Two measures, The Adolescent Invulnerability Scale (TAIS) and The Adolescent Personal Uniqueness Scale (TAPUS) were developed to quantify levels of felt invulnerability and personal uniqueness, respectively. The relationship among these two personal fables (invulnerability, personal uniqueness), and mental health variables was assessed in a large sample of adolescents (n = 248, including seventh and eighth grade students). Participants responded to the newly crafted measures of adolescent invulnerability and personal uniqueness, the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, three indices of suicidal ideation, an inventory of delinquent risk behaviors, and two subscales from the Self-Image Questionnaire for Young Adolescents. It was predicted that invulnerability would be positively associated with risk behaviors and more prevalent among boys. In addition, personal uniqueness would be positively associated with depression and suicidal ideation, and more prevalent in girls. With respect to personal fable ideation, boys demonstrated higher levels of felt invulnerability and more risk behaviors than girls. In addition, girls reported more feelings of depression than boys, however neither group differed on the amount of reported felt personal uniqueness. The results show that the personal fables of invulnerability and personal uniqueness are differentially linked to indices of mental health within an adolescent population. / Department of Educational Psychology

The aim of the study was to determine whether adolescent psychological well being can be significantly influenced by attributional style, general health, satisfaction with life and self esteem. A cross-sectional research design was implemented for this study. An availability sample of 130 learners from 2 high schools; namely Batloung and Kgobokwe in the Ramatlabama area in rural North West Province (RSA) were chosen to collect data. The learners were selected using the stratified random sampling technique. All participants described themselves as equally traditional and westernised with a high value placed on individual goals and community goals. The respondents were 12-22 years old. Participants responded to a questionnaire consisting of six sections. The first section comprised of biographical data. Psychological well-being was measured in terms of distinctions between hedonism and eudaimonism. The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was used to measure hedonism and the PWB scale by Ryff (1995) was used to measure eudaimonism. General health was measured by the 28 item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The cognitive Attributional Style Questionnaire (CaQ) measured attributional style. The I 0 item Rosenberg's Self Esteem Scale (SES) was used to measure self esteem. The quantitative data for the research, which was gathered through questionnaires, was subjected to statistical analysis. This was done through the utilisation of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS ver. 12). Descriptive statistics and Cronbach alpha reliability indices were computed for each scale. Regression analysis was used to establish the relative contribution made by the independent variables; Attributional style (AS),Self Esteem (SE), General Health (GH) and Satisfaction With Life (SWL); on the dependent variable (psychological well being). Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to test the significance of R2 , which is the same as testing the significance of the regression model as a whole. The results of the study generally show that satisfaction with life, attributional styles, self -esteem and health meaningfully predict psychological well- being (R2 = .41). the practical significance of the finding based on the Steyn's formulation was 0.69. psychological well-being correlated positively with satisfaction with life, general health, and the external attributions made by learners. There were no significant differences regarding 1he nature of attributions made by both male and female learners. It is therefore recommended that adolescents get support from parents, engage in challenging activities, positive life events, and interact more with significant others for their well being. Further research into the mechanisms of how life satisfaction plays its role in positive youth development is needed to promote the psychological well-being of all youth. / M.Soc.Sc. (Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

It is suggested that commercial video games and gambling activities make use of similar types of intermittent reinforcement schedules. This research seeks to examine the nature of this relationship amongst children and adolescents. One hundred and four children from grades 4, 6, and 8 participated. A questionnaire exploring issues related to video game playing and gambling behavior was completed and a computerized blackjack game was individually administered. High frequency video game players are compared to low frequency video game players with respect to their gambling performance on the blackjack gambling task as well as on information gathered from the questionnaire. Findings suggest that high frequency video game players nor only gamble more than low frequency video game players but report that gambling makes them feel more important. Furthermore, they appear to be taking greater risks on the blackjack gambling task. Males exhibited greater risk-taking tendencies on the blackjack task than did females.

The psychosocial correlates of adolescent gambling behavior were assessed among 7th, 9th, and 11 th graders. Participants (N = 587) completed questionnaires concerning their gambling behavior, coping skills, locus of control, depression, and substance use. Adolescents were grouped into 1 of 4 groups based upon their performance on the DSM-IV-J (Fisher, 1992) gambling screen: non-gamblers, social gamblers, problem gamblers, and probable pathological gamblers. This research examined whether individuals belonging to the 4 groups differ with respect to locus of control, coping skills, depression, and substance use. Results indicated that probable pathological gamblers were characterized by an external locus of control and reported higher levels of maladaptive coping styles, depression, and regular substance use than non-gamblers and social gamblers. Logistic regression analyses suggest that coping skills, locus of control, substance use, and depression alone do not adequately predict pathological gambling, but do seem to play an important role in the etiology nonetheless. Implications are discussed.

This qualitative study explores which cognitive characteristics and strategies are common to both adult experts and adolescents when placed in the role of an expert. The basis for comparison are the nine characteristics and five strategies identified as common to all adult experts by Shanteau, 1992. Data were collected from interviews held with eight adolescents upon completion of an "Expert Project" in their Secondary II Physical Science course. Certain shared characteristics and strategies emerged during data collection and analysis, such as acts responsibly and uses help from others. Implications for future research are presented.

