Högtider är i Skandinavien förknippade med alkohol och festligheter, detta är en del av vår kultur. Konsumtionstillfällena är få och oftast placerade vid veckoslutet, det är mer accepterat att vara full en fredagskväll är mer än en måndagsmorgon. Beslut från regeringen avser mål och insatser för bland annat användandet av alkohol samt att minska bruket av det. Att begränsa alkoholens negativa effekter har länge varit en viktig fråga för folkhälsan. I och med detta skapades kampanjen Varannan vatten, för att minska berusningsdrickandet i samhället. Detta är en intervjustuide där fyra unga vuxna har tillfrågats om deras upplevelse kring kampanjen Varannan vatten. Studien avser också att undersöka huruvida informanterna anser att kampanjen är ett verktyg för att påverka attityder till berusningsdrickande. Resultatet visar att informanterna upplever kampanjen som positiv och att den utgör en funktion då det finns ett problem kring berusningsdrickande. Dock visade resultatet tecken på informanternas svårigheter att ta till sig budskapet då det enligt dem upplevs motsägelsefullt. Studien kan i framtiden utvecklas till att undersöka hur individerna själva anser kunna förändra attityder och beteenden. / In our Scandinavian culture holidays are associated with alcohol. The occasion for alcohol consumptions are few and often located at weekends. It´s more acceptable to binge drink on a Friday night than on a Monday morning. Resolutions from the Swedish government refers to intoxication drinking and changes in drinking patterns.  The campaign Varannan vatten (every other water) started as a consequence to reduce drinking in society. This study investigates young adults experience of the campaign Varannan vatten (every other water). The study also investigates if young adults consider that the campaign serve a purpose to change attitudes towards intoxicated drinking. Data was collected from four participants, between 20-24 years, who took part in the current interview study. One of the most important findings in this study showed positive attitudes towards the campaign. Participants also saw intoxication drinking as a problem why they saw the campaign as well needed.  It was marked that the announcement of the campaign appeared as misleading and participants had a hard time to adopt its message. Conclusions suggest that future studies develop and investigate individual considerations as reasons for attitudes and behaviors change.

This dissertation investigated the role of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) stigma in program implementation. A case study design comprising qualitative methods provided in-depth, context-sensitive comparisons of adult educator (n = 8) and youth (n = 67) perspectives among programs that provide HIV services and those that provide risk reduction services. Nearly half of the youth participants were male, 42% were female, and 6% identified as transgender. Two thirds of participants were Black or African American, one quarter of participants were Hispanic or Latino, and the average participant age was 19. Although program personnel from all youth service programs in this study are acutely aware of how HIV stigma detracts from HIV education, programs that provide HIV services address stigma differently from programs that provide at-risk services. HIV education differs by language, inclusion, and stigma experiences. Based on the research literature and the findings from this study, structural changes are needed to accurately address HIV stigma and improve educational effectiveness across youth programs.

Managing a romantic partner’s substance misuse can be challenging, especially in cases where attempts to show support end up worsening the negative behavior. Understanding what may predict one’s actions towards a partner who smokes or drinks can help to alleviate some of the difficulty associated with these interactions. Therefore, this study was designed to examine how issues of undesirable substance use are managed within college students’ romantic relationships. More specifically, the study applied Inconsistent Nurturing as Control Theory (Le Poire, 1995) to assess the extent to which communication competence, relational uncertainty, perceived network helpfulness, and perceived network hindrance predict the reinforcement and/or punishment of a partner’s smoking or drinking. Results from cross-sectional survey data (N = 270) revealed that a significant, negative relationship existed between perceived network helpfulness and punishment and that there were significant, positive relationships between: perceived network hindrance and punishment, relational uncertainty and reinforcement, and relational uncertainty and punishment. However, there was no evidence indicating that communication competence was correlated with either reinforcement or punishment. Additional findings revealed that individuals reporting on their partners’ drinking, as opposed to their partners’ smoking, were more likely to reinforce the behavior. Men reported on using more reinforcement behaviors than women did and individuals who were in on-again/off-again relationships reported using more punishment than did those in relationships that have not renewed. In addition to examining the communicative behaviors used to address substance misuse, the current study also furthered the development of a scale created for the purposes of quantitatively measuring the constructs of reinforcement and punishment. Implications for studying predictors of reinforcement and punishment strategies are discussed, as is the importance of targeting young adult substance use. / text

