M.Phil. (Adolescent Guidance) / Research studies indicate that so-called non-clinical or normal depression is a common and widespread phenomenon amongst adolescents and that the rate of depression increases dramatically in early adolescence, particularly amongst adolescent girls. Although depression is generally considered as a mood isturbance, it is in effect a whole body experience involving the mind, body and spirit of the adolescent and can cause a variety of future adjustment problems. Current research on adolescent depression indicates that depression is particularly responsive to intervention and that early identification will prevent the development of a pernicious form of depression in adolescents. This study thus focuses on the early identification of non-clinical or normal depression in girls in early adolescence. Guidelines are described to support them in their experience of normal depression. The application of guidelines is thus preventive in nature and aimed primarily at supporting the young adolescent girls. The research design followed in this study can be described as a qualitative design with an exploratory, descriptive and contextual focus. Data was collected by means of phenomenological interviews and field notes. A literature control was used to verify the findings. The study was conducted in two phases. In phase one young adolescent girls' experience of non-clinical depression was explored. In phase two the collected data was used as the basis for inferring and describing guidelines to support young adolescent girls who experience non-clinical depression. After the data was analysed, two broad themes were identified and were used as a basis to describe guidelines that can support young adolescent girls who experience normal depression. The first theme reflects their perception of how they experience nonclinical depression, while the second theme reflects the influence of dysfunctional interpersonal relationships between their family, peers or teachers and themselves in precipitating or maintaining their experiences. Guidelines inferred from these themes were described that could be applied to support them in these experiences. The findings from this study reveal that the young adolescent girls are not yet clinically depressed, However, if intervention measures are not implemented to support them, their feelings and experiences could develop into clinical depression. It is hoped that this study will assist in the early identification of non-clinical depression in young adolescent girls and that the guidelines will support them so that the development of clinical depression can be prevented.

Bullying appears to be a worldwide phenomenon. It occurs within schools, homes, and in the community too. Bullying is a form of aggressive behaviour. Female bullying is not so easily noticed, as girls hardly ever use physical forms of aggression. Bullying can have a detrimental effect on the mental health of the victim. The victims of bullying experience symptoms of mental discomfort, which include low self esteem, feelings of helplessness, feelings of worthlessness and inferiority, lack of confidence, isolation, self-conscientiousness; and lastly, this can lead to suicide. Some form of intervention is necessary to provide adolescents with skills to combat bullying and help them to become mentally healthy again. The overall goal of the study was to develop, implement and evaluate a psycho-educational programme for female adolescents in a secondary school setting, in order to assist them in coping with bullying. The objectives of the research study were to: Conduct asituational analysis to identify the mental health needs of adolescent girls, as victimsof bullying. Develop a psycho-educational programme to facilitate the promotion of mental health of those adolescent girls who are victims of bullying. Implement the psycho-educational programme to facilitate coping by adolescent girls who are victims of bullying.  Assess whether the adolescent girls have benefitted from attending the psycho-educational programme. The researcher used a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design. The research methodology consisted of four phases. In phase one of the research, a situational analysis was done; and the characteristics of mental discomfort exhibited by the victim were identified. The needs of the adolescent girl who has been bullied have already been described. Phase two involved the development of a psycho-educational programme. The information from the situational analysis was used to develop the conceptual framework. The six concepts in the survey list of Dickoff et al. (1968:422) were described as follows: the recipient is the adolescent girl who has been bullied, the agent is an advanced psychiatric nurse, the context is the community and the secondary school where bullying takes place, the dynamics of the intervention constitute the mental discomfort experienced by the adolescent girl. This is what motivates her to participate in the programme. The procedure was identified as the psycho-educational programme, while the terminus or outcome of the intervention for the adolescent girl would be for her to experience mental health after being exposed to the psycho-educational programme. The relationship between the concepts was used to form the mind map of the conceptual framework. This guided the development of the psycho-educational programme. The content of the programme has already been described. In phase three the psycho-educational programme is implemented and in phase four the programme is evaluated. The psycho-educational programme taught the teenage girls skills and it provided them with knowledge to cope better with the bullying. Attending the programme made the teenagers aware that they needed to change to experience mental health and happiness. The empirical study took place in phase four. The data-gathering method in phase four included the conducting of semi-structured interviews with the adolescent girls who participated in the programme, as well as the teachers of these adolescent girls and their parents. Naïve sketches, reflective journals, observations made and field notes formed part of this database. The data was analyzed by means of Tesch‟s descriptive analysis (in Creswell, 2003:192). The participants had to comment on how they were coping after the implementation of the psycho-educational programme. In conclusion, an intervention in the form of the psycho-educational programme was shown to be beneficial to adolescent girls who were victims of bullying, to assist them in coping with the aftermath of being bullied. Recommendations were made to enhance nursing practice, as well as nursing education and nursing research. Keywords: Adolescent girls, bullying, secondary schools, advanced psychiatric nurse, psycho-educational programme, mental health.

