<p>South Africa is overwhelmed by the increase of substance abuse among adolescents. Having consulted the literature, South Africa is not the only country faced with this problem. It raises concerns with regard to the social health of adolescents in this country. In order to develop effective intervention strategies to reduce the wide spread abuse of substances, it is important to first understand how adolescents perceive this problem. In this study the perceptions of boys will be explored with regard, to substance abuse among adolescents. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. The eleven participants were interviewed by means of a semi structured interview / an interview guide was applied to collect the relevant information. The goal of the study was to explore the perceptions of boys regarding substance abuse amongst adolescents. After data collection which was indicated by the saturation of the data, the recorded data was transcribed. Transcripts were analysed to determine the emerging themes from the collected data. The main findings of the study were interpreted and discussed according to the themes and sub themes, which were derived from the participants&rsquo / narratives. Based on the research findings, recommendations have been suggested for service providers with regard to substance abuse amongst adolescents.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Leadership and Foundations. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen Myers-Bowman / Sibling relationships have often been studied with the goal of understanding the sibling influence on development of an individual. With the focus on development, research has often been limited to the time of life between the ages of birth to 18. Sibling research in adulthood has often been limited to examining siblings’ interactions in a particular context. Most of the research has examined siblings dealing with caregiving, family businesses, finances, or parental treatment. How siblings feel about their relationship, how the relationship has enhanced their lives, and what meaning individuals ascribe to that relationship through their lifetime has been understudied. This study focused on the meaning ascribed to a relationship between sisters by those in the relationship as well as the importance of sisterhood to the individual’s identity or perception of who they are because of the relationship. Participants responded to questions designed to gather information about what it means to them to be a sister in middle adulthood. The sisters indicated that the relationship held meaning for them though out their adult life. Parents were found to have influenced the relationship. In addition the sister relationship impacted the development of a sisters identity in multiple ways. For most sisters, they could not imagine who they would have become without the influence of their sisters.

A Orientação Profissional e de Carreira tem sido objeto de estudo desde o início do século passado, constituindo um domínio do conhecimento teórico e prático de relevante interesse por parte de pesquisadores e profissionais do campo da Psicologia Vocacional em diferentes cenários e contextos. No entanto, no que se refere ao contexto moçambicano, poucos estudos mostraram interesse em promover serviçossistematizados que visemajudar os adolescentes a refletir sobre a complexidade do processo da escolha e sua natureza multideterminada. Constatada esta lacuna, este estudo objetivou delinear, implementar e avaliar uma intervenção em Orientação Profissional e de Carreira para adolescentes, alunos do ensino secundário público moçambicano. Para concretizar os objetivos almejados foi delineado um estudo do tipo pesquisa-ação. Apoiando-se numa abordagem prevalentemente qualitativa, primeiro buscou-se indagar as condições pessoais, familiares e contextuais que influenciam no processo da escolha e em seguida avaliar a intervenção a partir da ótica dos participantes. A intervenção iniciou com um grupo de adolescentes (N=30), estudantes do ensino secundário (1º e 2º ciclos) público moçambicano, na cidade de Nampula, matriculados entre a 8ª e 12ª classe, com idades compreendidas entre 14-18 anos, de ambos sexos. Entre eles desistiram de participar da intervenção sete (7), sendo que a amostra final foi de 23 participantes, e participaram da avaliação pós-intervenção 18 estudantes. A coleta de dados decorreu ao longo de doze sessões e última avaliação seis meses após a intervenção. A coleta de dados baseou-se emtécnicas de cunho qualitativo (narrativas), a saber: \"Carta aos pais\", Redação sobre a escolha profissional e de carreira, \"Carta ao Presidente da República\", \"Carta ao Orientador Hipotético\" e uma atividade baseada em um Roteiro de questões abertas que foram respondidas em quatro momentos diferentes ao longo da intervenção. A análise e discussão dos dados se apoiou na abordagem qualitativa e se subsidiou da análise temática de conteúdo, proposta por Minayo e nos aportes da perspectiva desenvolvimentista e construtivista de teorias de carreira. Os resultados corroboraram na complexidade dos fatores que multideterminam a escolha profissional e de carreira, sendo que família, particularmente marcada com o exercício de autoridade vinculada ao modelo cultural, no qual é reservado aos pais uma posição particular de \"decisão\", exerce ainda uma contínua e incontornável influência nas aspirações e escolhas profissionais dos adolescentes. O diálogo, o apoio moral, e