A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment for the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. / The present research aimed to illustrate a link between the two domains of work and abuse. It was an investigation into "the various relationships which exist between spouse abuse and intrapersonal and alternative interpersonal coping resources in employed women.The intrapersonal coping resources identified in past literature and currently examined included self-esteem and level of depression. Alternative interpersonal resources provided by the work sphere were also included for investigation; namely work social support and value-rich work. Amixed quantitative-qual itative research design yielded measures on the five variables of spouse abuse, self-esteem, depression, work social support, and value-rich work; as well as on the two dimensions of physical and non-physical violence, and an additional variable of work support obtained from counselling programmes.The final sample consisted of 106 female employees from a variety of occupational groups. A content analysis of information regarding workplace counselling programmes and its effect on self-esteem and depression generated insignificant results. However, quantitative analyses via Pearson's Product MomentCorrelation Coefficients, one-way ANOVA's and multiple moderated regressions, illustrated very strong support for the remaining hypotheses. This implied that significant relationships did exist between abuse and the coping resources of self-esteem, depression. work support and value-rich work.

Mood state changes have been assessed in endurance sport athletes such as swimmers, distance runners and rowers. However, much less is known about the psychological changes that occur in team sport athletes. The purpose of this study was to assess mood state changes of intercollegiate female volleyball players across a competitive season.

The present investigation was designed to examine the effects of the positive manipulation of information on self-efficacy and subsequent performance of 180 female subjects. High, moderate, and low self-efficacy subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment condition in a 3 x 4 x 3 (preexisting self-efficacy x efficacy information source x trials) factorial design. Information from the three efficacy sources of performance accomplishments, verbal persuasion, and vicarious experience was manipulated towards success after subjects completed a muscular leg endurance task. The results supported self-efficacy theory with high self-efficacy subjects extending their legs significantly longer than moderate and low self-efficacy subjects. However, subjects did not differentially [sic] respond to the manipulation of the efficacy information. Results are discussed in terms of efficacy as a mediator of performance on an endurance task as well as the lack of differential changes in efficacy based on the source from which that information is derived.

[Truncated abstract] Socio-cultural processes are often cited as one of the main causes of body dissatisfaction amongst women. Numerous studies have found that exposure to thin, idealized images in the media increases women's body dissatisfaction. The central aims of this thesis are to investigate how exposure to thin and fat bodies alters womens perceptions of body normality and body ideals, whether body dissatisfaction is related to these changes, and whether body dissatisfaction is associated with an attentional bias toward thin bodies. In Chapter 1 I review the main theories dominating body dissatisfaction research. In Chapter 2 I present two studies which investigate how exposure to thin and fat bodies influences perceptions of body normality and ideal body size. Women who varied on a measure of body dissatisfaction (Experiment 1 & 2) and awareness and acceptance of societal standards of beauty (Experiment 2) rated a range of computer generated bodies, varying in simulated BMI, for how normal (Experiment 1 & 2) and ideal they looked (Experiment 2). They were then exposed to either thin or fat bodies, and they re-rated the bodies. Increased levels of body dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal standards of beauty were related to a thinner most normal and ideal rated body, before any exposure, as well as a greater discrepancy between the most normal and ideal rated bodies. Both Experiments 1 & 2 revealed that brief exposure to thin or fat bodies altered women's perceptions of body normality and body ideal, where exposure to fat bodies made womens perceptions of a normal and ideal body fatter, and exposure to thin bodies, made perceptions of the most normal and ideal rated body thinner. ... In Chapter 5 I present normative data for the Body Shape Questionnaire-34 (a measure of dissatisfaction with body weight and shape) (Cooper et al, 1987) from an Australian university sample. Many researchers use university samples iv when investigating body dissatisfaction, so it is useful to have normative data for such a sample. One thousand and fifty two women aged between 16 and 30 completed the BSQ-34. A mean score of 94.4 (SD = 34.5) was found, with a range of 34-203. My scores are comparable with those found in an American undergraduate sample, and are significantly higher than those found in community, undergraduate and clinical samples in the UK and Italy. Results indicate that levels of body dissatisfaction may be higher in Australia than in the UK and Italy. Together, these studies provide some important new findings. 1) Body dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal standards of beauty are related to thinner body norms and ideals. 2) Women's perceptions of normal and ideal female body sizes can be readily altered by exposure to thin and fat bodies, and 3) women selectively attend to thin bodies, but the more dissatisfied she is with her own body, the less she attends to thin bodies. Potential implications of these results for the treatment of body dissatisfaction may include the incorporation of treatment programs which target not only unnaturally slim body ideals, but perceptions of what constitutes a normal body, as well as trying to alter selective attention toward thin bodies in the environment. The results may also highlight to the media that consistently showing ultra slim models will very likely affect women's perceptions of normal and ideal female body sizes.

