D.Cur. / The overall objective of this research study was the development of a psychiatric nursing science model that will provide a theoretical framework to facilitate the mental health of women exposed to continuous intimate partner abuse. In this thesis continuous intimate partner abuse will also refer to an abusive relationship. Violence against women is a global pandemic that costs the health and lives of more women than malaria, traffic, accidents and war combined (Holm 2000:12). It is stated that around the world at least one woman in every three has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family. There are a few support structures in place in the rural communities for these women. For many women who have been abused health workers are the main and often the only point of contact with public services which may be able to offer support and information. Yet victims of violence who seek care from health professionals often have needs that providers do not ask about and do not know how to address. A theory generative research design was applied during the conduct of this study. The research project was carried out in four steps of theory generation. Step one dealt with concept analysis which was divided into two sub-steps concept identification and concept definition. During the process of the subiv vii step of concept identification, a qualitative research strategy, which is explorative, descriptive and contextual was used to reveal the true experiences of women in abusive relationships. A purposive sample of 10 women in abusive relationships in the Eastern Cape meeting the selection criteria was utilised. In-depth semi-structured phenomenological interviews were used as a method of data collection.

The growth of consumerism has meant that individuals are increasingly using possessions as a means of developing their personal identities and forming social connections. Specifically, the consumer culture has seen the increase of brands and branded goods as marketers attach emotional attributes to them. Thus, brands have become communicative symbols which display, amongst other things, the owner's values, beliefs and social status. As a result, consumers are attempting to form their identities, social connections and self-worth by consuming (often branded) possessions which they feel are representative of their self or ideal self and will increase their chances of social acceptance. However, psychological studies in consumer behaviour suggest that the increasing propensity to seek inner happiness and social bonds through external means (consumption), has led consumers to be less satisfied with their lives and hence decreases psychological well-being; the focus on external rewards has reduced the importance that individuals place on personal development and intrapsychic developments.This study investigates the relationship between the consumption culture, branding and British adolescents, with a comparison between high and low-income teenagers. Adolescents are particularly prone to assuming consumer orientations (and hence the consequences thereof) due to their stage in identity development, their need for social acceptance and the fact that they are a very profitable market segment. As a result, teenagers are encouraged to turn to consumption for developing their personal and social identities, as opposed to more traditional means such as personal skill development. Although limited studies have investigated adolescent consumption, little attention has been paid to low-income adolescents who are prone to reduced self-worth but have a restricted consumption scope and thus cannot consume their self-worth in the same 'normal' ways as their peers. In light of previous studies, it was necessary to first develop a new measure of self-esteem which included the vital role of possessions (and specifically brands) in feelings of self-worth amongst adolescents. The scale-development process revealed the functional importance of self-esteem as a marker of social inclusion and hence shed light on the reason for the importance that adolescents place on specific brands; they are a promise of fitting-in. A valid and reliable 23-item, self-report measure of self-esteem is presented. Subsequent to developing the new scale, the research provided empirical support for a model of the psychological characteristics of adolescent consumption (including self-esteem). The result is a 'Vicious Cycle' model of consumption which suggests that there is a relationship between the factors which contribute to a consumer orientation and the likely effects of having such an orientation. For example, the model suggests that reduced self-esteem may contribute to consumerism and a consumption orientation may contribute to a reduction in self-esteem. Furthermore, the comparison between high and low-income teenagers showed that low-income teenagers were significantly more materialistic than their high-income counterparts thus supporting the suggestion that low-income teenagers are more prone to consumerism than their high-income counterparts. With reference to the detailed links presented in the Vicious Cycle model, the author proceeds to explore the efficacy of extant consumerist-curbing strategies and highlight the need for more effective methods if we wish future generations to develop in to more than simply shoppers.

