bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Defending a Diagnostic Pariah: Validatinq the Categorisation of Dissociative Identity Disorder
Authors: Traub Craig M.
Published: March 2013

In past decades and still, in contemporary society, the notion and validity of the phenomenon of multiple personalities, or dissociative identities, within a single individual, have resulted in much debate and discord among mental health care professionals. Even with diverging opinions on the subject, the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders bears proof of the genuine nature of what is now termed Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). In this paper, the existence of DID per se is not questioned, but rather, whether this disorder can be reliably identified and validly categorised. There are four factors that will be assessed: childhood trauma, prevalence ratings, media influences, and psycho-physiological perspectives. First, traumatic experiences in childhood are commonly held to be the primary cause of this disorder; however, issues arise with regard to the intensity, duration and kind of abuse, as well as the measures in recording such abuse. Second, the prevalence ratings highlight the dramatic increase of diagnosis in the 1980s, with perspectives supporting both an under- and over-diagnosis of the disorder. Third, vast media influences may have played a role in the over-diagnosis of DID, such that the number of cases alters per person, and rates of ritual satanic abuse increased dramatically, with subsequent sharp decline. Last, psycho-physiological experimental studies may suggest the validity of this diagnostic category, but these studies may also merely demonstrate the ability for intense concentration and/or a desire for role-play. In essence, evidence either supporting or opposing the validity of current categorisation of this disorder seems to be unconvincing and inconclusive. However, depending on the perceived ontology of this disorder, further study may be directed toward parental coping strategies to reduce child abuse or mandatory warnings to practitioners on the susceptibility of certain patients.
Subjective Well-Being: A General Overview
Authors: Diener Ed , Ryan Katherine
Published: March 2013

We provide a comprehensive review of the field of subjective well-being in terms of its societal and individual benefits, demographic correlates, theories of origin, and relationship to culture. Interventions to increase well-being are also presented as well as the argument that national accounts of well-being for public policy should be instituted and utilized, alongside economic and social indicators, to both reveal and improve the quality of life within nations.
Revisiting Core Issues in Dynamic Assessment
Authors: Murphy Raegan , Maree D.J.F.
Published: March 2013

Dynamic assessment is currently poised at a juncture where theoretical and practical assessment resolutions are necessitated. Such issues concern theoretical approaches towards psycho-educational assessment. In order to partially explore these basic assessment approaches, a questionnaire was delivered via electronic mail to 100 international, currently active, dynamic assessment researchers and practitioners. The findings from the responses formed the basis for an informal content analysis, which was conducted utilising themes as primary meaning unit and word counts as secondary meaning unit of analyses. The one common and uniting feature about the current research in this area is the broad range of theoretical approaches towards assessment and the current lack of unanimity across types of approaches. Responses showed that varied theoretical frameworks are employed in dynamic assessments which do not necessarily cohere with other traditional approaches. It is contended that an exploratory revisiting of core assessment approaches would assist in positioning practitioners' and researchers' theoretical approaches in future assessments.
Dominant and Non-Dominant Groups' Responses to Social Change: The Economic Transformation Process in South Africa
Authors: Dumont Kitty , van Lill Burger
Published: March 2013

In the field study we examined the assumptions proposed by Social Identity Theory (SIT) that dominant and non-dominant groups differ systematically regarding the functional interaction between beliefs about the intergroup situation and identity management strategies. Participants were university students from three racial groups: blacks ( N = 100), coloured ( N = 100), as non-dominant groups, and whites ( N = 100) as dominant group in post-apartheid South Africa. A multiple group path analysis to test SIT revealed systematic differences between dominant and non-dominant groups regarding the impact of perceived legitimacy on ingroup identification, perceived legitimacy on social competition and on individual mobility. Furthermore, the results showed that ingroup identification differentiates between individual and collective strategies irrespective of the groups' status positions. The results also highlight the different effects (or lack of effects) of the socio-structural variables in the SIT model, which is argued to be determined by the concrete socio-historical context of the respective intergroup relations.
The Coping Orientation and Resources of Teachers Educating Learners with Intellectual Disabilities
Authors: Brown Ottilia , Howcroft Greg , Jacobs Tracey
Published: March 2013

Stress in the teaching profession is a well-recognized phenomenon and, in addition, research has found special education to be more demanding than mainstream education. A literature study to date revealed that international and South African research on special education teachers and their coping with stress is sparse. We therefore aimed to explore and describe the coping orientation and resources of teachers educating learners with intellectual disabilities. An exploratory, descriptive survey design was employed in the study. Antonovsky's Orientation to Life Questionnaire (SOC-29) and Hammer and Mailing's Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) was administered to 59 special education teachers in the Nelson Mandela Metropole, South Africa. Key findings revealed fairly high mean scores on the SOC-29 and average mean scores on the CRI. Significant positive correlations between the SOC-29 and the CRI total mean score and some of the subscale scores of the CRI were also evident.
Behavioural Change vis-à-vis HIV&AIDS Knowledge Mismatch among Adolescents. The Case of Some Selected Schools in Zomba, Malawi
Authors: Mwale Marisen
Published: March 2013