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Steampunk first appeared in the 1980s as a subgenre of science fiction, featuring anachronistic technologies with a veneer of Victorian sensibilities. In recent years steampunk has re-emerged in young adult science fiction as a fresh and dynamic subgenre, which includes titles such as The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross, The Hunchback Assignment by Arthur Slade, and Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. Like their predecessors, these modern steampunk novels for teens use retrofuturistic historiography and innovative mechanical aesthetics to dramatize the volatile relationship between man and technology, only in these novels the narrative is intentionally set in the context of their teen protagonist's social and emotional development. However, didactic conventions such as technophobia and the formulaic linearity of the bildungsroman narrative complicate and frustrate steampunk's representation of adolescent formation. Using case studies of Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia, retrofuturism and technological hybridity are presented as defining features of steampunk that subvert young adult science fiction's technophobic and liberal humanist traditions. The dirigible and the automaton are examined as the quintessential tropes of steampunk fiction that reproduce the necessary amphibious quality, invoking new expressions and understanding of adolescent growth and identity formation that have a distinctly utopian, nostalgic, and ecocentric undertone.

The topic of assessment has attracted wide-spread attention in the discipline of music education in recent decades. However, most research centres on school-based assessment, and then mainly on the assessment of practical music subjects. Current assessment practices in music literacy programmes (such as 'paper-and-pencil' and standardized tests) counteract what is arguably the most important goal of music education, namely the development of musicianship. Therefore, in this study, my aim is to investigate assessment practices in music literacy courses for young adults, and to show how assessment in these courses can contribute to the development of musicianship. In order to reach these aims, the terms 'musicianship' and 'music literacy' are defined. The importance of a guiding philosophy for assessment is highlighted and constructivism is discussed as an example of such a philosophy, since constructivist principles largely correspond with the principles of assessment and adult education. Principles for effective assessment are subsequently established before being applied to the assessment of music literacy outcomes. Finally, the need for further research about various topics that can inform assessment practices in music subjects is pointed out. / Thesis (M.Mus.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Individuals who have experienced child maltreatment (CM) are at an increased risk for future interpersonal difficulties and violence in their romantic relationships. While positive connections with mentors have been shown to contribute to resilience among at-risk youth, the role of mentors in promoting positive romantic relationships among those with CM histories has not been previously examined. In this study, young adult women (N = 267; 18-25 years of age) who were in a romantic relationship at the time of the study completed a computerized questionnaire exploring CM, romantic relationship functioning, and mentoring relationships. Almost half of the women had a current or past mentoring relationship (n = 132). This study explored the associations between CM and romantic relationship qualities (i.e., levels of social support, negative interactions, relationship violence, and distribution of power), and examined whether having a mentor would be particularly helpful for women with a history of CM. Maltreatment experiences examined were child psychological maltreatment (CPM; 21%, n = 55), child physical abuse (CPA; 9%, n = 24), witnessing domestic violence (WDV; 16%, n = 43), and child sexual abuse (CSA; 11%, n = 29). Results showed that women who experienced higher levels of CPM and CPA, particularly by fathers, were more likely to report higher levels of psychological maltreatment and physical violence in their current romantic relationships compared to women with lower levels of CPM and CPA. Women who indicated a lack of emotional support (ES) from their parents reported higher levels of negative interactions in their romantic relationships. However, women with higher levels of ES from their fathers reported higher levels of social support in their romantic relationships. When these factors were accounted for in regression analyses, psychological and physical maltreatment experiences by fathers predicted levels of psychological and physical maltreatment in women’s romantic relationships. As well, higher personal levels of power in their romantic relationships were found among women with higher levels of WDV. Further, ethnicity, the participants’ age, relationship status (e.g., dating, common-law/married), and parental divorce emerged as important socio-demographic factors in relation to child maltreatment and relationship functioning. There was support for the role of mentors as a protective factor among women who had experienced physical abuse by their fathers. Mentoring characteristics such as duration of the mentoring relationship and attachment to the mentor were related to CM experiences and romantic relationship functioning. This study calls attention to the need for greater awareness of the link between CM and romantic relationship difficulties in young adulthood, as well as the role of positive mentoring relationships as a protective factor for those with a history of CM. Results from this study may benefit psychologists and others in similar professions who assist those who have experienced CM and who are at risk for interpersonal difficulties, and may help those already experiencing relationship difficulties. Additional implications include a need for better identification of youth who are at-risk for relationship violence and for the implementation of violence prevention programs in schools. Given the important role of mentors demonstrated by this study, there is also a need for further research regarding mentors and for greater support of mentoring programs.