This study explores women's homosocial bonds and their impact on a woman's self-esteem. In addition, the relationships between liberated behaviour and homosocial bonds, and between liberated behaviour and self-esteem, are explored. The research examines societal devaluation of women in terms of its effect on a woman's sense of self. Five measurement instruments were used to test the various constructs measured in this study: Homosocial Bonds were measured by the Bonds Between Women Scale (Woolsey, 1986); social support by the Social Provisions Scale (Russel & Cutrona, 1984); sexist attitudes by the Liberated Behavior Questionnaire (Ghaffaradli-Doty & Carlson, 1979); mastery by the Spheres of Control Scale (Paulhus & Christie, 1981); and self-esteem by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). One hundred and twelve unmarried, childless women between the ages of 18-26 made up the sample used in this study. All these women were students at a local city college and volunteered their time to complete the questionnaire packet after an announcement was made by the researcher. The first hypothesis, derived from Rawlings and Carter’s (1977) theory, that women who behave in a more liberated manner would have significantly higher scores on measures of homosocial bonds and social support, was supported. The second hypothesis, derived from Bernard's (1976) theory that women who behave in a more liberated manner would have significantly higher scores on the measures of self-esteem and mastery, was also supported. The third hypothesis, drawn from Bernard's (1976) theory that women with stronger homosocial bonds would have significantly higher scores on measures of self-esteem and mastery, was mostly unsupported. The implications of these findings for counselling and suggestions for further research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This study examined the differences between eating disordered and non-eating disordered women on self-deficits, specifically self-esteem, body-image disturbance, and body dissatisfaction. In addition, the existence of a cultural and individual ideal body shape was investigated. It was expected that eating disordered women, compared to non-eating disordered women would exhibit lower self-esteem, higher body dissatisfaction and a greater degree of body overestimation (as measured by the waist). Furthermore, it was expected that eating disordered women would choose a thinner cultural and individual ideal shape than the non-eating disordered women. The subjects were 82 females aged 19 to 40 years. The eating disordered group was recruited from a local support group and subjects met either the DSM-III (1980) criteria for anorexia nervosa, or Russell's (1979) criteria for bulimia nervosa. None of these subjects were hospitalized at the time of testing. Non-eating disordered subjects were nursing students recruited from a local college. The Eating Attitudes Test was administered to these subjects as a screening device to ensure that no subjects were included who had a mild eating disorder. All subjects completed a test package: The Eating Attitudes Test; The Adult Self-Perception Profile; The Eating Disorder Inventory; and a demographic sheet. At a second interview, subjects completed a body-image estimation procedure (Askevold, 1975), the cultural and individual ideal questions (Perceived Body Image Scale, Manley & LePage, 1986), and were weighed and measured for height. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance was computed for measures of self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and body-image disturbance, examining differences between the two groups. Significant differences were found for self-esteem and body dissatisfaction (p < .001), with body-image disturbance approaching significance (p < .06). An investigation of the means revealed that eating.disordered women showed less self-worth, more ineffectiveness and experienced greater body dissatisfaction, than did non-eating disordered women. While body-image disturbance was present in both groups, the eating disordered group showed a slightly greater tendency to overestimate their waist area than did the non-eating disordered group. A Chi square analysis computed for the cultural and individual ideals revealed the eating disordered group chose a significantly thinner cultural ideal shape (p < .05) and individual ideal shape (p < .001) than the non-eating disordered group. Both groups chose a very narrow range of acceptable female shapes to represent the cultural and individual ideal body shapes. Implications for these results and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

One of the major concerns of counselling psychology is to foster development rather than to simply remediate problems. One of the emotions through which proactive development might be facilitated is pride. Pride has potential connections to achievement motivation, care and attention toward work, task persistence, self-competence, esteem, and general productive well-being within a social context. The purpose of this study was to describe children's conceptions of pride in the anticipation that knowing about these conceptions would help indicate ways for counsellors to intervene. Using phenomenography, a descriptive research methodology that emphasizes conceptions of things experienced, child participants in Grades 2, 4, and 7 were interviewed to determine their conceptions of pride. The children were invited to talk about pride, mainly by telling stories of experiences with pride. The resulting narratives were analyzed to sift out all qualitatively distinct categories of meaning for pride, mapping the general domain of the emotion. Eight distinct conceptions emerged, including three active or doing conceptions (achieving, acting ethically, and acting independently) and five having conceptions (possessing, having a desired attribute or ability, belonging, having special status, and pride by association). All conceptions were represented in all three grades sampled, with no outstanding age- or gender-related differences. Research results contribute to our knowledge of how children experience and comprehend pride, and point toward educational and psychological implications for those who parent, educate, or counsel children. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The present study has a threefold purpose. First, it will attempt to investigate whether the presentation of the bogus group norm is effective to exert influence on an individual subject to modify his original response in the direction of the norm. Secondly, it will investigate relationships between the subject's level of test anxiety and his conformity behavior in the simple judgmental situation. Thirdly, it will further explore whether test anxiety, as measured by a questionnaire, and low self-esteem, as measured by feelings of personal inadequacy, are comparable constructs.

