Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-02-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:35:17Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 anjos_re_me_arafcl.pdf: 761371 bytes, checksum: 9701e89974f9c3bf49754ef504001951 (MD5) / Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta aportes teóricos para a educação escolar de adolescentes, por meio da aproximação entre a concepção da psicologia histórico-cultural sobre o desenvolvimento psíquico na adolescência e a teoria filosófico-ontológica da individualidade para-si. Com o objetivo de superar visões naturalizantes e patologizantes sobre a adolescência, a presente pesquisa concebe a idade de transição como um momento privilegiado, no desenvolvimento humano, para a formação do pensamento por conceitos e postula que essa nova forma de pensamento, qual seja: o pensamento conceitual, capacita o adolescente a apropriar-se adequadamente das produções das esferas mais elevadas de objetivação do gênero humano como a ciência, a arte e a filosofia. Este trabalho analisa que a apropriação dessas objetivações não cotidianas, objetivações genéricas para-si, possibilita a formação de novas funções psicológicas superiores e, consequentemente, a formação do autodomínio da conduta e a estruturação da concepção de mundo e da personalidade do adolescente. A pesquisa conclui que a educação escolar dos adolescentes deve ser um processo mediador entre a esfera da vida cotidiana e as esferas não cotidianas da prática social. Daí sua contribuição decisiva, a partir da transmissão dos conteúdos sistematizados, para a formação da individualidade dos adolescentes, conduzindo-os no processo de superação por incorporação das funções psicológicas espontâneas às funções psicológicas voluntárias, ou seja, a passagem do em-si ao para-si / This dissertation presents theoretical support for school education of adolescents, through the integration between the design of cultural-historical psychology on the psychological development during adolescence and philosophical-ontological theory of individuality for itself. In order to overcome visions and naturalizing patologization about adolescence, this research conceives the age of transition as a privileged moment in human development, the formation of thought by concepts and postulates that this new way of thinking, which one, thinking conceptual, enables adolescents to take ownership of appropriately higher spheres of objectification of the human race as science, art and philosophy. This paper analyzes the appropriation of these objectivations not everyday objectivations generic for itself, enables the formation of new higher psychological functions and consequently the formation of self-control of behavior and structure of world view and personality of the teenager. The research concludes that education should be a mediating process between the sphere of everyday life and no walks everyday social practice. Hence his decisive contribution from the systematic transmission of content, for the formation of individuality teens, leading him in the process of overcoming the psychological functions by incorporating spontaneous volunteers to psychological functions, in other words, the transition from in-itself to the-itself

abstract: During adolescence, friends are a central part of adolescents' daily lives, they serve as significant sources of emotional support and companionship (Keefe & Berndt, 1996; Way & Robinson, 2003) as well as provide opportunities to negotiate interpersonal conflicts and disagreements (Laursen & Pursell, 2009). This study was designed to examine the nature and correlates of friendships, capturing the multidimensional nature of these relationships. Specifically, three goals were proposed: (a) to use a pattern-analytic approach to identify different profiles of adolescents' friendships along three dimensions: intimacy, negativity, and involvement; (b) to examine linkages between profile membership and adolescents' cultural orientations and values; and (c) to explore the relation between profile membership and adolescent well-being. Participants were 246 Mexican-origin adolescents (M = 12.50 years; SD = 0.58) who participated in home interviews and a series of nightly phone calls. Adolescents reported on their friendship qualities, their cultural orientations and values, as well as their depressive symptoms, risky behaviors, and on their current grades (GPA). Adolescents' time spent with best friends was calculated from the seven nightly phone calls. Results revealed three distinct latent profiles: Positive Engagement, Moderate Engagement, and Low Involvement. Profile membership was not linked to adolescents' cultural orientations and values. Further, associations emerged between profile membership and adolescents' GPA, but not their risky behaviors and depressive symptoms. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Family and Human Development 2011