Most researchers on adolescent reproductive health and related susceptibility to contracting HIV&AIDS have highlighted the ironical mismatch preponderant between adolescent knowledge of HIV&AIDS transmission dynamics and behavioural change exemplified in part by abstinence but also condom use. The paradox is compounded by the fact that survey data appear to depict heightened knowledge of the dynamics per se. Empirical data have previously posited variables such as peer pressure and other psychosocial factors as the crisis in adolescence in explaining the anomaly. Results in the current study, however, reveal the culture of silence; the disdain towards AIDS messages and retrogressive cultural practices as alternative explanation. The results were obtained through survey data from adolescent students in selected schools in Zomba, a district in southern Malawi, and are discussed within the larger context of the applicability of cognitive dissonance theory to the AIDS pandemic.
Reflexivity in the Practice of Social Action: From Self-to Inter-Relational Reflexivity
Authors: Gilbert Andrew , Sliep Yvonne
Published: March 2013

We explore the nature of reflexivity in the context of social action and community work. In using the term social action, we are referring to collective action which seeks to transform the nature of local and societal conditions. We characterise such action as the creation of a social space in which stakeholders, representing different interests, come together to engage in joint activities to address issues of inequality and power. In such contexts, reflexivity is something more than the ‘self-reflexivity’ of the individual stakeholder, as social action requires a joint deconstruction of power in the voices and relationships operating between the stakeholders within a performative space. We name this form of reflexivity ‘inter-relational reflexivity’ and explore what such reflexivity may look like. We will suggest that inter-relational reflexivity goes beyond self-reflexivity and occurs dialogically including a concern for moral agency and the negotiation of accountability and responsibility for action. This in turn could lead to the translation of critical awareness in relation to others into social action, referred to as performativity.
To Be or Not to Be a Mother: Exploring the Notion of Motherhood among University Students
Authors: Mamabolo Itumeleng , Langa Malose , Kiguwa Peace
Published: March 2013

We explored the notion of motherhood among female university students. Unstructured individual interviews were conducted with seven final-year female students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The data were analysed and various themes were categorised into manageable units. The findings suggest that many female students are ambivalent about motherhood and becoming mothers, with preferences for being career mothers set against preferences for establishing a career first. This conflict was further evident in sentiments of motherhood as being natural and obligatory.
Suicide-Related Behaviours among Secondary School Adolescents in the Welkom and Bethlehem Areas of the Free State Province (South Africa)
Authors: Mashego T-A.B. , Madu S.N.
Published: March 2013

Our aim was to investigate suicide-related behaviours among secondary school adolescents in the Free State province, South Africa. Participants in this study were 142 secondary school adolescents selected from urban and rural schools around Welkom and Bethlehem, in the Free State. A stratified random sampling method was used to select the schools. Eighty-six (60.6%) participants were female, and 56 (39.4%) were male. They were aged between 12 and 19 years, with a mean age of 16.18 years ( SD = 1.72). A questionnaire was used to obtain participants' demographic data, suicidal behaviours (suicidal ideation, thoughts, plans, and attempts), the severity of the suicidal attempt (where applicable) and how often suicidal attempts took place. Results show that the prevalence of extreme (pervasive) cases of suicidal ideation (i.e. almost every day in the past two weeks) is 12.0% (10.7% for males and 12.8% for females). There is no significant difference between suicidal ideation among males and among females. The prevalence of suicidal plans in the past two weeks and ‘ever’ (lifetime) were 7.7% and 18.3%, respectively. The prevalence of suicidal attempts in the past two weeks and ‘ever’ (lifetime) were 4.2% and 14.8%, respectively. There is no significant difference between the prevalence among males and females, early adolescents and late adolescents, adolescents from the Southern Sotho background and those from non-Southern Sotho speaking groups. Mental health workers and educators should use the above findings as baseline information when planning preventive and therapeutic strategies for the minimization of suicidal behaviours among adolescents in the province. The findings should also be considered when making policies on the health priority areas for funding.
Understanding the Seating Patterns in a Residence-Dining Hall: A Longitudinal Study of Intergroup Contact
Authors: Schrieff Leigh E. , Tredoux Colin G. , Finchilescu Gillian , Dixon John A.
Published: March 2013

