The main aim of this study was to compare fitness levels of Indian high school boys in two cohorts: 1977 and 1997. A secondary aim was to identify if the same problem areas or strengths still exist in 1997 as in 1977 or if the levels of fitness have further deteriorated or improved, as well as the establishment of norms for boys 14 - 18 years. Ten different Secondary schools from the Durban Metropolitan area participated in this study. The test battery included eight tests measuring four components of motor fitness based on the Fleishman study. The tests that were used consisted of fifty metre shuttle run, fifty metre dash, sit-ups, pull-ups, medicine ball put, shot-put, 250m shuttle run and 12 minute run/walk test. Data from 500 hundred boys were included in the research analysis and these were categorized into 5 different age groups, 13,6 - 14,6 years; 14,7 - 15,6 years; 15,7 - 16,6 years; 16,7 - 17,6 years and 17,7 - 18,6 years. Basic statistical procedures were used to determine the normality of the samples for height and weight in each age group. Standard score tables were drawn for each age group. A paired t-test was used to determine if a significant difference between the means existed. The level of significance was set at 0,05. The means of both studies were compared to ascertain the difference in fitness levels in the two cohorts. The analysis of the data revealed that the fitness status of adolescent boys have deteriorated over two decades. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2000.

The purpose of this study was to compare depressive symptoms reported by boys who were either pre- or postpubescent and who were legally designated delinquent or had no legal histories. A self-report puberty scale and a semi-structured interview (the Child Assessment Schedule-CAS) were administered to 48 boys. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significance levels between groups were examined with Duncan's range test. No significant differences were found between pre- and postpubescent boys for reporting depressive symptoms, but delinquent youths were found to report significantly more depressive symptoms than nondelinquent youths. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the measures used and recommendations for future research.

The health of adolescent boys is complex and surprisingly little is known about how adolescent boys perceive, conceptualise and experience their health. Thus, the overall aim of this thesis was to explore adolescent boys’ perceptions and experiences of health, emotions, masculinity and subjective social status (SSS). This thesis consists of a qualitative, a quantitative and a mixed methods study. The qualitative study aimed to explore how adolescent boys understand the concept of health and what they find important for its achievement. Furthermore, the adolescent boys’ views of masculinity, emotion management and their potential effects on wellbeing were explored. For this purpose, individual interviews were conducted with 33 adolescent boys aged 16-17 years. The quantitative study aimed to investigate the associations between pride, shame and health in adolescence. Data were collected through a cross-sectional postal survey with 705 adolescents. The purpose of the mixed methods study was to investigate associations between SSS in school, socioeconomic status (SES) and self-rated health (SRH), and to explore the concept of SSS in school. Cross-sectional data were combined with interview data in which the meaning of SSS was further explored. Individual interviews with 35 adolescents aged 17-18 years were conducted. In the qualitative study, data were analysed using Grounded Theory. In the quantitative study, statistical analyses (e.g., chi-square test and uni- and multivariable logistic regression analyses) were performed. In the mixed method study, a combination of statistical analyses and thematic network analysis was applied. The results showed that there was a complexity in how the adolescent boys viewed, experienced, dealt with and valued health. On a conceptual level, they perceived health as holistic but when dealing with difficult emotions, they were prone to separate the body from the mind. Thus, the adolescent boys experienced a difference between health as a concept and health as an experience (paper I). Concerning emotional orientation in masculinity, two main categories of masculine conceptions were identified: a gender-normative masculinity and a non-gender-normative masculinity (paper II). Gender-normative masculinity comprised two seemingly opposite emotional masculinity orientations, one towards toughness and the other towards sensitivity, both of which were highly influenced by contextual and situational group norms and demands, despite that their expressions are in contrast to each other. Non-gender-normative masculinity included an orientation towards sincerity, emphasising the personal values of the boys. Emotions were expressed more independently of peer group norms. The findings suggest that different masculinities and the expression of emotions are intricately intertwined and that managing emotions is vital for wellbeing. The present findings also showed that both shame and pride were significantly associated with SRH, and furthermore, that there seems to be a protective effect of experiencing pride for health (paper III). The results also demonstrated that SSS is strongly related to SRH, and high SRH is related to high SSS, and further that the positioning was done in a gendered space (paper IV). Results from all studies suggest that the emotional and relational aspects, as well as perceived SSS, were strongly related to SRH. Positive emotions, trustful relationships and having a sense of belonging were important factors for health and pride was an important emotion protecting health. Physical health, on the other hand, had a more subordinated value, but the body was experienced as an important tool to achieve health. Even though health was mainly perceived in a holistic manner by the boys, there were boys who were prone to dichotomise the health experience into a mind-body dualism when having to deal with difficult emotions. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that young, masculine health is largely experienced through emotions and relationships between individuals and their contexts affected by gendered practices. Health is to feel and function well in mind and body and to have trusting relationships. The results support theories on health as a social construction of interconnected processes. Having confidence in self-esteem, access to trustful relationships and the courage to resist traditional masculine norms while still reinforcing and maintaining social status are all conducive to good health. Researchers as well as professionals need to consider the complexity of adolescent boys’ health in which norms, values, relationships and gender form its social determinants. Those working with young boys should encourage them to integrate physical, social and emotional aspects of health into an interconnected and holistic experience.

