Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-60). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR51515

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2004. / Supervisor: Patricia Kelley. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-228).

Thesis (D.Soc.Sc.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

This dissertation examines how American writers in the 1920s demonstrated the eugenic influence on motherhood through fictional representations of violent resistance. My project charts the ways in which fictional, dramatic, and cinematic texts displayed negative visualizations of maternity as a response to the early twentieth-century preoccupation with eugenics. In this project, I argue that these methods of opposition took place through actions of child abuse, maternal neglect, and infanticide. Part of this dissertation identifies eugenically motivated cultural discourse, including various forms of the media, that used both overt and subliminal messages to encourage pronatalism among the white upper and middle classes while promoting sterilization and the use of birth control for minority populations. By addressing this rhetoric, I draw attention to the pervading dialogue that influenced and shaped the texts used in the dissertation. In addition, to analyze depictions of positive and negative eugenics is to reveal a social policy powerful enough to go beyond issues of class and race and drastically impact American mothers as a united group; instead of being labeled as a problem of race, color, or class, I argue instead that these American modernist writers interpreted eugenic rhetoric as a problem of gender, common to any woman who found herself with child. While many studies exist on eugenics and literature, as well as on motherhood and literature, the combination of the two topics is one that has previously gone unanalyzed. Therefore, addressing the problems raised by this subject also highlights how both male and female writers were compelled to construct situations of subversive mothering. By situating my project in the 1920-1930 time frame, I limit my commentary to how writers approached eugenics during its most popular and influential time period in the United States. My chapters argue that these constructs of subversive motherhood appear through cinematic portrayals of dysgenic children and the negative effects on their maternal figures (The Phantom of the Opera and The Black Stork), unhappiness in the role of mother and outward expressions of anger toward the offspring in question (Edith Summers Kelley's Weeds), decisive participation in the act of abortion and infanticide (Nella Larsen's Quicksand), and daughters who refuse to participate in the act of mothering because of their negative upbringings (Edith Wharton's The Children). By incorporating the genres of fiction, drama, and cinema alongside historical and cultural documents, I inform my audience of the threatening and harmful realities of childbearing during this time period, and will show that the connection between eugenics and motherhood reflects a desire of American writers to reveal the grim repercussions of eugenic practice.

Objective: Childhood abuse (CA) is commonly associated with increased frequency of high-risk behaviours (HRB) in adolescence. Similarly, research has highlighted links between CA and blunted responses to reward. To date, little attention has been devoted to examine if altered reward processes may also be linked to increased engagement in HRB. To explore this hypothesis, this systematic review collated research that investigated the relationship among CA, reward processes and HRB. Specifically, the review addressed the question: Are HRB associated with altered reward processes in children and adults with a history of CA? Method: Behavioural and neurobiological studies on CA, reward processing and HRB in children and adults were selected from multidisciplinary and subject-specific databases published prior to the 1st of March 2016. The systematic literature search yielded 271 records with 198 non-duplicated results. Screening of 14 full-text publications led to five eligible studies synthesized in this review. Results: Results confirmed impaired reward learning and increased HRB in those with a history of CA. Associations of blunted anticipatory or consummatory reward processing and HRB in individuals with CA remained inconclusive. Conclusions: Reward learning appears to be associated with CA. Further research is required to explore the relationship between reward processes and HRB. Understanding CA from a neurodevelopment perspective is a critical step to developing effective intervention strategies to reduce HRB. Empirical Paper: Abstract Objective: Following childhood abuse (CA), adolescence often sees the onset of depression and high-risk behaviour (HRB). Despite the prevalence, little is known about underlying neurobiological factors linking CA and HRB. To address this gap, I examined if anticipatory and consummatory reward processing in adolescents with CA predict frequency of HRB, irrespective of depressive symptoms. Methods: Thirty-seven adolescents (M=17.08 years; SD = 1.86) participated in the study: 13 females with CA and current major depressive disorder (MDD), eight females with MDD and no CA, and 16 individuals with no CA and no MDD for comparison (control group). Adolescents completed the Card-Guessing paradigm to assess reward processing, while undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging scan. Neural region-of-interest responses in the striatum and pallidum were assessed during anticipatory and consummatory reward phases. Hierarchical regression models investigated if neural responses to reward were altered based on exposure to CA and if altered neural responses predicted higher use of HRB. Results: Data showed that (1) depressed adolescents engaged more frequently in HRB irrespective of history of CA, (2) anticipatory and consummatory reward processes were not altered based on a history of CA, and (3) blunted activation in right pallidum in anticipation of rewards predicted HRB irrespective of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Although the current study did not confirm changes in reward processing following CA, blunted reward ‘wanting’ was linked to more frequent HRB. Findings are relevant to theories highlighting the critical role of the pallidum in perceiving cues as rewarding and in initiating goal-directed actions to obtain rewards.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Childhood sexual abuse transcends boundaries of social class, race, age and gender. Research suggests that its effects are so profoundly debilitating that even in adulthood, victims struggle with a range of emotional, psychological and behavioural challenges. Nationally, South Africa has experienced a high prevalence of childhood sexual abuse, with a noticeable reporting of sexual abuse amongst children whose mothers survived childhood sexual abuse. The current study was aimed at exploring and describing the experiences of maternal survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) whose children also disclosed childhood sexual abuse. It furthermore explored the maternal intergenerational transference of sexual abuse and its influence on parenting, as well as exploring how the experience of childhood sexual abuse influences maternal parental practice and confirms or negates whether sexual abuse is generational. A qualitative research design was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of seven mothers who experienced sexual abuse as children, whose children also disclosed sexual abuse. The sample was purposefully drawn and the interviews were conducted at the premises of two counselling organisations, where they (mothers/children) were receiving counselling. The researcher made use of in-depth interviewing with maternal survivors of childhood sexual abuse whose children also disclosed childhood sexual abuse. The data was collected using an interview schedule with open-ended questions, which facilitated the interview process. Interviews that were conducted with the maternal survivors of childhood sexual abuse were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data from the study was analysed using thematic analysis, with all data managed manually. Ethical considerations were deliberated to participants who provided signed, informed consent for participation in the study. The findings were revealed in four themes. Theme one describes the experience of loss as a result of the CSA, which included loss of childhood, loss of relationships with family and friends, and loss of parental attachment. Theme two describes the interpersonal and psychological challenges resulting from CSA. A range of psychological and interpersonal sequelae resulting from the CSA experience poses many challenges for the maternal survivor of CSA. These include post-traumatic stress, cognitive distortions, emotional distress, avoidance, and interpersonal difficulties. Theme three describes the barriers affecting the maternal survivor's sense of Self, which includes negative body image and negative self-image. Maternal survivors of CSA struggle with issues pertaining to negative body image, which is as a result of the CSA experience. Issues pertaining to negative self-image were also captured. Theme four describes the parental practice of the maternal survivor and coping capacity, which includes challenges affecting the parental role, the maternal survivor's reaction to her children’s disclosure, as well as the coping strategies adopted to cope and move on. The results of the study show that maternal survivors of CSA experienced a shared feeling of loss, both on a personal level and a relational level. The findings furthermore indicate that the interpersonal and psychological challenges experienced by the maternal survivor are a direct consequence of the CSA and adversely affect the parental role of the maternal survivor. The findings indicate that in cases of intra-familial CSA, the chances are increased for CSA to re-occur in subsequent generations when contact with the mother's perpetrator is maintained. The findings indicate that when CSA occurs in a subsequent generation, regardless of whether intra-familial or extra-familial, maternal survivors are supportive towards their children’s disclosures, as they are confronted with their own CSA experience.