Using a combination of observational and questionnaire methods, this longitudinal study investigated interracial contact in a university residence dining hall, focusing on the organization of seating patterns. The results showed that informal division by race was extensive, with indices of interaction (xPy*) and evenness (D) indicating the existence of high levels of racial segregation. Moreover, although they had ample opportunities for regular contact, students' preferences for sitting with same-race peers remained relatively constant across the study period. Their explanations for seating choices emphasised the role of wider friendship patterns as well as the importance of eating with people with whom they felt ‘comfortable’.
A Decade Later: Follow-Up Review of South African Research on the Consequences of and Contributory Factors in Teen-Aged Pregnancy
Authors: Macleod Catriona Ida , Tracey Tiffany
Published: March 2013

In this paper, we review South African research conducted in the last 10 years on the consequences of and contributory factors in teen-aged pregnancy. We discuss research into the rates of teen-aged pregnancy, the intentionality and wantedness of pregnancy, the disruption of schooling, health issues, consequences for the children, welfare concerns, knowledge and use of contraception, timing of sexual debut, age of partner, coercive sexual relations, cultural factors and health service provision. We compare this discussion to the reviews on the same topic appearing in the South African Journal of Psychology a decade ago. We find that there are several changes in focus in the research on pregnancy amongst young women. We conclude that, in general, there has been an improvement in the breadth of data available, mostly as a result of representative national and local surveys. A better teasing out of nuances around particular issues and a grappling with theoretical issues are also evident in recent research.
Temperament Styles in Zimbabwean Early Adolescents: A Rasch Measurement Model Analysis
Authors: Mpofu Elias , Oakland Thomas , Gwirayi Pesanayi
Published: March 2013

The structure of temperament styles was investigated using Rasch analysis methods with data from 397 (46% males) Zimbabwean early adolescents. The students completed the Student Styles Questionnaire (SSQ), a 69 item children's self-report measure of temperament styles that uses a forced choice item format. Each item was scored as a dichotomous Rasch scale variable. Principal component analysis of the standardized residuals yielded unidimensional latent temperament variables for extroversion-introversion (EI), practical-imaginative (PM), thinking-feeling (TF), and organized-flexible (OL) styles. Higher endorsements were found for extroversion (E) than introversion (I) styles, for practical (P) than imaginative (M) styles, for feeling (F) than thinking (T) styles, and for organized (O) than flexible (L) styles. TF style indicators seemingly were targeted more appropriately to the Zimbabwean adolescents than were EI, OL, and PM styles. Rasch modelling methods appear to have merit when constructing and using interval scale measures of temperament styles from forced choice data.
Group Art Therapy with Sexually Abused Girls
Authors: Pretorius Gertie , Pfeifer Natascha
Published: March 2013

The psychological impact of child sexual abuse has been widely researched. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a group art therapy intervention designed by the authors aimed at reducing depression, anxiety, sexual trauma and low self-esteem among 25 sexually abused girls aged 8–11 years. The programme was based on existential-humanistic, Gestalt, client-centred and abuse-focused principles. The Solomon four-group design was used to investigate the efficacy of the intervention, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and Human Figure Drawing were used as measures for assessing symptom change. The results indicated that the experimental groups improved significantly compared to the control groups with regard to anxiety and depression. The study adds to the literature on therapeutic approaches that can be applied to sexually abused children and on the use of group art therapy as an intervention technique.
University Students' Beliefs about the Causes and Treatments of Mental Illness
Authors: Samouilhan Tanya , Seabi Joseph
Published: March 2013

Limited or incorrect mental health knowledge has been shown to result in negative attitudes toward mental illness and the seeking of psychological treatment. We endeavoured to investigate university students' beliefs about the etiology and treatment of mental illness. The sample comprised 112 students from the faculties of Law and Engineering of a large South African university. A three-part questionnaire was administered, which consisted of a section on demographic information, a vignette scale measuring the students' choice(s) of etiological factors and treatments for four types of mental illness, and Fischer and Farina's Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale — Shortened Form ATSPPH-SF. The results indicated that the participants viewed stressful events as leading to both depression and substance abuse, chemical imbalance as a cause of schizophrenia, and negative social factors as causing anorexia nervosa. The overall top-rated treatment across the four disorders was professional psychological intervention as chosen by 48% of the participants. The results also indicated a number of significant relationships between etiological and treatment beliefs. The findings are discussed in the context of the literature, and recommendations for future research are made.
An Interactionist Model of Self-Concept and Eating Habits
Authors: Lessing A.C. , de Beer N.D.
Published: March 2013