Most girls in Gopher Slough, Florida, worry about whether GSHS will win the next football game (they won't), when their boyfriends will take them muddin', and how many times they can sneak cigarettes behind the bleachers before they get thrown into in-school suspension. Libby Hoyer is not most girls. Instead, Libby is worried about her slipping grades, especially in Geometry, where she can barely keep her head up long enough to take the weekly quizzes. She's concerned about losing her friendship with her best (only) friend, Bobbi Jo, who's distracted with her own Aber-zombie boyfriend, and she's unsure of how to define her new relationship with Neil, a mysterious boy from her class who is not as carefree as he pretends to be. Libby is also troubled by the fact that she can't seem to remember her distant father, even though he only left five years ago. Everyone else, it seems, is worried about Libby's sporadic eating habits. If she continues to refuse to eat or to purge anything she's forced to eat, she might disappear. But Libby isn't afraid of disappearing. She's afraid of being seen.

In recent decades, male protagonists in Australian realist fiction for young adult readers have increasingly become more others-regarding, emotionally intelligent, and self-aware. (John Stephens 2000; Perry Nodelman 2002). Psychologist Roger Horrocks (1995) claims these protagonists are less “tendentious and more realistic” than male protagonists of the past. These boys, despite not bearing the hallmarks of hegemonic masculinity, develop subjective agency and ultimately propose new ways for young men to construct their gender identity. Using Phillip Gwynne’s (1998) Deadly Unna? and David Metzenthen’s (2000) Boys of Blood and Bone as case studies, and my own novel My Private Pectus as creative practice, I explore the construction and deconstruction of hegemonic, complicit, and alternative masculinities in Australian realist young adult fiction. I also analyse the construction of the New Age Boy—a label used by John Stephens for young male protagonists who develop positive self esteem because of their perceived gender differences compared to boys of the hegemonic masculine type. By critiquing the manner in which masculinities are constructed in each case study, and supporting my critique through the literature of leading gender theorists, I question the seemingly homogenous manner in which the New Age Boy gains agency. This question is further explored through my creative practice, as I put into dialogue a protagonist who also recognises his gender differences, but instead of proposing a new and better masculinity, he tries to adhere to and reap the rewards of hegemonic masculinity.

The novel manuscript Blue Horses (published as Dust, by Random House Australia under its Woolshed Press Imprint, July 2009) focuses on a dusty corner of 1970’s Queensland in this evocative tale of family, shadows that hang over from childhood and beauty found in unexpected places. Its protagonist, Cecilia Maria, was named after saints and martyrs to give her something to live up to. “Over my dead body,” she vows. Her battles with a six-pack of brothers and the despised Kapernicke girls from the farm next door teach her an unforgettable lesson that echoes down through the years. Now she’s heading back to where it all began, with teenagers Jed and Jenna reluctantly in tow. She plans to dance on a grave and track down some ghosts. Instead she learns a new lesson at the gravesite of an old enemy. The exegesis examines Jung’s concept of the Shadow Archetype as a catalyst for individuation in writing for young adults. It discusses the need to re-vision Jung’s work within a feminist framework and contrasts it to Julia Kristeva’s work on the abject. Alyssa Brugman’s Walking Naked and Sonya Hartnett’s Sleeping Dogs are analysed in relation to these concepts and lead into my own creative reflections on, and justification for, use of the Shadow conceptual framework. In following my shadow and establishing a creative dialogue between my conscious intent and unconscious inspirations, I have discovered a writing self that is “other” to the professional writer persona of my past.