Childhood incest and sexual abuse was explored in depth to determine the coping skills used by victims, based upon their descriptive recall of these events. Eighteen adult women, who were group therapy members and leaders, were interviewed about their experiences as sexually abused children and adolescents. The critical incident technique was used to identify what hindered or facilitated the victims coping in the eighty-one abuse experiences collected. Each incident was categorized according to the identifiable stress, and the type of coping method used. Three categories of identifiable stress emerged from the data which were labelled offenders, significant others, and victims. Of these, the largest number of incidents related to stress created by offenders. In this sample, victims utilized direct action, inhibition of action, and intrapsychic coping methods, but not information seeking. Of these, direct action was most frequently employed. Independent judges found these categories reliable. Results are examined according to theoretical frameworks in coping theory and current perspectives on sexual abuse. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Child abuse has been studied for the past twenty years in an attempt to define it, delineate etiology and suggest treatment modalities. Inadequate methodological controls and therapeutic assumptions incestuously shared have resulted in a theory that defines parents as bad, sick or ignorant but definitely as the culprits. More recently, sociological explanations have been written to present a psychosocial model for abuse. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a relationship exists between child abuse and a mother's knowledge of growth and development. Two groups of single parent, female headed families were chosen in the community. Twenty-three mothers participated in a thirty card growth and development sort, derived by the author from a developmental profile by Alpern and Boll (1972), indicating their understanding of when a child could first perform the behavior. The mothers were also assigned a number on an abuse continuum. The resulting data and demographic information were correlated using a Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient and Chi-Squared Contingency analysis at the 0.05 level of significance. No significant relationship was found between level of abuse or knowledge of growth and development. Some significant associations were found within the demographic characteristics, with implications for study of variable clusters. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The goals of this research were to characterize suicidal behavior among a cohort of pregnant Peruvian women and identify risk factors for transitions between behaviors. The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview suicide questionnaire was employed to assess suicidal behavior. Discrete-time survival analysis was used to study the cumulative age-of-onset distribution. The hazard function was calculated to assess the risk of onset of each suicidal behavior. Among 2062 participants, suicidal behaviors were endorsed by 22.6% of participants; 22.4% reported a lifetime history of suicidal ideation, 7.2% reported a history of planning, and 6.0% reported attempting suicide. Childhood abuse was most strongly associated with suicidal behavior, accounting for a 2.57-fold increased odds of suicidal ideation, nearly 3-fold increased odds of suicide planning, and 2.43-fold increased odds of suicide attempt. This study identified the highest prevalence of suicidal behavior in a population of pregnant women outside the USA. Diverse populations of pregnant women and their patterns of suicidal behavior transition must be further studied. The association between trauma and suicidal behavior indicates the importance of trauma-informed care for pregnant women. / Revisión por pares