Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Charles M. Dorn, Florida State University, College of Visual Arts and Dance, Dept. of Art Education. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 9, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains x, 150 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 201 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-140). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1992. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [36]-42).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-195).

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a dangerous and common behaviour, particularly among adolescents. Childhood trauma, insecure child-parent attachment, psychological distress, and impulsivity are some of the risk factors for NSSI that have been previously identified. However, the pathways from distal risk factors to NSSI and the ways in which these correlated risk factors interact with each other remains unclear. Identifying these pathways will provide valuable insight into the aetiology of NSSI and potentially highlight targets for treatment and intervention. In this dissertation I examine data from multiple large samples of young people, looking at multiple risk and protective factors together, and examining moderation and mediation pathways between risk factors. Using longitudinal data from 933 adolescents with no prior history of NSSI I demonstrated that the association between childhood family adversity before age 5 and new onset of NSSI between the ages of 14 and 17 was mediated by age 14 family functioning and possibly mental illness. Next, I validated a new measure of child perceptions of positive parenting, which I used to demonstrate the uni-directional prospective association between positive parenting and lower rates of NSSI amongst 1489 adolescents (ages 14-25). I then used this new measure of positive parenting to demonstrate that the prospective parenting-NSSI association was mediated by psychological distress. This is also one of the first prospective studies to show that impulsivity is independently predictive of NSSI. Using data I collected myself from a sample of 596 adolescents (ages 16-19) I validated a much needed measure of childhood trauma, with which I then demonstrated that the trauma-NSSI association was mediated by attachment and distress. Using data from this sample I was also able to reaffirm my previous findings that the attachment-NSSI association was mediated by psychological distress, and that impulsivity was uniquely associated with NSSI. Finally, using data from a sample of 559 Flemish 13 year-olds, I demonstrated that behavioural problems were more salient to NSSI than emotional problems among young adolescents, and that the attachment-NSSI association might be mediated by hyperactivity and conduct problems. Together, these findings reaffirm that childhood trauma, insecure child-parent attachment, psychological distress, and impulsivity are robust risk factors for NSSI and potential targets for treatment and intervention. Moreover, both distress and child-parent attachment may be viable targets for interventions aimed at attenuating the impact of early childhood trauma after it has occurred. Future research should use randomised controlled trails to test the efficacy of NSSI treatments aimed at these risk factors.

M.Phil. / In the changing world of today, individuals experience a lack of meaning and direction in their lives. Personal leadership is an approach that enables individuals to achieve a deeper self-insight and form a more distinct vision of their future. The objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of self-awareness to personal leadership. With a view to gain a better understanding of self-awareness, a word and concept analysis of self-awareness was conducted in Chapter two by means of dictionary explanations as well as consulting viewpoints of experts from different perspectives. The relevant information gleaned from psychology and sociology was categorized to describe the ontological (essential nature), teleological (purpose), sociological (social nature) and methodological (methods) dimensions of self-awareness. Based on this analysis, self-awareness can be described as a psychological state or condition of attending to one's physical, spiritual, emotional and/or mental qualities by means of reflection, introspection and/or inner speech. It is thus an on-going process of seeing things both as they are and as they could be, as well as to form a perception of what is real. Furthermore, it was determined that self-awareness provides the key to a person's being, as it enables one to achieve: • self-knowledge or a candid assessment of personal strengths, limitations, needs, abilities, values and beliefs; • a solid self-concept or an awareness of the dominant thoughts, perceptions and feelings one has about oneself and thus to alter any unrealistic beliefs; • self-acceptance or insight into and understanding of oneself, which culminates in accepting oneself and others; • self-regulation or an awareness of one's internal states and values enabling one to manage oneself and to be flexible in adapting to change; • self-actualization or an awareness of one's unique nature, abilities and purpose enabling one to fulfil one's needs, realize one's potential and achieve meaning in life. In addition, it was also discovered that self-awareness could be achieved and/or developed through various methods like self-analysis, personality instruments, meditation, mentoring, and/or facilitation courses. Chapter three focused on the contribution of self-awareness to personal leadership. It was indicated that personal leadership is a process in which a person takes control of his/her own life. By consulting views of various authors on the subject, it was also established that the underlying foundation of personal leadership is an 'inside-out' approach, which means to start first with one's own perceptions, character and motives. As this approach involves a proactive attitude that is character-based and centred on principles and values, it enables one to achieve personal mastery. The role of self-awareness in each phase in the process of personal leadership was investigated. It was found that self-awareness enables the individual to gain knowledge of his/her different qualities, potential and core values, which is vital for understanding "Who am I?" in the first phase of personal leadership. Furthermore, it was also established that an awareness of one's unique nature, abilities and core values culminates in creating a personal vision, which is crucial to the second phase of "Where am I going?" in the personal leadership process. The last phase in this process addresses the question of "How am I going to get there?" and, consequently, an awareness of one's values, purpose, roles and conscience plays a vital role in taking certain steps to ensure that one realizes one's dreams. Based on the contribution of self-awareness to various aspects of personal leadership, the conclusion of this study was that self-awareness is a condition for personal leadership.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Humour serves various intrapersonal and interpersonal functions. The affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating humour styles are employed by individuals throughout their interactions and can influence their and others’ intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning. Humour styles have been related to positive attributes, such as self-esteem and optimism. Individual differences in the type of humour style displayed could furthermore be influenced by an individual’s cultural background. Self-esteem can be understood as an overall evaluation of one’s worth or value. Differences in self-esteem have been found between cultures but it is yet unclear how culture could influence the relationship between humour styles and self-esteem. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the role that culture could play in the relationship between humour style and self-esteem. In this study culture was conceptualised as self-construal which is determined by an individual’s cultural context of individualism or collectivism. This study involved 962 first year psychology students from the University of Johannesburg. The population in this university is multicultural with students of various race and culture. The Sense of Humour Questionnaire, Humour Styles Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and the Self-Construal Scale were used. A correlational analysis and moderated multiple regression analyses were employed to determine the extent to which independent and interdependent self-construal influenced the relationship between each of the four humour styles and self-esteem. All four humour styles correlated as expected with self-esteem. Affiliative and self-enhancing humour styles correlated positively and aggressive and self-defeating humour styles correlated negatively with self-esteem. Neither independent nor interdependent self-construal statistically significantly influenced the relationship between the affiliative, self-enhancing, or aggressive humour styles and self-esteem. Both independent and interdependent self-construal statistically significantly moderated the relationship between self-defeating humour style and self-esteem although the effect sizes were low. Excessive use of self-defeating humour has been associated with low self-esteem and emotional neediness...