Autistic adolescents need direct, systematic training of social skills since major difficulties in communication, lack of empathy, and various changes during adolescence present major roadblocks to the acquisition of normal peer relationships and increasing independence. A case study approach was utilized to examine treatment effects of a social skills training program implemented with four autistic adolescent boys in a naturalistic setting. Findings based on objective measures and subjective reports indicated that each subject made gains in targeted social skills over the course of treatment. Treatment strategies such as modeling, coaching, roleplaying, one to one instruction, and in vivo procedures were found to be effective teaching techniques. Major benefits and limitations of the study were discussed.

This thesis examined the changes in self-esteem of adolescent boys going through the school transition from a single-sex to a co-educational environment. The study combined an initial quantitative study followed by an in-depth qualitative study. The quantitative study used the Coopersmith self esteem instrument to measure the self-esteem of boys in Years 7 and 8 in the last year of the all boys' school. The same instrument was used twelve months later on the same students in Years 8 and 9 after the school had undergone the transition to co-education. Analysis of the data indicated that the boys' overall self-esteem had dropped significantly. The second part of the study was a qualitative study to investigate more fully the effect of the transition on the boys at the school. This part of the study was based on data collected from interviews with twenty seven boys and nine staff, as well as various informal interviews and observations made by the author over the period 1998 to 2004. The qualitative study used the principles of grounded theory (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) to draw out the factors and related phenomena to crystallize why the boys' self-esteem may have been adversely affected. Through this process, three key factors emerged; Everybody's Looking at Me (reflecting social self-esteem), Girls Hold You Back a Step and Academic Stuff (both reflecting academic self-esteem). The qualitative study pointed to why the boys may have felt less favourably about themselves in the co-educational environment. These findings are discussed in detail in relation to the extant literature.

This thesis examined the changes in self-esteem of adolescent boys going through the school transition from a single-sex to a co-educational environment. The study combined an initial quantitative study followed by an in-depth qualitative study. The quantitative study used the Coopersmith self esteem instrument to measure the self-esteem of boys in Years 7 and 8 in the last year of the all boys' school. The same instrument was used twelve months later on the same students in Years 8 and 9 after the school had undergone the transition to co-education. Analysis of the data indicated that the boys' overall self-esteem had dropped significantly. The second part of the study was a qualitative study to investigate more fully the effect of the transition on the boys at the school. This part of the study was based on data collected from interviews with twenty seven boys and nine staff, as well as various informal interviews and observations made by the author over the period 1998 to 2004. The qualitative study used the principles of grounded theory (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) to draw out the factors and related phenomena to crystallize why the boys' self-esteem may have been adversely affected. Through this process, three key factors emerged; Everybody's Looking at Me (reflecting social self-esteem), Girls Hold You Back a Step and Academic Stuff (both reflecting academic self-esteem). The qualitative study pointed to why the boys may have felt less favourably about themselves in the co-educational environment. These findings are discussed in detail in relation to the extant literature.