Most stereotypes of youth depict them as problematic. Yet, the effects of those representations on behaviour are not understood. The nine studies conducted for this thesis investigated stereotypic beliefs about youth. This thesis aimed to specify the range of stereotypic beliefs about youth, the sources of those beliefs, and the consequences of those beliefs for adults' and young people's behaviour. Chapter 1 reviews the stereotype literature and provides information about our current understanding of stereotypic beliefs about youth. It also highlights the limitations of existing research and presents the rationale for this program of research. Chapter 2 presents studies 1 to 4, which explored the breadth in the content of four sets of stereotypic beliefs about youth. Study 1 investigated adults' knowledge of the cultural stereotype of youth and Study 2A specified adults' personal beliefs about youth. Adults' knowledge of the cultural stereotype was shown to consist of very negative content, although their personal beliefs were both positive and negative in content. Study 3A compared young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs about youth with their personal beliefs about youth. Young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs were found to be extremely negative, and to be comparable with that identified as adults??? knowledge of the cultural stereotype of youth in Study 1. In contrast, young people???s personal beliefs about youth were found to be more positive. Study 4 investigated the extent to which adults and young people hold multiple stereotypes of youth. Adults and young people formed six conceptually similar subtypes of youth. They were labelled as ???yuppies???, ???lives for today and forget the consequences???, ???depressed???, ???problem kids???, ???active???, and ???conventional???. The ???problem kids??? subtype was the most salient; it had the greatest number of descriptors assigned to it and the greatest agreement across groups regarding the constellation of traits and behaviours comprising it. Studies 2B and 3B, also presented in Chapter 2, were carried out to develop two valid and reliable measures of stereotypic beliefs about youth. In Study 2B, the 20-item Beliefs about Adolescence Scale was developed to assess adults' personal beliefs about youth. Study 3B developed the 26-item Adolescents??? Perceptions of Adults??? Beliefs Scale to assess young people???s perceptions of adults??? beliefs about them. Both measures were shown to be internally consistent and to have good test-retest reliability. The Beliefs about Adolescence Scale also demonstrated good convergent validity. Chapter 3 presents studies 5 and 6, which examined the media as a possible source of stereotypic beliefs about youth. Study 5 investigated media representations of youth as they appear in newspaper reports. Study 6 aimed to establish an empirical association between those representations and stereotypic beliefs about youth. In Study 5, newspaper reports of young people were found to be largely negative; the 'problem kids' stereotype was afforded the most news space. In Study 6, newspaper readership was shown to be predictive of stereotypic beliefs about youth. Further, stereotypic beliefs were found to discriminate between readers of broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. Chapter 4 presents Studies 7 and 8, which focused on the consequences of stereotypic beliefs about youth for evaluations and behaviour. Study 7 investigated the extent to which beliefs that young people are problematic affect adults' evaluations of young people. Subjects who were presented with sentences that described irresponsible and disrespectful behaviours later judged a youth target as more irresponsible and disrespectful than subjects who were presented with sentences that described neutral behaviours. Study 8 investigated whether beliefs that young people are problematic can result in self-fulfilling prophecies. Subjects were exposed to faces of male teenagers or adults and were then paired with partners who had been exposed to faces of male adults. Each pair of subjects played a word-guessing game and their interaction was recorded. Judges who were blind to the experimental hypotheses listened to the recordings and rated each participant for the degree of rudeness that was displayed. Subjects who had been exposed to the teenage faces were rated as ruder than those who had been exposed to adult faces. Moreover, those who interacted with subjects who had been exposed to teenage faces were rated as ruder than those who interacted with subjects who had been exposed to adult faces. In that way, stereotypic beliefs about youth were shown to produce self-fulfilling prophecies. Chapter 5 presents Study 9. Its focus was on young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs about them. It examined the way those beliefs influence young people's engagement in problem behaviour, in interaction with established correlates of problem behaviour. This was explored via the testing of a structural model of problem behaviour. The findings provided partial support for the model, and the model accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in problem behaviour. Young people's perceptions of adults' beliefs about them made an important contribution to the explanation of problem behaviour involvement. Subsidiary analyses determined that young people's perceptions that adults believe them to engage in problem behaviour was the 'active ingredient' of that construct. Chapter 6 presents the general discussion of the findings from this program of research. It also outlines their theoretical and practical implications, and points to specific research that is needed to add to the findings of this thesis. The findings emphasise the important influences of stereotypic beliefs about youth on adults' and young people's behaviour. Recommendations are made for improving adult-youth relations and preventing adolescent problem behaviour. In particular, the media and adult members of the community need to recognise the role that they play in the causation of adolescent problem behaviour. The media have a responsibility to disseminate accurate and balanced information about young people and youth-related issues. In addition, interventions aimed at reducing adolescent problem behaviour need to incorporate a community-based component that seeks to promote positive adult-youth relations within the wider community.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2000. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-77).

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 57 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-57).

Theses (Ed.S.)--Marshall University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains 20 p. Bibliography: p. 14-15.