The National Women's Health Information Center reports that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to American women and that nearly one-third of American women have been physically assaulted by their significant other at some point in their lives. These women often experience depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and grief (Campbell et al., 1995). Literature supports the use of physical activity in promoting psychological well-being. The purpose of this study, then, was to evaluate the influence of physical activity on how survivors of domestic violence view themselves and their circumstances. The participants were seven women (18 to 54 years) who had been in abusive relationships, on average for eleven years, and who had recently left their partners. The participants were given access to an exercise facility and participated in one, two, three, or four interviews at one-month intervals. Interview questions covered abuse history, physical activity levels, self-view, emotional status, and how exercise may have influenced these factors. Qualitative analysis of 11 participants' responses revealed that exercise gave women the perception of healing, "getting out of trauma mode," of working towards a future self, "moving towards the vision of the type of person that I want to be," and freedom. Exercise improved their self-view by demonstrating to them that they were advancing beyond their abuse-controlled lives; that they were taking care of themselves. Women found exercise an effective means of "eliminating nervous energy" that resulted from being battered women, which in turn improved emotional status. Results are discussed in terms of the unique benefits derived from physical activity by these women, how exercise enhanced their recovery, and suggestions made by participants as to how the benefits of exercise could be fully realized. / Graduation date: 2004

The primary goal of this dissertation is to provide a better understanding of how midlife adult women’s psychological well-being is shaped by parental status. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, this research addresses three specific research aims. The first aim is to explore the relationship between motherhood and psychological well-being by family life stages and the timing of transition to motherhood. The second aim is to examine the role of marriage in the association between parental status and psychological well-being. Finally, the third aim is to account for psychological well-being by parental status, focusing on experiences in labor force participation. To address these aims, this dissertation tests several hypotheses based on the multiple role theory and its modifications and the theories and empirical research centered on the effects of marriage and employment on well-being. The results indicate that mothers are more likely to have lower levels of psychological well-being compared to childless women at earlier family life stages. However, this disadvantage decreases as mothers and their children age. The mother’s age at the birth of her first child also plays a role in the trajectories of the level of psychological well-being. Although the negative association between psychological wellbeing and motherhood appears to decline over time, those who became a mother at earlier ages experience much slower declines compared to those who did not have a first child until their early thirties. It also appears that marital status is an important moderator between parental status and psychological well-being. Motherhood is associated with psychological benefits for the married, but the opposite pattern is found for the never married. Moreover, entering a first marriage is associated with greater improvements in psychological well-being for women with a child compared to childless women. The association between motherhood and psychological well-being also varies depending on the types of marital disruption. Compared to those who remain married, divorce is harmful for women with a child; however, being a widow is detrimental for childless women. Additionally, for both married and never married women, employment is not associated with increases in psychological well-being when it is also combined with motherhood. This research suggests that the association between motherhood and psychological well-being is contingent upon the family life stages, the age at transition to motherhood, and other roles that women hold while being mothers. / text

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological and social processes of regular physical exercise use by women who consider themselves "exercisers." In using grounded theory method, the primary objective of this study was to generate a substantive theory that described (a) the experiences of women who self-identified as exercisers and engaged in regular physical exercise, (b) the contextual factors that influenced their participation, and (c) explained the experience of participating in regular exercise, considering both the positive and negative effects of exercising, and the process of change through its use. Twenty-two women (age range, 21 to 60 years) were interviewed about their exercise experience. Twenty participants self-identified as exercisers. Two other participants, a former exerciser, and a nonexerciser, were interviewed in order to explore theory limits. A middle-range theory of "shaping self through exercise" was identified as the basic process of these women's experience of regular physical exercise. The process involved the reciprocal connection between two intrapersonal phases: "shaping up" and "experiencing self as shaped." Through interactions among the subprocesses of shaping up ("talking to self," "experiencing exercise," "diverting from self" and "feeling good about self") exercisers in this study experienced self as shaped through "growing into self," "grounding self in exercise," and "expressing self through exercise." Influenced by personal meaning and contextual conditions (one's personal exercise background, current life context, and socialcultural environment), exercisers frequently re-experienced both phases. Aspects of each conceptual element of the theoretical model are identified and illustrated by narrative data. This grounded theory provides insight into the complexity of women's physical exercise experience. To appreciate this experience it is necessary to view the social-psychological process from an interactionist perspective. Findings suggest that women's exercise may be more than physical movement in reaction to environmental and personal influences, but may also be an intrinsically motivated endeavour towards self-growth, self-care, and selfexpression. Awareness of the complexity of this process, including personal and contextual influences, may provide guidance towards more successful adoption and maintenance of exercise. Implications include future research directions to extend theoretical boundaries and specificity.

This thesis describes a program of research aimed at examining the social psychological consequences of being a victim of discrimination. An experimental paradigm was developed to determine if, and to what extent, disadvantaged group members perceive the discrimination that confronts them. Women were asked to react to negative feedback after receiving information about the probability that they had been discriminated against. When discrimination was made ambiguous, subjects minimized their personal experience with discrimination and attributed their failure to themselves. A second experiment investigated the role of perceived control as a potential cause of minimization of personal discrimination. The results indicated that disadvantaged group members were reluctant to blame their performance on discrimination because in so doing, they were placing control for their outcomes in the hands of others rather than themselves. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the on-going victimization of disadvantaged group members.