Instagram has more than 400 million monthly active users and 80 million shared photos with 3.5 billion likes daily. On Instagram, many people post their entire lives for others to see and comment on. This leads to people judging, commenting, and even trying to emulate others they see on social media. This constant comparing to others can lead to a host of psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. As social media becomes more of a staple in people's lives, it is important to study and understand the possible pitfalls to the culture it perpetuates. The purpose of this quantitative study was to use cognitive dissonance and attribution theories as the theoretical foundation to examine if there is a connection between Instagram usage and self-esteem by looking at the variables of length of a person's marriage, gender, happiness in marriage, age, and culture. Participants were married men and woman between the ages of 18 and 80 who actively use Instagram. They completed both the Marriage Happiness Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Test offered in person and via Survey Monkey. The data were transferred to SPSS where multiple regression was used for data analysis. Through this research, the intention was to help people navigate social media better and create healthier peer relationships. In all the variables identified, only gender was a significant predictor of self-esteem. The positive social change for this study was that people would be more mindful of their own social media interactions to avoid their recreational use of a public platform to cause others to experience stress, depression, or other psychological harm.

Previous findings on the relationship between self-esteem and psychological outcomes are inconsistent. Therefore it appears that self-esteem, while related to crucial variables, does not provide a clear, direct, and comprehensive prediction of psychological symptoms. Thus, it was hypothesized that the relationship between self-esteem and symptomatology would be moderated by broader measures of how one interacts with emotional and cognitive stimuli.The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of self-esteem, psychological flexibility, and cognitive flexibility on psychological symptomatology. A sample of 82 undergraduate students at the University of North Texas completed self-report questionnaires measuring low self-esteem, psychological flexibility, measured inversely as inflexibility, cognitive flexibility, and psychological symptoms. Results of the study suggest that self-esteem (?= -0.59, p < 0.001) and flexibility (both psychological (?= 0.36, p = 0.001) and cognitive (?= 0.21, p < 0.05) are significant predictors of psychological symptoms. In other words, self-esteem is positively correlated with psychological symptoms, while psychological and cognitive flexibility are negatively correlated with psychological symptoms. Neither form of flexibility moderated the relationship between self-esteem and psychological symptoms in this sample. The findings of the current study are discussed as well as suggestions for further research related to self-esteem, psychological and cognitive flexibility, and their impact on psychological outcomes.

The common us of social media in everyday life has raised questions on the possible impact it has on individuals’ wellbeing. This study was conducted to determine if there was a correlation between Instagram, a common social media platform, usage and self-esteem of college students. The sample population for this research was 95 undergraduate students at Mississippi State University during the fall semester of 2019. Data was collected via an online survey that included Rosenburg’s Self-Esteem scale and ten additional questions relating to the independent variables and Instagram. The independent variables of this study were the number of Instagram followers, the average number of likes on a post, the frequency of posting, and the pressure to post and the dependent variable was self-esteem according to the Rosenburg scale. This study did not find a correlation between Instagram usage and self-esteem.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Mental health is one of the most neglected issues among school-going adolescents, with the result that little is known about aspects of these young people in the South African context. Given the stressors encountered by adolescents in the South African context specifically, there is a great need for research into which health-promoting behavioural and coping strategies adolescents use to buffer the negative consequences of these stressors on their mental health and overall psychological well-being. The aims of the present study (which is the first phase of the four-phase study) were twofold: first, to validate (by means of cognitively testing on 150 school-going adolescents aged 13-19 years, in Grades eight to 11, from three selected schools within the Cape Metropole) the scales measuring stress (Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition – the BDI-II; Beck Anxiety Inventor – BAI; Beck Hopelessness Scale – BHS), psychological strengths (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support – MSPSS; Child and Youth Resilience Measure - CYRM; Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale – RSES), coping (Coping Strategy Indicator - CSI) and psychological wellbeing (Psychological Well-Being scale - PWB). Such validation, using the English as well as the Afrikaans- and isiXhosa-translated versions of the measures was done in order to determine the applicability and usability of these scales within the South African context, specifically in the study of sibling-bereaved school-going adolescents. Second, the study aimed to investigate, using structural equation modelling (SEM), the nature of the (both direct and indirect) relationships between stress, psychological strengths, coping and psychological well-being, with particular focus on the mediation effects of selected psychological strengths (that is, resilience, self-esteem and perceived social support) in the stress-coping relationship with psychological well-being. Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress was used as the theoretical framework for this study