Stress is a pervasive phenomenon that occurs in the lives of people of all age groups but is particularly prominent in the lives of adolescents. A limited and manageable degree of stress motivates a person to perform and engenders a zest for living, but excessive stress is harmful, not only to the victim's health, but also to his affective, social and cognitive development. Too much stress in the life of the adolescent may therefore exert a negative influence on his scolastic performance in that it may lead to underachievement, concentration problems, absenteeism, disinterest in class- and homework, and lowered student satisfaction and self-esteem. To prevent these problems teachers should be capable of identifying excessive stress in pupils and of assisting pupils to cope with stress. Although a considerable number of questionnaires aimed at identifying stress in adolescents are available overseas, no such instrument has been developed for specific application under South African conditions. The purpose of this research is therefore to furnish the educator with 'an instrument for identifying stress in adolescents, not as a means of labelling the child, but to obtain a reference point from which assistance can be offered to the victim of stress. The becoming and development of the adolescent, the definition, causes, mediators and consequences of stress, and responses to stress, have been researched by means of an extensive literature study. A model for the identification and handling of stress in pupils attending secondary schools is proposed, and emphasis is placed on the importance of the teacher's role in the prevention and identification of stress and in assisting pupils who are overburdened with stress. The Adolescent Stress Identification Inventory was developed with reference to the literature study and, following a nomothetic study, standardised by means of statistical methods. It appears from the research that the questionnaire has both a high reliability coefficient and construct validity. It can therefore be applied successfully by educationists and psychologists to identify stress in adolescents. It must be emphasised, however, that awareness and identification of stress in adolescents would be meaningless unless identification leads to prevention and assistance. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Whether or not major changes in family structure during adolescence have positive or negative consequences for adolescents has not been empirically investigated to any extent. The separation-individuation process is considered to be facilitated when adolescents can express themselves in a family context characterized by emotional connectedness (Grotevant & Cooper, 1986). This individuation process is not concerned exclusively with separation or autonomy but rather with the continuing embeddedness of the individual in relationships with others (Karpel, 1976; Youniss, 1983). The impact of parental death on the process of separation-individuation in adolescence was examined in this study. Thirty male and female adolescents, ages 12 to 16 years, from families in which the father had died participated in this study. They were compared with thirty adolescents of comparable age from intact families. The adolescents completed instruments that provided information about development of autonomy (Emotional Autonomy Scale), attachment to mother, father and peers (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment), and adolescents’ perception of family functioning (Family Functioning in Adolescence Questionnaire). Adolescents from the father-deceased group are more autonomous than the intact group in some of the scales. Males from the father- deceased group scored significantly higher than males from the intact group on the emotional autonomy subscales. Adolescents in the father-deceased families showed similar attachment to fathers and mothers when compared with adolescents from intact families. Adolescents’ perceptions of their family functioning showed similar results for both the father-deceased and intact groups with adolescents who scored high in family functioning being less autonomous. Similarly adolescents from the father-deceased group who were more attached to mothers showed less autonomy according to their scores on the Emotional Autonomy Scale. Adolescents’ attachment to peers was unrelated to their level of autonomy. / Graduate

