The role of analysts in corporate governance has been examined extensively in the accounting literature. Two conflicting representations of the influence of analysts have emerged. Analysts are either viewed as external monitors of corporate behavior, thereby reducing agency costs; or they are viewed as exerting additional pressure on management to meet earnings forecasts, which may contribute to aggressive corporate behavior. Studies exist that examine the impact of analyst coverage in a financial reporting context. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of analysts in the corporate tax reporting context. This dissertation examines the impact of analyst coverage on corporate tax aggressiveness using a cross-section of publicly traded firms between 1992 and 2006. Permanent discretionary book-tax differences are used to proxy for tax aggressiveness. The relation is examined using ordinary least squares regression as well as two-stage least squares regression using expected coverage and inclusion in the S&P 500 index as instrumented variables to account for the endogeneity of analyst coverage selections. Additional analyses investigate the impact of analyst characteristics: experience as an analyst, experience covering a specific firm and identification as a top analyst. Results indicate that analyst coverage is associated with lower levels of tax aggressiveness. This finding suggests that analysts serve as external monitors of corporate tax behavior. In addition, more experienced analysts are associated with lower levels of tax aggressiveness indicating an improvement in monitoring ability with experience. Analysts identified as All-American analysts by Institutional Investor magazine are associated with higher levels of tax aggressiveness. This result suggests that top analysts may view aggressive tax behavior as a wealth creation tool for firms. / Ph. D.

There were several purposes of the present study. First, quasi-experimental tasks assessing attributional style were used to investigate the mediating role of social cognitive processes in aggressive behavior for both boys and girls. Secondly, the use of current self-report measures of children's assertive and attributional style allowed for investigation of construct validity of these measures. Third, the relationship of current instruments used in the identification of social dysfunction in children to other measures was investigated. Finally, the use of sociometric ratings by subjects’ peers and teacher's behavioral nominations of subjects for aggressive or assertive status provided information about subjects’ social environment. Fourth and fifth graders identified as aggressive or assertive on the basis of teacher nominations were compared in terms of self-report, other-report, and quasi-experimental data. Results showed sex and status differences on self-report and quasi-experimental measures of attributional style. Selective attention to hostile cues, quick responding, and theoretical ''socially inappropriate" explanatory style are discussed in terms of social cognitive processes involved in aggressive behavior for boys and girls. Further, although current children's assertiveness measures provided good content validity for the behaviors they purport to measure, the conceptual relationship between aggression and social dysfunction was found to be less direct than the literature has indicated. Similarly, self-report attributional style was less directly related to measures of assertiveness and social functioning than was expected. Results are discussed in terms of both content validity of dependent measures and broader theoretical issues. / M.S.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Julie A. Hubbard, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Ed. (Psycho-educational programme development) / The wide spread concern, pertaining the alarming rate of adolescents leaving school before completing Grade12 is a South African problem. The experiences of those adolescents vary greatly. In line with the South Afncan School Act (84 of 1996) education is accessible and compulsory for all. Unfortunately that provision is targeted only for grade 1to grade 9, of which grade 9 is considered an exit point for General Education and Training. There is no clear cut intervention strategy in place in the educational system toassist adolescents leaving school before completing Grade 12 in order to cope with their situation It is for this reason that the researcher took the initiative of exploring the adolescents' experiences of leaving school before completing Grade 12. The researcher realises that adolescents form alarge percentage of our country's population. Therefore they should be retained inschools in order to be capacitated, so that they can develop and sustain economic structures of a country that has a future that depends on the expertise of the youth. Retaining adolescents in schools is a necessity. As a result, in this research, an attempt is made to alert the educational stakeholders to assist the adolescents who have left school before completing Grade 12 to cope with their situation. This research study is aimed at describing the adolescents' experiences of leaving school before completing grade twelve, to provide guidelines and to make recommendations for other educational stakeholders on how these adolescents can be assisted. The setting of the study is in the informal settlement of Ekurhuleni metropolis. Thestudy is conducted through the combination of individual interviews and participant observation. The research method that was followed was qualitative, explorative, descriptive, and contextual in order to investigate what the adolescents' experiences are. Sampling was done purposively because the respondents had to be adolescents who have left the secondary school before completing grade twelve. A pilot interview study was done. Thereafter phenomenological interviews were conducted with twenty of these adolescents. During the interviews, ethical measures were adhered to and steps to ensure trustworthiness were also followed. The data was analysed as per Tesch's method of data analysis. The services of an independent coder were also employed. The results were based on the phenomenological in-depth interviews on adolescents' own experiences of leaving secondary school before completing Grade 12. The recommendations from this study were made with specific reference to the education department. educators, parents and non-governmental organisations Guidelines were described according to themes and categories of experiences. objectives and strategies.

Ph.D. (Education) / Education in the United Kingdom is divided into three stages which are: primary, secondary, further and higher education. Learners’ compulsory education lasts for 11 years. Legal schooling ages are starting from five years to 16 years. Within that period learners must obtain full-time education that is suitable to their age, ability, capacity and their special educational needs (SEN). If a learner does not attend a school, the local education authority (LEA) must be satisfied that other appropriate provision is available for them. Transferring age from primary to secondary school is at the age of 11 years. Most secondary schools in the United Kingdom are comprehensive; which means that they do not operate a selective entrance system. However, in some parts of the United Kingdom, grammar school systems operates which usually requires learners to pass an entrance examination based on their ability.