This dissertation applies the life course framework to understanding gender differences in the connection between academic performance and mental health. The premise for this study is based on the paradox that girls perform better in school but get less of a boost to their sense of well being from their achievement relative to boys. The life course perspective focuses both on how different pathways, such as academics and mental health, intertwine and the need to study important transitions, such as the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. This research addresses this transition by considering the consequences of the gender paradox on college enrollment and persistence. The quantitative analyses utilize Waves I, II, and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results indicate that academic performance and depression were positively correlated for girls and negatively correlated for boys. Adolescent gender differences in depression are driven by the high achieving segment of the student population because girls tend to get less of a mental health boost from earning good grades across the board. This is especially pronounced in high school. The end result is a slight chipping away at the well-documented advantages girls have in postsecondary education. / text

The experience of verbal bullying at school may cause a female adolescent much distress. This distress can result in the adolescent experiencing life as traumatic and may influence her sense of well being negatively. Verbal bullying usually takes the form of name-calling, put-downs and insults. This can be very traumatic for adolescents and can lower their self-esteem, which may eventually lead to mental illness. The parents of adolescent learners often have the misconception that bullying is a normal part of a teenager’s life and are unaware of the distress it may cause the adolescent. The victimized adolescent should, therefore, be provided with support in order to avert the occurrence of mental illness. The goals of this study were to: • Explore and describe the experiences of adolescent girls regarding verbal bullying in secondary school settings. • Develop guidelines to assist mental health nursing specialists in helping adolescent girls to cope with bullying in secondary schools. The researcher used a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design with a phenomenological approach. The research population consisted of female learners in a secondary school setting. Purposive sampling was used in this study to identify participants. Data was collected by means of naïve sketches, one-to-one-interviews and field notes based on observations. Data was analyzed using Tesch’s method (in Creswell, 1994:190) of descriptive analysis. The identified themes were compared to available literature. The data collected from this study was used to develop guidelines to aid mental health nursing specialists to help adolescents to cope with verbal bullying.

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie studie handel oor die implementering van groepsterapie met adolessente koshuisdogters, waarvan die ouers geskei is. Die navorser het bevind dat die meeste koshuisdogters se probleme nie in een dag per week, deur 'n diensdoenende onderwyser in die koshuis aangespreek kan word nie. Hierdie bevinding het die vraag laat ontstaan of groepsterapie in die koshuis geimplementeer kan word. Daar was nie voldoende literatuur in sake groepsterapie by normale kinders nie en daarom is 'n loodsstudie van stapel gestuur. Die doelstelling van die studie is om groepsterapie te implementeer by adolessente koshuisdogters. Daar was baie koshuisdogters, waarvan die ouers geskei is, en daarom is die steekproef verder verfyn. 'n Praktiese handleiding, insluitende werkkaarte, is saamgestel sodat groepsterapie vir enige Opvoedkundige Sielkundige toeganklik kan wees. Die groepsterapie is prakties geimplementeer. Die navorsing bevestig dat groepsterapie met adolessente koshuisdogters, waarvan die ouers geskei is, geimplementeer kan word. / This study deals with the implementation of group therapy with adolescent girls in hostels, whose parents are divorced. The researcher came to the conclusion that teachers, who do duty in the hostel, once a week, cannot give enough attention to those girls who have problems. This conclusion raised the question of whether it would be feasible to implement group therapy in the hostel. There was insufficient literature, concerning group therapy with normal children, and therefore the researcher initiated a pilot study. The aim of the study was to implement group therapy with adolescent girls in the hostel. There were many girls in the hostel whose parents were divorced and so the sample was further curtailed. A practical manual including worksheets were compiled to be easily accessible to any Educational Psychologist doing group therapy. The group therapy was practically implemented and confirmed that group therapy can be implemented. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde (Voorligting))

