemagtiging van onderwysers in die onderrig van lewensvaardighede. Die bevinding was dat alhoewel erkenning gegee word aan die belangrikheid van lewensvaardighede-onderrig, daar tog struikelblokke is wat effektiewe implementering in skole kan belemmer Hierdie struikelblokke moet aangespreek word. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.