instrumental atuam como mediadores desta influência.A avaliação da intervenção, de um lado, contribuiu para preencher a lacuna da insipiência de intervenções sistematizadas que se propõem a avaliar serviços ou programas no âmbito da intervenção em orientação profissional e de carreira, incluindo a perspectiva dos usurários. Sobre a avaliação levada adiante neste estudo há que destacar primeiro que os relatos dos participantes concluintes convergem na apreciação positiva tanto dos procedimentos quanto dos resultados do processo. Os participantes que avaliaram o processoconfirmaram a hipótese da urgência, necessidade e pertinência de serviços nesta área, tendo sugerido a continuidade, expansão e manutenção do serviço, em particular para o contexto escolar moçambicano. As opiniões emitidas pelos \"avaliadores\" (estudantes) da intervenção convergem na ideia de que futuras intervenções devem focalizar a abordagem de Educação para a Carreira a ser desenvolvida ao longo da vida escolar. Outro resultado significado do estudo aponta para uma temática muito debatida na área, trata-se da importância da formação dos orientadores profissionais, com foco nas competências teórico-práticase relacionais. O foco na abordagem qualitativa ajudou a explicitar a natureza subjetiva da carreira, a interrelação entre os fatores pessoais e contextuais, reforçando a importância de ajudar as novas gerações a desenvolver atitudes mais ativas no processo de construção das suas identidades pessoais e ocupacionais de modo a se adaptar mais adequadamente às atuais e contínuas mudanças que ocorrem em diferentes âmbitos da vida humana, em particular no mundo do trabalho. As considerações conclusivas apontam asimplicações para a prática e algumas linhas que podem servir de ponto de partida para refletir sobre possibilidades de intervenção com particular atenção ao domínio da realidade moçambicana. Limitações do estudo são assumidas com vista a aprimorar futuras intervenções. / The vocational guidance and career has been studied since the beginning of last century, constituting a domain of theoretical and practical knowledge of relevant interest by researchers and Vocational Psychology field professionals in different settings and contexts. However, with regard to the Mozambican context, few studies have shown an interest in promoting systematic services aimed at helping teens to reflect on the complexity of the process of choice and its multifactorial nature. Found this gap, this study aimed to design, implement and evaluate an intervention in Career Guidance for mozambican public secondary school students. To achieve the desired goals was outlined a kind of action research study. Relying on a prevalently qualitative approach, first sought to investigate the personal, family and contextual influencing the process of choice, and then evaluate the intervention from the perspective of the participants. The intervention began with a group of 30 adolescents (N = 30), high school students (1st and 2nd cycles) mozambican public in the city of Nampula, enrolled between the 8th and 12th grade, aged 14-18 years, of both sexes. Among them gave up to participate in the intervention seven (7), and the final sample consisted of 23 participants, and participated in the post-intervention assessment 18 students. Data collection took place over twelve sessions and final evaluation six months after the intervention. Data collection was based on qualitative approach techniques (narratives), namely: \"Letter to Parents\" Writing about the career choice and career, \"Letter to the President\", \"Letter to the Hypothetical Guinding\" and an activity based on a open questions roadmap which were answered at four different times during the intervention. Analysis and discussion of the data was based on a qualitative approach and subsidized the thematic content analysis proposed by Minayo and contributions from the developmental perspective and constructivist theories of career. The results confirm the complexity of the factors that multidetermin career choice and career, and that family, particularly marked with the exercise of authority linked to the cultural model, in which it is reserved for parents a particular position of \"decision\", still exerts a continuous and inescapable influence on the aspirations and career choices of adolescents. The dialogue, moral support, and instrumental act as mediators of this influence. The evaluation of the intervention on the one hand, contributed to fill the gap of the foolishness of systematic interventions that purport to assess services or programs of intervention in vocational guidance and career, including the prospect of usurers. On the evaluation carried on in this study must be first noted that the reports of the graduating participants converge on the positive assessment of both the procedures and the outcomes of the process. Participants reviewed the confirmed case of urgency, necessity and relevance of services in this area and suggested the continuity, expansion and maintenance of the service, in particular for the mozambican school context. Opinions expressed by \"evaluators\" (students) intervention converge on the idea that future interventions should focus on Career Education being developed throughout school life. Another significance of the study results point to a much debated topic in the area, it is the importance of training professionals guiding, focusing on theoretical and practical and relational skills.The focus on qualitative approach helped explain the subjective nature of the career, the interrelationship between personal and contextual factors, reinforcing the importance of helping new generations to develop more active attitude sin the construction of their personal and occupational identities in order to adapt better to the current and continuous changes that occur in different areas of human life, particularly in the workplace.The conclusive considerations point the implications for practice and some lines that can serve as a starting point to reflect on possibilities of intervention with particular attention to the area of the Mozambican reality. Study limitations are taken in order to improve future interventions.