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie studie handel oor die implementering van groepsterapie met adolessente koshuisdogters, waarvan die ouers geskei is. Die navorser het bevind dat die meeste koshuisdogters se probleme nie in een dag per week, deur 'n diensdoenende onderwyser in die koshuis aangespreek kan word nie. Hierdie bevinding het die vraag laat ontstaan of groepsterapie in die koshuis geimplementeer kan word. Daar was nie voldoende literatuur in sake groepsterapie by normale kinders nie en daarom is 'n loodsstudie van stapel gestuur. Die doelstelling van die studie is om groepsterapie te implementeer by adolessente koshuisdogters. Daar was baie koshuisdogters, waarvan die ouers geskei is, en daarom is die steekproef verder verfyn. 'n Praktiese handleiding, insluitende werkkaarte, is saamgestel sodat groepsterapie vir enige Opvoedkundige Sielkundige toeganklik kan wees. Die groepsterapie is prakties geimplementeer. Die navorsing bevestig dat groepsterapie met adolessente koshuisdogters, waarvan die ouers geskei is, geimplementeer kan word. / This study deals with the implementation of group therapy with adolescent girls in hostels, whose parents are divorced. The researcher came to the conclusion that teachers, who do duty in the hostel, once a week, cannot give enough attention to those girls who have problems. This conclusion raised the question of whether it would be feasible to implement group therapy in the hostel. There was insufficient literature, concerning group therapy with normal children, and therefore the researcher initiated a pilot study. The aim of the study was to implement group therapy with adolescent girls in the hostel. There were many girls in the hostel whose parents were divorced and so the sample was further curtailed. A practical manual including worksheets were compiled to be easily accessible to any Educational Psychologist doing group therapy. The group therapy was practically implemented and confirmed that group therapy can be implemented. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Sielkundige Opvoedkunde (Voorligting))

This study examined the connection between household type and delinquency and depressive symptoms for female adolescents. The present study draws its claims from Power-control theory which, at its most abstract level, predicts gender differences in delinquency based on the level of patriarchy in the family and the theoretical works of Sarah Rosenfield, who argues that it is the over control of females that causes them to have higher rates depression than males. This study hoped to build on research that links differences in family type and parental control to sex differences in delinquency by using the Power-control theory to look depressive symptoms among female adolescents. Past studies looking at female delinquency attempt to understand why females are under representative in crime statistics when compared to their male counterparts. These studies focus most of the attention on the social control placed over females. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the findings showed that, contrary to claims made by power-control theory, patriarchal family did not predict delinquent behavior or depressive symptoms for female adolescents. Further analysis included an instrument of control, parental attachment, risk perceptions and found significant results. Race was also significant in several models. The parent-daughter relationship was most significant in predicting outcomes of depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior. Those who reported close relationships with their parents were less likely to report depressive symptoms and delinquency behavior.

The successful social development of adolescent girls is dependent on the acquisition of the skills required to face the challenges of adult life. Young girls are faced with the problem of a growing aggressive behaviour displayed by the girls who are supposedly their friends. This aggressive behaviour may negatively affect social, psychological or emotional development, possibly resulting in long term social adjustment problems. This investigation identifies the types and causes of aggressive behaviour displayed by adolescent girls, with the intention of ultimately identifying strategies to address aggressive behaviour. The implementation of a schoolbased approach, including all sectors involved in the education of the child in a whole-school programme to address aggressive behaviour, is recommended. Including all parties, firmly committed to addressing aggressive behaviour from a preventative perspective, may result in reducing aggressive behaviour and possibly provide adolescent girls with the coping skills required for successful social development. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Socio-Education)

The successful social development of adolescent girls is dependent on the acquisition of the skills required to face the challenges of adult life. Young girls are faced with the problem of a growing aggressive behaviour displayed by the girls who are supposedly their friends. This aggressive behaviour may negatively affect social, psychological or emotional development, possibly resulting in long term social adjustment problems. This investigation identifies the types and causes of aggressive behaviour displayed by adolescent girls, with the intention of ultimately identifying strategies to address aggressive behaviour. The implementation of a schoolbased approach, including all sectors involved in the education of the child in a whole-school programme to address aggressive behaviour, is recommended. Including all parties, firmly committed to addressing aggressive behaviour from a preventative perspective, may result in reducing aggressive behaviour and possibly provide adolescent girls with the coping skills required for successful social development. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Socio-Education)