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between adolescent parasuicide, depressive illness and associated risk factors. Reports worldwide indicate that suicidal behaviour in this age group has risen 150% over the past 20 years, whilst the rate for suicide in adults and the elderly has remained the same (Deykin et al, 1985; Neiger & Hopkins, 1988; Sudak, Ford & Rushforth, 1984a). In South Africa statistics confirm similar trends with regard to attempted and completed suicide. Statistics reveal that a high local incidence of adolescent suicide attempters are seen at psychiatric units. One pilot study recorded 187 adolescent suicide attempters during a three month period. This study was based on the hypothesis that the incidence of depressive illness in adolescent suicide attempters is higher than is generally accepted and that this condition often goes unrecognised and is misdiagnosed because it manifests differently with acting out behaviour and "masked" symptomatology. A random sample of suicide attempters between the ages of 13 - 25 who presented at C23 (psychiatric emergencies) Groote Schuur Hospital following a suicide attempt were assessed. 100 subjects were seen over a period of three months. The research procedure comprised a comprehensive assessment incorporating a semi-structured interview, self-report and objective rating scales for depression as well as instruments designed to assess the general health of each subject and their level of suicide intent. The depressive inventories used have been validated for use in this age group and were designed to elicit the associated features of adolescent depression. If warranted, a clinical diagnoses was given based on DSM 1V criteria. This diagnosis was substantiated by information from the research instruments which formed part of the assessment process. A high incidence of clinical disorders was diagnosed in the sample (86%). Depressive illness was found to be a significant risk factor for suicidal behaviour with 68% of the subjects suffering from an affective disorder and 21% reporting depressive symptoms. This study shows that the correlation between parasuicide and depressive illness is high enough to suggest that all suicidal behaviour in this age group should be taken seriously as parasuicide in itself is often a reliable indicator of an underlying depressive condition. Additional risk factors for adolescent parasuicide identified in this study correlated well with the findings of similar research studies. Psychiatric co-morbidity, especially substance use (42%) and cluster B personality factors (54%), were high and served to increase an individual's vulnerability to suicide risk. Psychosocial factors such as sexual abuse (28%) and physical abuse (37%) were also identified as high risk factors for adolescent suicidal behaviour. Individuals at risk for depression and suicidal behaviour typically came from broken homes which were disrupted and unsupportive. Family members were frequently abusing alcohol and 67% of the subjects reported the presence of psychiatric illness in the family. The preferred method of suicide attempt was an overdose (90%). These attempts were generally unplanned and impulsive with no disclosure prior to the event. Intent was usually high at the time of the act. It is only through identifying the risk factors specific to the developmental concerns of this age group and acknowledging the role of depressive illness in adolescent suicidal behaviour that effective preventative measures can be devised.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-07-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:58:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 perez_dk_me_assis.pdf: 871889 bytes, checksum: d02cd65202e53f0c59d2b8b860db2e9a (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A partir da prática profissional em projeto socioambiental, Broto Verde, e de estudos psicológicos a respeito da adolescência, objetivou-se investigar as representações sociais sobre a adolescência e o adolescente por profissionais que atuaram no programa e compreender como essas representações se articulam no cotidiano, além de relacionálas ao trajeto histórico desse programa. Tratou-se de um estudo de caso de caráter qualitativo cujo referencial fundamentou-se na Teoria de Representações Sociais. A população alvo consistiu em dois grupos de profissionais, os responsáveis pela elaboração e os responsáveis pela execução das atividades do projeto. A análise e discussão dos dados obtidos indicaram de modo geral que houve diferenção nas representações entre os profissionais de ambos os grupos. Os que executam possuem uma representação abstrata e universal da adolescência, definem o adolescente de forma negativa, pela carência e pela falta. Os profissionais da elaboração possuem uma respresentação mais contextualizada, o veem de maneira mais positiva e afirmam que seu desenvolvimento se da nas relações que ele estabelece. / From a professional experience in a socio-environmental project, named “Broto Verde”, as well as from psychological studies regarding adolescence, it was intended to investigate with this research, about the social representations above the adolescence and the adolescents formed by those professionals who worked with them on this program, in order to comprehend how these representations are articulated in the daily life, and further, to relate them to the historical path of this project. It was a case study of qualitative nature which referential was based on the “Teoria das Representações Sociais” (Social Representations Theory). The target population consisted in two groups of professionals, those responsible for the elaboration and those in charge of the execution of the project´s activities. The analysis and discussion about the raised informations indicates that, in general, there was differentiation in the representations among the professionals of both groups. The ones that were responsible for executing the activities represent the adolescence in an abstract and universal way, defining them negatively, because of their penury and absence. The professionals involved with the elaboration job have a representation that seems to be more complete, tending to look at them positively and believing that their development is constructed from its social relationships.