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / South Africa is overwhelmed by the increase of substance abuse among adolescents. Having consulted the literature, South Africa is not the only country faced with this problem. It raises concerns with regard to the social health of adolescents in this country. In order to develop effective intervention strategies to reduce the wide spread abuse of substances, it is important to first understand how adolescents perceive this problem. In this study the perceptions of boys will be explored with regard, to substance abuse among adolescents. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. The eleven participants were interviewed by means of a semi structured interview; an interview guide was applied to collect the relevant information. The goal of the study was to explore the perceptions of boys regarding substance abuse amongst adolescents. After data collection which was indicated by the saturation of the data, the recorded data was transcribed. Transcripts were analysed to determine the emerging themes from the collected data. The main findings of the study were interpreted and discussed according to the themes and sub themes, which were derived from the participants&rsquo; narratives. Based on the research findings, recommendations have been suggested for service providers with regard to substance abuse amongst adolescents. / South Africa

Adolescent students’ perceptions of parental influence in relation to mathematics education is an under-researched area, since most studies in this area focus on parental involvement in primary mathematics. This research study aims to fill this gap in the literature by exploring adolescent students’ perceptions of parental influence on their dispositions towards studying mathematically-demanding courses in Higher Education (HE). This study employs mixed research methods to investigate students’ perceptions of parental influence with a survey (N=563) and semi-structured interviews with six students and their parents. Additional interviews were conducted with three immigrant families in Cyprus. The study builds on Bourdieu’s theory of reproduction of social inequalities and extends some concepts of Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to discuss parental influence. The main findings of this research study are reported in three journal papers whilst the papers are under review for publication. The first paper of the thesis reports the analysis of the quantitative data of this study by combining Rasch analysis with statistical modelling. The statistical analysis showed that parental influence is not statistically significant for predicting students’ mathematical dispositions in some models, when other background variables are included in the models. However, further statistical analysis showed that the effect of parental influence is mediated through students’ choice of mathematics course and their mathematical inclination. The non-statistical significance of parental influence in some models was interpreted as a ‘misrecognition’ after Bourdieu (1980). The same phenomenon was noted in the second paper of the thesis, where students and their parents ‘denied’ parental influence during their interviews. This was again interpreted as ‘misrecognition’ and parental influence is conceptualised as a form of ‘symbolic violence’ that parents exercise on their children. Arguably, parents possess more capital in the family field and their influence on their children’s educational choices might be unconscious, thus students’ misrecognise their parents’ influence but they draw significantly on their family’s capital to make their choices for future studies in HE.Lastly, the third paper of the thesis explored cultural differences in students’ perceptions of parental influence in England and Cyprus; stronger perceptions of parental influence were identified in immigrant students’ interviews compared to indigenous students in both countries. Bourdieu’s (1977) concept of ‘hysteresis’ was adapted to theorise this phenomenon. Arguably, while immigrant students’ habitus adjust to the new field, students become more reflective on their parents’ influence because of the reflexivity the hysteresis effect entails. In all three papers Bourdieu’s theoretical framework was used to operationalise students’ mathematical dispositions and to interpret the findings of this study. The main contributions to knowledge of this study is the operationalisation of students’ mathematical habitus; the new theoretical conceptualisation of parental influence as a form of symbolic violence in the family field and the extension of the hysteresis effect to interpret immigrant students’ stronger perceptions of their parents’ influence.

