Despite the wealth of research on psychopathy in adulthood, little is known about the developmental antecedents of the disorder. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine developmental risk factors to psychopathy in two adolescent offender populations. In Study 1, subjects were 233 adolescent sexual offenders who had participated in a sex-offender treatment program between 1985 and 1992. Archival data were used to retrospectively complete the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) and to code family background, individual, demographic, and criminological variables. PCL:YV scores were associated with physical abuse, parental social deviance, and adolescent Hyperactivity-Impulsivity-Attention (HIA) problems. In addition, relationships between PCL:YV scores and demographic and criminological variables were similar to those found in adult populations. In Study 2, mothers of 74 adolescent offenders completed questionnaires related to parenting strategies, physical abuse, maternal psychopathy, and child characteristics. The PCL:YV was completed using file information. PCL:YV scores were associated with physical abuse by father, maternal psychopathy, ineffective parenting strategies, and HIA. Results also indicated that the Psychopathy Screening Device, a measure of psychopathy in children, showed low concurrent validity with the PCL:YV. It was concluded that the investigation of risk factors is important to both our understanding of psychopathy and to early identification and treatment of those at risk for the disorder.

This study explored elite female adolescent swimmers' perceptions of the motivational influences of their coaches, parents, and peers using qualitative methods. Nine elite female swimmers (aged 13--15 years) participated in two semi-structured interviews that were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Data was gathered and analyzed according to Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Six categories emerged including: individual factors, and assistance, informational, esteem, emotional, and network support. Results indicated girls' interpretations and unique, salient aspects of social support types provided by coaches, parents, and peers. Findings are related to past self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985) motivational research. In particular, swimmers social support experiences were uniquely linked to their perceptions of competence, autonomy, relatedness, and motivation in elite competitive swimming. Findings support main SDT tenets and offer new insights into the important and differential social support influences in sport.

This study is an analysis of the manner in which preparatory school boys construct their masculinities through the sport of rugby. The study is based on interviews with the entire First XV rugby team of Connaught Prep School. Sport and rugby in particular are seen as an important cog in the masculinity-making process for men but this is also true for young boys. Rugby in South Africa is regarded as a sport that real men play. Historically played primarily by white men, it remains a marker of hegemonic masculinity. In their involvement in the Connaught Prep.s First XV, boys affirm the importance of the sport, act out the values associated with the sport and display the skills required to play the sport successfully. The thesis argues that sport, and in particular, rugby, is a central feature of boys. constructions of masculinity. Due to the physical nature of rugby and the hype that surrounds and the support that is given to the sport, it has become part of the hegemonic culture of boys at Connaught Prep School. But hegemonic masculinity is not fixed; it is contested and changes. The 1st XV rugby team and its members are an important part of the process that gives content to the masculinity that is hegemonic at Connaught Preparatory. The boys try and live up to the ideals of masculinity that they see on television, hear from and see in their fathers and find in other boys. In selecting a set of sporty values, these boys perpetuate rugby as the preferred sport and a rugged school boy masculinity as the hegemonic made gender identity of the school. While the 1st rugby team try to aspire to the ideal hegemonic masculinity at the school, they cannot meet the ideal rugby masculinity and this renders them vulnerable. They are vulnerable to physical injury and also to the humiliation of heavy losses against rival teams. Susceptible to these conditions makes their construction of masculinity a delicate and fragile situation to be in. While the boys contribute to hegemonic masculinity they also, at times, undermine it by contributing to a counter hegemonic masculinity. These are the boys that stress playing sport for fun (rather than winning), are caring, and develop friendships through the sport. The findings of this study, brings to light the importance of sport in the development of a young boys. masculinity and the vulnerable and fragile situation these boys find themselves in as a result. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

This discursive study, investigates the role of discourse in the creation of denial and the unconscious in adolescent sexual offenders. It also attempts to illustrate that the denial expressed by the adolescent sexual offenders towards their abuse event, in fact reflects a collective societal dialogic unconscious, as evidenced in legal, social and psychological discourses, towards sexual abuse. The scarcity of local literature in this field and the increasing number of young offenders, provides the motivation for the research. A conversational analysis, as extended by Michael Billig, revealed that the seven adolescent sexual offenders interviewed for this study all oscillated between discourses of denial and acknowledgement. The ideological consequences of an acknowledgement position bear the potential for shame and ostracism from family, peers and the community. The adolescents therefore drew on different and often inconsistent and varying rhetorical resources, in order that they could construct their accounts of the abuse event as morally appropriate, in order to remain on the moral high-ground within the conversational setting of the study. A complex code of absences were also noted in the discourses. These silences frequently contained the abusive event, and created a context in which the discourses of contradiction and disclaiming accounts could function and enabled the adolescents to constructs themselves as morally polite. Finally, I illustrated that the ambiguity and ambivalence expressed by the adolescents, is reflected in a collective denial within society. The accounts presented by the adolescents were a construct of our culture's ambiguous and ambivalent attitude towards violence and sexually abusive events against children and women. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

During the six month period June to December 1990, 300 Indian teenagers attending the urban general practice of the researcher were interviewed. Data pertaining to age, sex, knowledge and utilization of contraceptives were recorded. The results showed that the majority of teenagers (57%) had a good knowledge of contraceptives. Utilization, however remained low. Most (56%) knew where their local Family Planning Clinic was, but only a small percentage (15%) attended. Recommendations directed towards implementing increased utilization of various contraceptive methods and decreasing teenage pregnancies are submitted. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.