D.Ed. / Statistics in the media have given a grim picture about unemployment in South Africa. The question was asked about the influence of the father's unemployment on adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years, who is part of the same family system as the father. Taking into account the important role the family has to fulfil in the development of the adolescent, the researcher wondered to what extent the adolescent's way to adulthood was influenced by the fact that the father and the family was not available to fulfil the role of supporter and caregiver. The father had to deal with his own emotions and feelings and was not available for the adolescent. How did it influence his/her development? The sample criteria were formulated to include adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years whose fathers lost their jobs and who were unemployed at present (having lost their jobs not longer than three months ago). The criteria also included adolescents who were adversely affected by the existential crisis in the form of the father's unemployment. Phenomenological interviews were conducted to determine the adolescents' experience of the father's unemployment. The results, in short, indicated that three emotions were experienced namely fear, insecurity and anger. It was evident that the adolescents did not apply constructive skills to handle the crisis but merely used strategies to survive every day. These strategies lead to the deterioration of relationships with the self and significant others. Their hopes and perception of the future were also negatively influenced. This lead to the adolescents not experiencing a form of well-being and survival was the only prerogative. The researcher decided to look at the construction of a model to support these adolescents by helping them gain personal insight so that in the end, well-being will be experienced. The development of the model proceeded in four stages. During Stage one, concepts were identified, defined and classified after the completion of the fieldwork. The central concept was defined as ''facilitating interaction': and associated concepts were the educational psychologist, the adolescent, the existential crisis, interpersonal processes to apply to the crisis and the reaching of certain goals. Guba 's model was applied to ensure trustworthiness in the qualitative methodology. This refers to the credibility, transferability, reliability and verification of the research. The relationship between concepts was drawn in Step one, the description of the model followed in Step three and the guidelines in operationalising the model followed in Step four. In this research, Steps three and four were integrated and not discussed separately. The model is aimed at supporting the adolescents by applying facilitative interaction to gain personal insight and thus applying more constructive skills to the handling of psychological processes, which will lead to the well-being of the adolescent where problemsolving skills are an integral part of the process. This is indicative of the improvement in the relationship with the self and significant others. The researcher hopes that these skills will become a /ifeski/1 to be applied to other situations. The main theme of the model is:" Assistance to adolescents whose fathers lost their jobs: an educational psychological model".

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

Adolescent boys can either possess an internal or an external locus of control. An internal locus of control refers to a perception of being in control of one’s own life through own decisions and abilities. An external locus of control refers to the opposite, meaning a belief in luck and fate and also that one is being controlled by powers outside oneself. With these different perceptions, especially with the last perception, the high expectations of society of adolescent boys, can lead to frustrations. This can lead to aggression, consisting of physical, verbal and/or indirect aggression, which might be one of the possible causes of aggression in schools. Consequently a questionnaire consisting of 56 items was compiled by a combination of Julian Rotter’s (www.ballarat.edu.au/ard/bssh/psych/rot.htm) “Locus of control” questionnaire (1966) - and Björkqvist, Lagerspetz and Österman’s (www.vasa.abo.fi/svf/up/dias.htm) DIAS (“Direct and Indirect Aggression Scale) questionnaire (1992). Biographical items, namely language of instruction, age and grade of learners, were included as independent variables in the questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 184 boys from School A and 256 boys from School B in Grade 9-11. From the factor analysis, three factors were distinguished consisting of physical, verbal and indirect aggression. All the factors consisted of a high Cronbach Alpha (physical aggression=0.847, verbal aggression=0.820 and indirect aggression=0.845) which reflected a high validity and reliability of the research instrument. According to the relational analysis there was a relationship between external locus of control and especially verbal and indirect aggression, although very slightly. From the differential analysis, it has been judged according to the low averages, that the tendency of the different ways of aggression in language, age and grade are not prominent enough. Yet the following findings were made: • from language of instruction a meaningful difference was found, although with an average of only 0.2, it is not substantial; • age wise it was found that the 15 year old adolescent boys’ indirect aggression was statistically meaningful lower than the 17 year old boys; and lastly • grade in general reflects that the grade 9 learners of specifically School A, were more aggressive (physically, verbally and indirectly) than the grade 10 and 11 learners. From the literature study and empirical search, a definite relationship was found between adolescent boys with an external locus of control and aggression. With the increase of aggressive and violent behaviour in schools, this research topic has relevant and important educational implications for all parties that form part of the educational process.

Part One I A Perspective on Guidance II Concepts of Self This section is a review and discussion of the two conceptualizations which are fundamental to the research structure: guidance as an overall framework within which procedures are devised for the development of this understanding of the "self" . Part Two • III Didactic Discovery IV The Class Citation Award A way of thinking about an ~ducational approach which could generate a classroom mileu, where the in a practical ongoing process to encourage participation and CCA is the key~ote strategy involve the group in "self" and "other" awareness. Part Three V VI Experiment, Survey, Action Research Results, Reflections and Recommendations The three research methods employed to gather evidence of pupil awareness and its implications, with a discussion patterns of self~knowledge, and its effect on the NOTE: Constant reference to thi s page, and to page xxxii will enable the reader to view the thesis as a whole