The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) randomized housing experiment was designed to evaluate the causal effects of random voucher assignment on the economic outcomes of adults and the educational outcomes of their children. MTO recruited predominantly non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic families living in public housing in neighborhoods with over 40% poverty and, in most cases, racial/ethnic minority concentration of 80% or more. Post hoc, MTO also examined the effect of voucher receipt on the long-term mental health outcomes among adolescents and, generally, found harmful effects among boys, but protective effects among girls. On average, voucher receipt led to residing in more affluent, and slightly less racially and ethnically segregated neighborhoods. These neighborhood differences could have led to greater exposure to perceived racial/ethnic and class discrimination among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adolescents from high-poverty neighborhoods, which, in turn, may have affected their mental health, with a stronger harmful effect among boys than girls. A prior qualitative study found that compared to no voucher, boys whose families moved with a voucher reported more instances of racial and class discrimination in the new neighborhoods. However, girls whose families moved with a voucher did not report more instances of discrimination than girls whose families did not receive a voucher. In addition, Black and Hispanic boys have been shown to be more sensitive to differences in affluence between themselves and their neighbors than girls. For example, low-income boys, but not girls, living alongside more affluent neighbors exhibited more antisocial behavior compared to their peers who lived alongside low-income neighbors. Examining whether aspects of neighborhood poverty and racial/ethnic composition, which may be associated with class and racial/ethnic discrimination, are mechanisms behind the unintended consequences of Section 8 housing voucher receipt may inform more nuanced housing policy decisions. Identifying the pathways for the unintended harmful effects on the mental health of boys may help policymakers distribute housing subsidies in a way that is beneficial to all family members. To examine the potential pathway for the surprising findings in the MTO, I completed three specific aims in this dissertation: a systematic literature review and two empirical aims. First, I conducted a systematic literature review to examine the evidence that sex moderates the established association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and mental health outcomes in Black and Hispanic preadolescents to young adults. Second, I estimated the effect of Section 8 voucher receipt on perceived individual-level racial/ethnic discrimination, stratifying analyses by the selected effect modifiers (e.g., voucher type, sex, and/or city). Third, I estimated the indirect effects of voucher receipt on the risk of long-term mental health outcomes among adolescents through neighborhood affluence and racial/ethnic composition, stratifying by sex. The results of the systematic literature review suggest that, among pre-adolescents to young adults, there was no strong evidence to support the moderating effect of sex on the association between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms or behavioral problems. However, the review found support for the moderating role of sex on the association between perceived discrimination and the outcomes of anxiety and PTSD. In the first empirical study, I found that Low Poverty Voucher (LPV) receipt reduced the risk of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination by police among boys only. In Los Angeles, receipt of LPV and, separately, Traditional Voucher (TRV) receipt reduced the risk of perceived school and neighborhood discrimination, respectively. In contrast, in Chicago, TRV receipt increased the risk of perceived discrimination at a store or at a restaurant. Voucher receipt did not have an estimated effect on the risk of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in Boston or New York. In the second empirical study, among boys, part of the estimated harmful effect of voucher receipt (LPV and TRV combined) on the risk of externalizing disorders was mitigated by a bundle of mediators, which included residing in neighborhoods with less than 20% poverty, more college graduates, and slightly less racial/ethnic segregation over the duration of follow-up. However, the same bundle of mediators explained part of the harmful effect of voucher receipt on the risk of mood disorders among boys. Among girls, part of the protective effect of voucher receipt on externalizing disorders and mood disorders operated through this bundle of mediators. I utilized causal inference methods (i.e., calculated average treatment effect) to estimate the effect of Section 8 housing vouchers on perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in Chapter 3, as well as their indirect effect, through neighborhood affluence and racial/ethnic composition, on long-term adolescent mental health outcomes in Chapter 4. Overall, the findings of this dissertation suggest that there is heterogeneity in the effect of perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and Section 8 voucher receipt on adolescent mental health outcomes. Furthermore, such effects vary depending on the mental health outcome. For example, among boys, the harmful effect of voucher receipt partially operated through the bundle of mediators on mood disorders, but the same mediators had a protective effect on externalizing disorders. Additional research is needed into the causes of these heterogeneous indirect effects on mental health outcomes among boys. Future housing interventions should consider utilizing this information to avoid harming the subgroups they intend to aid.