published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-36).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-119).

Not available / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Deborah J. Tharinger. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this study was to investigate possible relationships between psychological strengths, temperament and choice of coping strategy. The study was based on the assumption that a positive life orientation possibly has biological roots. Temperament was defined as a biological factor that influences a positive life orientation and psychological strength. Psychological strength was conceptualised as the presence of a sense of coherence and locus of control. Coping was defined as the choice of coping strategy. A secondary aim of this study was to determine if there are any gender differences between adolescents regarding psychological strengths, temperament and choice of coping strategy. Although there are telling indicators of the influence of temperament on negative life outcomes, the influence of temperament in positive life outcomes are not as clearly delineated. This is especially true regarding adolescents. Even though younger children and adults have been extensively studied regarding salutogenesis and temperament, few studies reported on adolescent salutogenesis and temperament. It was postulated that temperament would have a significant influence on a salutogenic view of life in adolescence and that this would in turn influence the typical ways in which adolescents cope or their choice of coping strategy. The research questions were concerned with the relationship between psychological strength measured as sense of coherence and locus of control, temperament and choice of coping strategy respectively, as well as the ways in which temperament could predict a salutogenic life orientation and ways of coping. A dearth was noted in the literature regarding salutogenesis, temperament and the developmental aspects related to salutogenesis in adolescence. Few studies include adolescents as participants and few concentrate on biologically based variables related to salutogenesis. Few studies report on positive outcomes specifically as it relates to temperament. Lastly a lack of integrative thought in psychology regarding divergent fields like biology and psychology and how it relates to salutogenic functioning, are in evidence. Research questions were explored in a sample of 141 pupils completing Grade 11 at two multi-racial schools in the east of Johannesburg. This sample was taken from a population of urban adolescents with average socio-economic status, completing public schooling in either English or Afrikaans. The average age of participants was 17 years. The sample consisted of 65.2% girls and 34.8% boys. The sample further consisted of 12.8% Black English speaking participants, 77.3% White Afrikaans speaking participants and 9.9% Coloured Afrikaans speaking participants. Four self-report measures were used to measure sense of coherence, temperament and choice of coping strategy. These were the Orientation to Life Questionnaire (Antonovsky, 1987), the Locus of Control Inventory (Schepers, 1999), the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (Zuckerman et al., 1993) and the Adolescent Coping Scale (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993). The Orientation to Life Questionnaire measures Comprehensibility, Manageability and Meaningfulness. The Locus of Control Inventory measures Internal locus of control, External locus of control and Autonomy. The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire measures Impulsive sensation seeking, Neuroticism-anxiety, Aggression-hostility, Activity and Sociability. The Adolescent Coping Scale measures eighteen coping strategies. Four subscales were removed due to low levels of internal reliability. Choice of coping strategy was therefore only measured by fourteen of the original subscales which were Seek social support, Focus on solving the problem, Work hard and achieve, Worry, Invest in close friends, Wishful thinking, Tension reduction, Social action, Ignore the problem, Self-blame, Keep to self, Seek spiritual support, Seek professional help and Physical recreation. Data collected from the completed questionnaires were tested for normality of subscale distributions. T-tests for independent samples were used to determine whether adolescent boys and girls differed significantly on the mean test scores for sense of coherence, locus of control, choice of coping strategy and temperament. Pearson’s correlation analysis and canonical correlation analyses were conducted to ascertain whether there were any meaningful patterns of relationships between the two sets of variables, i.e. salutogenic functioning and temperament. Finally logistical regression analyses were used to predict salutogenic outcomes based on a set of independent temperament variables. Results indicated gender differences regarding psychological strengths, temperament and coping behaviour. Adolescent boys presented with higher levels of Comprehensibility and Manageability than girls. Adolescent girls generally displayed higher levels of Internal locus of control and Neuroticism-anxiety. They tended to make use of Social support, Worry, Tension reduction and Self-blame as coping strategies. There are strong relationships between the dimensions of psychological strength, temperament and choice of coping strategy. Certain temperament traits like Neuroticism-anxiety and Aggression-hostility contributed to low levels of coherence and external locus of control, as well as the use of dysfunctional coping strategies. Temperament traits like Activity and Sociability contributed to high coherence, Autonomy and a choice of adaptive coping strategies. These results indicate possible links between biological functioning and perception as well as coping behaviour. It may be concluded that there are links between psychological strengths like sense of coherence and locus of control, temperament and coping. The dynamics of the interaction between these variables are complex but becoming increasingly clear. Temperament traits contribute separately and in combination to perceptions of Comprehensibility, Manageability, Meaningfulness, control attributions and coping. It would therefore seem that constellations of traits exist that predict life orientation and behavioural outcomes. The ability to regulate emotion and attention, social adeptness and activity seem to be of particular importance in salutogenic perceptions and adaptive coping. The results of this study pertain to a particular sample of adolescents that cannot necessarily be generalised to other populations. It is recommended that this study should be replicated in more diverse samples especially from other cultures and communities. Care should be taken to develop and use measuring instruments applicable in a multi-cultural South African context and other indexes of biological functioning, salutogenesis and coping could be used. The findings of this study should be integrated to applicatory models when working with youths. / Professor Anita Stuart