Prior research has established that individual differences in self-esteem moderate reactions to self-relevant events. Although all people generally favour positive outcomes to negative outcomes, low self-esteem (LSE) people exhibit more affective extremity in response to artificially-contrived events than high self-esteem (HSE) people. That is, LSE people exhibit more positive affective reactions to positive outcomes and more negative affective reactions to negative outcomes than HSE people. Two competing theoretical models have been proposed to account for the self-esteem differences in mood extremity in the laboratory setting—the defensive-styles hypothesis and the life-events composition hypothesis. Evidence from two studies, the Mood-Diary Study and the Role-Playing Study, provide support for the first hypothesis by demonstrating that (a) esteem-related differences in the cognitive interpretations and causal attributions for positive and negative self-relevant events exist for naturally-occurring events as well as laboratory-contrived feedback, (b) LSE subjects claimed that these events had a greater impact on their mood and that they considered them to be more personally important than did HSE subjects, and finally, (c) LSE subjects were more variable in their moods across time than their HSE counterparts. Although esteem-related differences in mood variability were predicted for both differences in the extremity and frequency of mood changes, the differences were obtained only on the frequency of change measure. Although the evidence for the defensive-styles model was substantial, there was also some evidence for the life-events composition model, which essentially postulates that the lives of HSE and LSE which essentially postulates that the lives of HSE and LSE individuals differed markedly. Finally, an exploratory investigation of the relationship between self-esteem, self-complexity, and mood indicated that the two individual difference variables were positively correlated and that both were related to the frequency of change in mood but not mood extremity. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The purpose of this study is to determine what teachers' beliefs are concerning their profession: their tasks and behavior: their beliefs about themselves as educators: whether these beliefs enhance effective teaching: and how to ensure that teachers' beliefs about themselves are positive. If teachers make a difference in the classroom, it is essential to explore the perceptions teachers believe to be true about themselves. Although very little research has been done to determine what teachers believe about themselves, current research has indicated beyond doubt that teachers' beliefs and perceptions can no longer be regarded as of minor importance and has found that the teacher's beliefs about himself and his students, are the most important factors which determine the success of a teaching program. The point of departure is the Perceptual tradition and Self-concept theory. This tradition operates on the premise that all behavior is a function of the individual's perceived world. Each person has a unique system of perceptions about self and this self-concept: causes behavior and is selective as far as the assimilation of other perceptions is concerned. This tradition maintains that each person is a conscious agent who considers, constructs, interprets and then acts. Research was undertaken to investigate the beliefs that teachers hold true about themselves in respect of certain characteristics of the effective teacher as described in earlier research. The database is a conversion of the Invitational Teaching Survey (ITS) and was used to study aspects of this phenomenon. The data involved was analyzed by means of Chi-square, a cluster analysis and a factor analysis.