The purpose of the current study was, in general, to use the Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) to more accurately assess the types of behaviors that mothers and fathers engage in with their sons and daughters and the amount of time they spend engaged in those behaviors when compared to each other.

With the increased exposure to Western cultures and the transition towards modernization, Chinese society has experienced substantial social change, which has influenced marital relationships. Although recent research has documented contemporary patterns of marital interaction, less is known about what Chinese adults consider to be an ideal marital partner and what their parent' roles play in the mate selection process. What do contemporary Chinese adults value in a partner? How much parental influence is involved in choosing an ideal marital partner? These questions were addressed by conducting six focus groups in Taipei, Taiwan. The focus groups included a total of 51 participants (male = 25; female = 26) and included separate groups for middle-aged married men, middle-aged married women, younger married men, younger married women, never-married young adult men, and never-married young adult women. The results from qualitative analysis indicated three major themes in an ideal partner: family-of-origin (e.g., similar family background, good relationship with in-laws), personal qualities (e.g., financially stable, responsible), and relationship qualities (e.g., getting along, communicating well, mutual respect, gender equality). These results indicate that contemporary Chinese adults value a combination of traditional Chinese (e.g., similar family background) and Western (e.g. good communication) values. When it comes to parental approval on their marriage, most younger participants reported that they would marry a person despite their parents' disapproval, although many indicated that they would want their parents' approval because it would increase family harmony. The older participants, on the other hand, were more likely to still favor parents having significant influence on who their children marry. Overall, the young Chinese participants showed greater incorporation of Western values than the older participants. These findings suggest that modern Chinese society is being increasingly influenced by individualistic Western values.

Thesis (M.A. (Xitsonga)) --University of Limpopo, 2015

I Sverige hamnar ungdomar mellan 18 och 19 år i en gråzon angående laglighet och alkohol. Tidigare forskning finns i mängder om ungdomar och alkohol, men en lucka finns gällande Sveriges gråzon. Denna studie hade som syfte att besvara hur relationen mellan ungdomars alkoholkonsumtion och popularitet, grupptryck, föräldrars alkoholsyn samt ortstorlek såg ut. Enkäten besvarades av 128 gymnasieungdomar i både mindre och större orter i Sverige. Frågorna gällande alkohol baserades på IQ:s alkoholprofil, och frågorna om popularitet och grupptryck konstruerades ursprungligen av Santor et al (2000). Materialet analyserades i SPSS genom en multipel regressionsanalys och Pearsonkorrelationer. Resultaten visade främst att grupptryck var den starkaste prediktorn för ökad alkoholkonsumtion. Vidare visade det sig att strikta föräldrar genererade lägre alkoholskonsumtion, och att mindre orter innebar mer olagligt drickande. Studien kan bidra till ökad förståelse för ungdomars alkoholkultur samt kan vara till nytta för skolhälsan.