Numerous studies have examined stress coping and some extents of wellbeing in adolescents using drugs, however, not many have assessed changes in these constructs in adolescents undergoing drug rehabilitation. The present study aims to (1) examine changes in coping and domains of subjective wellbeing, and (2) explore potential causal relationship between changes in coping and subjective wellbeing in 111 students currently studying at Christian Zheng Sheng College (ZS). The present study was of cross-sequential design, where students completed the same set of relevant questionnaires at baseline, 4 months, 8 months and 12 months later. Latent Growth Modelling (LGM) and cross-lagged regression analyses were conducted to examine changes in these constructs across time and potential causality between the observed changes. Results from the LGMs suggest that students who have stayed longer at ZS had higher baseline in self-perceived success in important domains in life and overall satisfaction with life than those who have stayed for shorter duration of time. Students who have stayed longer at ZS also had more active coping and positive reframing than those who have stayed for shorter duration of time. Results from the cross-lagged regression models suggest that one’s self-perceived success in important areas of life and overall satisfaction with life possibly predicts one’s use of adaptive strategies, for instance, accommodation (i.e., positive reframing and acceptance) and problem solving (i.e., active coping and planning) in coping with stress. Overall, the results from the present study highlighted the potential of enhancing adolescents’ subjective wellbeing in promoting adaptive stress coping in the drug rehabilitation programme. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

Concerns about the increasing high rate of divorce and marital disputes in the Hong Kong community and of children living in these families have been raised by educators, social workers and mental health professionals. It is held that parental divorce and interparental conflicts have strong and enduring detrimental effects on the development of children. This project examined the risk and resilience in terms of cognitive processing styles in adolescents under interparental conflict divorced family environment. The total number of adolescents participating in this study was 1,384. They came from 4 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Seven hundred and twenty of them (52.0%) were males, and 656 (47.4%) were females. Their age ranged from 11 to 18 years old, mean age was 13.59 years (SD = 1.06). Among them, 170 (12.3%) came from divorced families, 1,174 (84.8%) came from two-parent intact homes, and 40 (2.9%) participants did not answer this question. All participants filled in the same packet of questionnaires. These questionnaires assessed their attentional styles, symptoms of emotional disorders, happiness and interparental conflict. The participants completed the questionnaire under the supervision of the author, or a research assistant, or a teacher in class. Participants who reported that their parents had separated or divorced were required to answer additional questionnaires that measured self-blame and self-perceived positive change. Data obtained from the large pool of samples (n = 1,384) was used for validation of the Chinese version of the Attention to Positive and Negative Information Revised scale (CAPNIR). Data from participants who came from divorced families (n = 170) was used for validating the Chinese Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI-C). Data from adolescents who reported to have witnessed interparental conflict (n = 767) was used for evaluating the psychometric property of the Interparental Conflict Scale (IPCS). Results showed that these three inventories had good internal consistency reliabilities as well as convergent validities. Results of the principle component analysis (PCA) also showed that the factor structures of both the APNIR and the CPTGI-C were comparable to the English version questionnaires. The main findings of this project consisted of two parts. The first part explored the adjustment of adolescents from divorced families. It also investigated whether divorced and intact families with presence and absence of interparental conflict would have different adjustment outcomes, and whether there was an interaction between family status and interparental conflict on the outcomes. Statistical methods that included correlation analysis, independent sample t-test comparisons, 2-way multivariate analysis and factoral analysis of variance were used. In consistent with existing findings, the following results were obtained. First, adolescents from divorced families in general demonstrated more symptoms of emotional disorders than those from two-parent intact families. Second, adolescents from divorced families had witnessed a significantly higher level of interparental conflict than those from two-parent intact families. Third, parental divorce and interparental conflict significantly predicted adolescents’ maladjustment. Fourth, adolescents from two-parent intact families were happier than adolescents who came from divorced families. The second part of the main study focused on examining the relationship between cognitive processing styles (attentional styles and internal attribution) and adjustment by using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Several significant findings were presented. First, a greater level of negative attentional style was predictive of more symptoms of psychopathology and less happiness. Second, a higher level of positive attentional style was related to more positive emotion and self-perceived personal growth, and less symptoms of psychopathology. Third, while interparental conflict was found to associate with anxiety and aggression, its effects were partially mediated by self-blame; and the effects of parental disputes on depression and happiness were fully mediated by self-blame. The current findings extend existing empirical knowledge by demonstrating that negative attentional style and internal attribution not only linked to more symptoms of emotional disorders but also to less positive emotion. At the same time, positive attentional style predicted positive affect and self-perceived positive change, which to the best of the author’s knowledge, had not been explored in previous studies. Implications, limitations and future directions of these findings were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

The relationships among intra-individual vulnerability, stress, and adjustment were assessed within a sample of 621 young adolescents from a predominantly affluent suburban area. Also considered was the extent to which gender and family structure influenced the prevalence of these three conditions. Vulnerable teenagers were distinguished from their peers based on their inability to effectively manage the developmental task of individuation. The components of the individuation process considered included ego and cognitive autonomy, and parent and peer relatedness. Stress was measured based on self-reported exposure to conditions of threat, demand, or structural constraint. Indices of depression, problem behaviors, school performance, school absences, and teacher perceived risk were utilized to assess adjustment. Consonant with hypotheses that pronounced difficulty resolving a developmental task is characteristic of vulnerable individuals and that exposure to numerous psychosocial stressors puts individuals at-risk for maladjustment, adolescents who were either poorly individuated or highly stressed exhibited greater dysfunction than their peers. Also individuated or highly stressed exhibited greater dysfunction than their peers. Also consistent with expectations, the poorest overall adjustment was exhibited by vulnerable adolescents who were exposed to multiple stressors. Gender and family structure affected the incidence of vulnerability, elevated exposure to stress, and maladjustment. However, the impact of gender was inconsistent with hypotheses, as girls were found to be at lower risk for dysfunction than boys.