The phenomenon of aggression has been of interest to psychologists for many years, and has resulted in a variety of theories which-attempt to explain its existence in man. Aggression is prevalent in our primary schools today and it was this observation which initiated the research project. The Relationship Theory was applied in order to gain insight into the life-world of the aggressive child and to explore possible causes which may originate from changes in our society. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. with specialisation in Guidance and Counselling (Psychology of Education)

The phenomenon of aggression has been of interest to psychologists for many years, and has resulted in a variety of theories which-attempt to explain its existence in man. Aggression is prevalent in our primary schools today and it was this observation which initiated the research project. The Relationship Theory was applied in order to gain insight into the life-world of the aggressive child and to explore possible causes which may originate from changes in our society. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. with specialisation in Guidance and Counselling (Psychology of Education)

This qualitative study aimed to explore how to handle aggression in therapy from a Gestalt perspective. In order to reach the aim of this study a conceptual framework was done exploring terms central to this project including aggression and Gestalt Play therapy. Unstructured, telephonic interviews were then conducted with seven Gestalt Play therapists working with children in the Western Cape exploring ways to handle and treat aggression in therapy. The data collected during these interviews were then analyzed and several themes were identified and explored by conducting a literature control. Guidelines were then formulated and written on how to handle aggression in therapy from a Gestalt perspective as part of the concluding chapter of this research report. / Social Work / M. Diac (Play Therapy)

Thesis (M. Diac. (Spelterapie)) / Die navorser het met hierdie intervensiestudie hanteringsriglyne vanuit ʼn Gestaltperspektief vir ouers met ʼn eiesinnige kleuter ontwikkel. Om bogenoemde te bereik, is slegs die eerste drie fases, asook Stap 1 van Fase 4 van Rothman en Thomas se Design & Development-model voltooi. Fase 1, naamlik die probleemanalise en projekbeplanning, het gefokus op die identifisering en betrek van respondente, die verkryging van toegang tot en samewerking van respondente, ʼn behoeftebepaling van die populasie, die analisering van die geïdentifiseerde probleem en die bepaling van die doelstellings en doelwitte. Deur die bestudering van bestaande literatuur en natuurlike voorbeelde, sowel as die identifisering van funksionele elemente van suksesvolle modelle is Fase 2, naamlik die insameling en sintese van data, suksesvol voltooi. Tydens Fase 3, naamlik die ontwerpfase, is ʼn waarnemingsisteem ontwikkel en prosedures vir die intervensie gespesifiseer. Deur die ontwikkeling van ʼn prototipe is Stap 1 van Fase 4, naamlik vroeë ontwerp en ontwikkeling, voltooi. Gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings is vanuit die bevindinge gemaak. / Social Work

[Truncated abstract] The overall aim of the research reported in this thesis was to explore the viability and utility of the construct of psychopathy and aggression in children and adolescents. Specifically, by taking a developmentally informed approach it sought to develop new instrumentation which measured psychopathic-like-traits, and verbal proactive and reactive aggression in non-referred mainstream school children and adolescents. To achieve this, four separate yet interrelated studies were conducted. Study One comprised three phases relating to the development and validation of two new instruments. In Phase One the instruments currently used to measure psychopathy were reviewed and items relevant to young persons were selected for inclusion in a draft version of the new psychopathy screening instrument. Phase Two, which sought to further explore the construct of psychopathy in children and adolescents, comprised a series of interviews with school principals, deputy principals, psychologists, and education officers at the main juvenile detention centre in Perth, Western Australia. These interviews provided information relating to the behaviour and characteristics of children and adolescents who present with psychopathic-like-traits. As a consequence of the feedback from the Phase Two data, Phase Three reviewed the instrumentation currently used to measure aggression in children and adolescents. From this items were selected for possible inclusion in an aggression questionnaire. The data gathered over these three phases resulted in 117 psychopathy related items being generated for the new instrument, which were subsequently reduced to 56 when duplicated items were identified and the extant knowledge of the construct applied. The 56 items were retained in a draft version of the newly developed instrument, which was named the Child and Adolescent Psychopathy Screening Instrument (CAPSI). The Study One data revealed the instrumentation used to date provided few measures of physical and verbal aggression - a characteristic of psychopathic-like behaviour. Thus, a review of instrumentation together with the information from the interviews resulted in 63 aggression items being generated. ... Study Four utilised information from the CAPSI and the CASA in conjunction with in-depth interviews to generate case studies to further elucidate the characteristics of children and adolescents with psychopathic-like-traits and extreme aggression. Case studies were undertaken with seven male students ranging in age from 8 to 15 years who had been suspended from mainstream schools. All boys scored very highly on the new instruments. All presented with extreme aggression, with some exhibiting proactive or premeditated aggression combined with a superficially engaging personality, insincere charm, lack of remorse, and lack of empathy. The findings from all four research studies are discussed in the light of the literature reviewed and the aims of the research. Implications are then drawn for researchers and clinicians, and directions for further research are suggested.