This study examined the effects of pre-exercise carbohydrate (CHO) supplementation on anaerobic exercise performance in adolescent males (n =11; 15.0 ± 0.9 yrs). On separate days, subjects consumed either a CHO or a placebo (PL) beverage followed by 2 Wingate anaerobic tests (WAnT) separated with ten by 10-second sprints. Peak (PP), mean power (MP) and fatigue index (FI) were assessed. Venous blood samples were obtained and analyzed for glucose, lactate, insulin, and catecholamines. A trial by time ANOVA (P < 0.05) was used in the analysis. PP and MP tended to be higher (P < 0.09) in CHO versus PL, and MP tended to decline more in CHO (P < 0.06); Fl for the two WAnT were similar. Glucose concentration significantly increased after CHO consumption and then returned to baseline post-exercise, whereas glucose level remained unchanged over time during PL; similarly observed for insulin. Lactate and catecholamine levels significantly increased over time, but a trial difference was only observed in epinephrine. The tendency for PP and MP to be higher in CHO might suggest a potential ergogenic benefit of pre-exercise CHO although the change in MP over time in CHO and the similarity in Fl might suggest otherwise. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Individuals with NIDDM and low insulin sensitivity (Si) have altered fuel use, which may appear in NIDDM relatives. Adolescent males, six with NIDDM relatives (POS) and six controls (CON), matched for fitness and fatness, participated. Peak oxygen uptake (V02pea), ventilatory threshold (VT) and body composition were measured. Insulin and glucose values were used for Si estimates. Oxygen consumption (V02) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) measurements were made at rest and during exercise at 80,100 and 120% of VT for substrate use. No group differences were found in anthropometric data, V02pea, VT or blood measurements, although fat free mass (FFM) tended to be greater in CON. CON tended to use a higher percentage carbohydrate and a lower percentage of fat than POS, but differences were no longer present after normalization to FFM. Trends towards fuel use differences may suggest metabolic abnormalities are present in POS, but further investigation is necessary. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

This study investigates the relationship between media consumption and weight control, using data from a nationally representative study on adolescent health to examine differences between younger and older females (N=2,519). No relationship was found between television viewing and weight control for the sample as a whole; however, a negative association was noted for younger girls when the ages were split. There was no significant finding for the relationship between TV hours and negative body image for either age group. Positive relationships were noted for both groups in terms of negative body image and weight control. These results do not support the hypothesis that media use is predictive of weight control behaviors. Though a connection between negative body image and weight control was supported, no link was found between body image and media consumption. These results underscore the need for further research on weight control that can lead to eating disorders. / Department of Sociology

One of the most serious phenomena plaguing families and societies worldwide is teenage pregnancy. In South Africa teenage mothers are permitted to return to schools after giving bith however, not much is done to support these mothers in order to ensure that they are not psychosocially vulnerable and not drop out of school due to possible stress, frustration and lack of scholastic progress. This is where this study is located. This was a Qualitative study that used symbolic drawings accompanied by short descriptive narratives and individual, semi-structured interviews as data collection methods. The study involved 10 teenage mothers who had been re-admitted to schools after giving birth. The participants were aged 15 and 16 and is grades 9 and 10. The findings show that teenage mothers enjoyed family support, had dreams for the future, were anchored in religion and spirituality, had determination and that they had abilities to learn from mistakes. I could not locate a study that had focused on the typical vulnerabilities and empowerment of teenage mothers. Therefore, this study provides useful insight into the factors that are known to render young girls vulnerable to teenage pregnancy and the resultant motherhood and the personal and exological processes that combine in complex ways in order to enable young mothers to cope resiliently. The findings add to theory and have implications for practice / Thesis (MEd (Learner Support))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This study examined the relationship between attachment and adolescent sex abusers through a literature review. Due to the dearth of literature on this subject, separate literature reviews were conducted on attachment theory and on predisposing factors to adolescent sex abusing. The results indicated that a causal relationship between attachment and the development of adolescent sex abusers is unlikely; however, insecure attachment styles were found to be one of many factors related to adolescent sex abusing. Theories related to emotional stress, the developmental stage of adolescence, intergenerational transmission and sibling incest were generated within the theoretical context of attachment. A typology was constructed that suggests how different attachment styles may be associated with various types of adolescent sex abusers. Implications for primary prevention, treatment interventions and research were discussed.