This qualitative research study explored how verbal processing occurred in music therapy work with adolescent boys living in a shelter in Pretoria. The study examined both how the adolescent boys and the therapist engaged in verbal processing. Three audio excerpts derived from the music therapy sessions were analysed through a process of content analysis. The data was coded, categorised and organised into themes. Results indicated that verbal processing was interrelated between the therapist and the adolescent boys, both making use of various techniques of verbal processing. This proved to be invaluable with the verbal processing facilitating the therapeutic process as the boys were afforded with a safe space where any ideas, feelings, thoughts, hopes and dreams could be expressed and shared with each other, and the therapist was able to gain greater insight into the boys’ more intimate world. I am unaware of any published literature of music therapy with adolescent boys living in a shelter, as music therapy is in its early stages in South Africa, especially with this specific client group. The majority of music therapy literature however, not surprisingly, focuses on musical exchanges during sessions. I would therefore like to explore how verbal processing was used in the music therapy process, after music listening and during song writing, with adolescent boys living in a shelter. This is in order to facilitate a greater understanding and openness towards the possibilities of including clinically informed verbal processing as part of music therapy work with this population group. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / gm2014 / Music / Unrestricted

Two demographically congruous groups of early adolescent boys, one group with identified externalizing behavior problems (ESP) and one group enrolled in regular education (RED), were surveyed using anonymous self-report questionnaires that assessed academic, social, and general domains of perceived control and aspects of familial experiences. Data from EBP and RED boys' extant scholastic archival records were also collected. Also, using anonymous self-report questionnaires, the parents of EBP and RED boys were surveyed regarding their levels of satisfaction regarding aspects of parenting. This study found that EBP boys had statistically significantly lower reading, math, and language achievement scores and grade point averages than RED boys. The general ability level of EBP boys was more similar to, than different from, the RED boys. Regarding perceived control in the academic domain, EBP boys (a) perceived themselves as having substantially less general control over academic success than RED boys, (b) endorsed luck as an effective strategy for academic success more than RED students, and (c) reported statistically significantly greater influence of unknown sources of academic successes and failures than RED boys. Socially, EBP boys reported statistically significantly greater beliefs about unknown sources for social (peers, adults) interaction success and unknown sources for social (peers, adults) interaction failure than RED boys. In the general environment, EBP boys reported significantly greater beliefs about unknown sources for general failure in their daily lives and imputed adults (powerful others) in their environment with great power with respect to preventing them from engaging in general activities. No statistically significant differences were found between the EBP and RED boys on self-reported aspects of parental care, social control/protection, or personal control/protection. Regarding parents' self-reported levels of satisfaction, no statistically significant differences were found between parents of boys in the EBP group and parents of boys in the RED group for spouse/ex-spouse support nor parent performance. Mothers, but not fathers, of EBP boys reported a statistically significantly lower level of satisfaction with the parent-child relationship than mothers of RED boys.

I conducted a narrative inquiry with five ninth grade boys in my English class that I identified as displaying multiple literacies. The classes I taught the boys in were two sections of honors ninth grade English. The boys came from a variety of backgrounds and lived in various neighborhoods in the approximately 20,0000-member community where we all live. The site of this research was the junior high school in Utah where the boys attend school and I had been employed for six years. After the research was collected, I conducted several negotiation sessions with the boys and their parents at the school, as well as in their homes. These negotiations facilitated a methodological concept I came to call distillation, which is an interim step for determining which narratives in an inquiry are emblematic. My research centered on how these boys storied their literate identities. A review of literature revealed several lenses for conceptualizing the stories of these boys. An analysis of the stories I collected revealed that the boys' stories moved beyond current conceptions of either identity or literacy alone and instead offered a way of looking at literate identity as simultaneously being and doing literacy. In light of this definition, the boys' stories revealed plotlines that together described literate identity as a form of capital. The question of how the boys story themselves is ultimately answered using a meta-narrative about a boon, of gift, that emerges from mythic/archetypal literary criticism. Distribution of a desirable boon that will help society is the goal of a hero story. The boys narrate the ways in which they distribute literacy as a boon. The implications for this research include a need to examine classroom space in order to facilitate the deployment of literate identity capital, as well as space for living out the meta-narratives that these boys are composing.

The present study investigated the social adjustment (deviance), peer acceptance and academically related ability of pre-adolescent creative boys in a unique homogeneous school setting. More specifically, the study attempted to deal with the following questions: 1. What types of social deviance are characteristic of children at varying levels of creativity? 2. Is creativity more evident in children demonstrating certain socially deviant characteristics? 3. How much social acceptance is there of children demonstrating varying levels of social deviance and varying levels of creative ability? 4. What relationships exist "between creativity and intellectual ability, academic achievement and social behavior?