The study is concerned with the ways early adolescent males understand and experience bullying within a hetero-normative school context. The research focuses on the ways in which bullying occurs, and how it relates to identity development amongst young boys. Key theoretical constructs include multiple masculinities, social dominance theory, and social constructionism. The researcher adopted an ethnographic approach. Constructs were explored through the use of four focus groups and one individual interview with 20 Grade 8 learners at a co-educational high school. Three dominant themes emerged from the discussions. The Embodied Self explores the expression and development of gender identity through the construction of the physical and performative male body. Displaced Masculinities explores the gradual shift in power that young men have experienced in terms of current representations of gender, race and technology. The third theme, Recovering Power, identifies subtle subversion strategies that young males reproduce to recover social power. Bullying is normalised within the school context and is understood as a physical and psychological process that differentiates desirable and undesirable masculinities. Masculinities are actively policed by peers, forcing boys to position themselves against the ideal hegemonic masculinity underpinning feelings of uncertainty and instability. Recommendations include continued opportunities for discussion of gender issues at a formative school level, focused policy development addressing the abuse of communication technologies, and translation of gender research into policy and legislation to recognise the role and responsibilities of men, with the major aim of reducing inequality. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The problem of this study was an investigation into the relationships between personality adjustment and perceived behavior in school and dormitory life of the residents of Boys Ranch, Texas.

No description available.

The challenges of adolescence include negotiating risk behaviours such as alcohol use. The high prevalence and frequency of alcohol use among adolescents has been noted with concern, as has the rapidly decreasing age of initiation. Adolescent alcohol use has been found to be associated with numerous factors at intra-personal, inter-personal and contextual levels. This study aimed to explore qualitatively the perceived underlying factors related to alcohol use and binge drinking among adolescent boys, as identified and explained by the boys themselves. Exploration of these factors was guided by Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, the Prototype/Willingness Model and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory. The study population was comprised of male learners who were at that time in Grade 11 at the school and ranged in age from 16 to 18 years. Three focus group discussions were conducted, each comprising between 8-11 male learners, which were transcribed and analysed thematically in order to identify commonalties and variances among the responses of participants. The Nvivo software program was used to aid analysis. The findings of this study indicate that there are a variety of factors which influence adolescent alcohol use, and which operate individually as well as cumulatively. While adolescent boys are aware of the consequences of alcohol use and binge drinking, they often do not perceive themselves to be vulnerable to these risks. Protective factors include the school identity, team activities such as sports, and a sense of future. In conclusion, adolescent alcohol use is extremely complicated as it is impacted by multiple factors, and thus an awareness and greater understanding of the nature in which these factors interact are important for future interventions. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine whether sports in which boys participated spontaneously (i.e., not organized as a treatment) could be associated with the retrenchment of later adolescent delinquent behaviours. The objectives of this particular investigation were to: (i) observe how this participation might alter a negative behavioural developmental trajectory; and (ii) study the possible effects of transition in sports activity (i.e., increases or decreases in participation in sports from year to year) on current and later risk for delinquency. / This investigation utilized data obtained from the Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study of Boys which started in 1984 when the boys were six years old. Seven-hundred-eleven of the subjects met the inclusion criteria necessary to participate in the present study. Each year, from 1989 (age 11) to 1995 (age 17) the subjects were asked to complete the Self-Report-Delinquency questionnaire, a 27-item scale detailing their involvement in antisocial behaviour over the previous 12-month period. The scores of four of these years were retained for study; namely, those for 1989 (age 11), 1991 (age 13), 1993 (age 15), 1995 (age 17). (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

M.A. (Clinical psychology) / A plethora of psychological research on the topic of divorce exists. The impact of parental divorce on the children, however, is much disputed in this literature. The present study‟s aim was to attempt to clarify this dilemma by describing the unique experiences of four adolescent males whose parents divorced when they were at a very young age. A qualitative research design was followed. Data was collected in the form of face-to-face interviews or „conversations‟ with the four respondents. Verbatim transcriptions of these conversations were then explored systematically from the hermeneutic tradition in order to understand the distinctive experiences of these four boys, from the time of their parents‟ divorce to the present. The findings from this exploration are in the form of various themes that were extrapolated from the transcriptions and clarified with reference to the existing findings in the literature. In addition, consistent with the hermeneutic tradition, co-construction of meaning was enhanced by the symbolic use of selected paintings. In summary, this study offers a description of four adolescent males‟ personal experiences of their parents‟ divorce, with the supplementary use of imagery and art in order to further enrich their subjective and often poignant narratives.

No description available.

Using the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire this study attempted to determine what differences exist between 58 male adolescents in foster care and their peers in the normal population and to establish if there are specific characteristics of the adolescent's background or foster care experience that are related to specific domains of self-image. Characteristics from foster care history included number of placements and length of time at the current placement. The individual background characteristics included were race, educational achievement and age. Foster care youth had lower family self-image and emotional health and higher social self-image when compared to the normative popUlation. When compared separately to the normative population, white youth had higher than normal moral self-image and sexual attitudes and lower scores on family relations and emotional health. Black youth had higher social self-image scores. Lower scores on several domains of self-image were associated with being younger, being white, having lower academic achievement, having more placements, and staying at the current placement for a longer period of time. The implications of these findings for foster care placement decisions are discussed. / Ph. D.

Examines the prevalence of depression among delinquent adolescent boys placed in a residential placement facility located in Yucaipa, California and managed by Trinity Children and Family Services, a non-profit organization. The Beck Depression Inventory was administered to 54 randomly selected boys (ages 12-18) of different ethnic backgrounds. Independent variables included length of time in the group home, the level of support from the family and the number of visitations the client received from family or other support systems. Results indicated that (1) White adolescents experience the highest levels of depression, (2) there was no difference in regards to depression in relation to age, and (3) that time in placement and the amount of family involvement had an impact on the level of depression of the adolescent.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was one of the most widely used psychological tests administered to adolescents. The MMPI-A is a revised version of the MMPI that was developed specifically for adolescents. The purpose of this study is to establish clinical correlates for the MMPI-A standard scale codetypes.