This study compares two groups of self-referred and court ordered male batterers: those who are depressed (n = 39), and those who are not depressed (n = 61). These two groups are compared along the following variables: alcohol use, anger, anxiety, beliefs about wife beating, jealousy, marital satisfaction, couple differentiation, psychological violence, and physical violence. Results indicate that the depressed male batterers differ significantly from the nondepressed male batterers. Depressed batterers had higher levels of anger, more anxiety, lower levels of marital satisfaction, were more physically violent toward their partner, and were more psychologically violent toward their partner. The depressed and nondepressed male batterers did not differ significantly on level of jealousy, couple differentiation, or their beliefs about the justification of wife beating. These results have implications for further understanding and treatment of depressed male batterers. / Master of Science

A dissertation submitted in 25% fulfilment of the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Social Security Policy Management and Administration in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of Witwatersrand – South Africa, February 2018 / Domestic workers in Zimbabwe do not belong to any social security system for protection against any shocks such as old age, death, invalidity, illness, maternity or occupational injuries. It is because of these social problems that this research study was carried out. The study seeks to understand the risks domestic workers in the Greenside and Chikanga suburbs of the city of Mutare face on a daily basis so as to propose an extension of the social security system to this informal sector. In addition, the study wishes to obtain the perceptions of employers of domestic workers on extending social security system to these workers and their role in this extension. A qualitative method was implemented with interviews carried out purposively with respect to domestic workers using snowball sampling and stratified sampling for interviews with employers. The findings show that some domestic workers ended in this type of job because their parents could not afford the fees for them to further their studies. Those with a fair level of education, findings show that they could not find a better job. The study findings reveal that domestic workers face several life challenges such as the inability to negotiate their salary, the inability for them to buy food or pay school fees for their children; the inability to save towards retirement; pregnancy - as they do not have maternity benefits; and the inability to pay for health care as well as funeral cover. Most domestic workers also fear losing their jobs as a result of occupational injuries. However, the findings also reveal that domestic workers are willing to participate in a social security insurance system on a voluntary basis and are prepared to contribute on a monthly basis. Employers of domestic workers are in favour of a social security scheme for their domestic workers. The employers were also in favour of government regulating domestic work like any other profession and were prepared to register their domestic workers if such policy was in place. Employers, however, felt domestic workers were untrustworthy, as such, they were prepared to contribute towards their social security scheme if the domestic worker stayed for at least five years under their employment. Findings also showed that employers were prepared to play a role in educating their domestic workers on the benefits of saving towards retirement. The objectives of the study were therefore realised, and it would be in the interest of the state to come up with a policy on extending social security system to the domestic workers as a way of promoting economic development and poverty reduction. / XL2019

No description available.

No description available.

The effects of violent portrayals in the media have been well established and documented in the field of psychology. The research conducted in this area often report results that correspond with the widespread critical notion that these depictions of violence are harmful in their effect for samples of children, adolescents, and adults, usually due to the repeatedly observed result of increased aggression among these samples when exposed to these violent acts. The methodological protocol for most of these studies is to utilize film clips, instead of films in their entirety, and to create a "synthetic" narrative situation around these violent acts that directs the sample audience to perceive that the act was justified or unjustified. Limitations both in the methodology and in the literature in this area of psychological research become evident in their disregard of the large library of research and theory that exists in film studies, most of which can be grounded in psychological theory that discusses a semiotic structure in relation to thought processes as theorized by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Slavoj Zizek. Film studies have recognized that the cognitive psychological reactions of audiences to any given film are directed by the actual, full-length, narrative structure as intended by the director. Features, such as music, voice-over narration, metaphors, close-ups, etc., are tools used to create a narrative story which ultimately defines a context, mostly subjectively, for a viewer. This study makes notes of these limitations and utilizes a methodology that exposes participants to one of four defined contexts of violence, Unrealistic Context of Violence, Romanticized Context of Violence, Social-Consequential Context of Violence, and Nonviolent all of which projected the film in its entirety. A more integrative approach was taken to response questionnaires, which utilized both subjective and objective response categories. The purpose of this methodology is to support the notion that an intended narrative will guide the audience to a response based on how it defines a context through stylistic components. This type of narrative cannot, and has not in previous studies, be synthetically created by an experimenter to create a context that is to be applied to a film clip. Results of this study will be used to discuss the implications they have on censorship and future psychological research.

Thesis (M.Ed.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

Aim: This study examined the difference in identity development between adolescents exposed to domestic violence and those in non-violent homes, gender differences, as well as the interaction between gender and exposure to domestic violence on identity development of adolescents. Method: Participants consisted of 45 male and 64 female students from the University of Limpopo, whose ages ranged from 15 to 20 years. Adolescents were classified into one of the two domestic violence exposure groups (namely, those from violent homes and nonviolent homes) on the basis of respondents' ratings of their exposure to domestic violence both as witnesses of violence between their parents and direct victims. Their levels of exposure were then compared with identity development. Results: The results indicated that the difference between the two groups of exposure to domestic violence reached a statistical significance on identity development. However, the gender differences in identity development of adolescents exposed to domestic violence and those not exposed did not reach any statistical significance. Again, on the interaction between gender and exposure to domestic violence on identity development, the results revealed no significant or acceptable level of interaction. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.(Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2010

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health