Our aim was to determine whether a negative self-concept and unhealthy eating habits of adolescents could improve after being exposed to a psycho-educational programme involving cognitive-behaviour therapy and hypnotherapy. A qualitative investigation was done with nine adolescents ranging between 12 and 18 years of age. An initial situation analysis was done to identify adolescents with unhealthy eating habits and problematic self-concepts. Support was given in a number of individual and group therapy sessions, focusing on eating habits, cognitive distortions and self-concept. From the evaluation of the outcome of the intervention, it appears that the proposed Interactionist Model of Self-concept and Eating Habits can be used as an effective therapeutic instrument in a psycho-educational intervention programme when working with adolescents with unhealthy eating habits and problematic self-concepts.
Temperament and Character Correlates of Neuropsychological Performance
Authors: Cassimjee Nafisa , Murphy Raegan
Published: March 2013

We investigate the association between temperament and character dimensions, on the one hand, and computerised neuropsychological test performance, on the other hand. Temperament and character dimensions were operationalised as scores on the subscales of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), a 240-item measure that is based on the psychobiological theory of personality. Neuropsychological outcomes were measured on six computerised tests of executive functioning and abstract reasoning from the University of Pennsylvania Computerised Neuropsychological Test Battery (PennCNP). The executive and abstract reasoning tasks included a test of Motor Praxis (MPRAXIS), the Penn Abstraction, Inhibition and Working Memory Task (AIM), the Letter-N-Back (LNB2), the Penn Conditional Exclusion Task (PCET), the Penn Short Logical Reasoning Task (SPVRT) and the Short Raven's Progressive Matrices (SRAVEN). Results from this exploratory study yielded significant associations between neuropsychological performance and temperament and character traits. The temperament traits of Harm Avoidance and Reward Dependence were positively correlated with reaction time on the AIM and the SPVRT. The character dimension of Self-Transcendence was significantly associated with performance accuracy on the AIM and the temperament dimension of Novelty Seeking was inversely related to performance accuracy on the LNB2. These results confirm the importance of addressing the temperament and character correlates of neuropsychological performance in both clinical and non-clinical studies.
Piaget, Vygotsky, and the Cultural Development of the Notions of Possibility and Necessity: An Experimental Study among Rural South African Learners
Authors: Muthivhi Azwihangwisi E.
Published: March 2013

I employ the theories of Vygotsky and Piaget in analysing the modes of experimental task performance in order to elaborate on the role that cultural content plays in the development and functioning of the notions of possibility and necessity. I challenge the notion of cognitive lag that has hitherto pervaded explanations of the development of subjects from non-industrialised, diverse socio-cultural settings. A Piagetian experimental task, comprising half circles of contrasting colours, is used in the investigation. One of these half circles, covered with tinfoil, is assumed to be either red or green in colour but not knowable in advance, and it is used as a basis for hypothesising about the possible colour values of circles that could be made from combining this half with the uncovered one. Eighty Venda-speaking learners, 20 learners from each of four grades (Grades 1, 3, 5, and 7), with ages ranging from an average 6.5 years in Grade 1 to 12.5 years in Grade 7, participated in the study. The results reveal that learners, although functioning at the operational level of thinking, employ both concrete-functional and formal-abstract and conceptual modes of thinking at the same time. Thus the concept of possibility is conceptualised as constituting both its concrete, functional form (involving a conception of the possible as the possible-real) and its formal, conceptual form (involving the conception of the possible as a hypothetical state of affairs, disembedded from its concrete context of problem manifestation and involving holding two or more cognitive categories constant during problem solving).
Simultaneous and Sequential Cognitive Processing in Monolingual and Bilingual Children in South Africa
Authors: De Sousa Diana Soares , Greenop Kirston , Fry Jessica
Published: March 2013

Academic success is correlated with simultaneous and sequential cognitive processing. The cognitive processing skills of bilingual children have come under scrutiny. Cognitive processing may be mediated by level of orthographic transparency, level of bilingualism, and language of instruction at school. Given the imperative of assessing the impact of bilingualism and multilingualism on learning, the performance of 30 monolingual English and 30 bilingual Afrikaans-English third grade children was compared on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) simultaneous and sequential processing standard scales. The K-ABC is relatively culture fair with low language requirements. We did not find any significant differences between the two groups on the global simultaneous-sequential scales, but significant differences were found on two specific subtests of the K-ABC: Hand Movements and Matrix Analogies. Findings provide overall support for the usefulness of the K-ABC as a measure of cognitive processing for children from diverse cultural-linguistic backgrounds, but with the understanding that a monolingual and a bilingual literacy-learning environment influences cognitive processing skills on specific cognitive tasks on the K-ABC. Importantly, the unchanged Hand Movements subtest and a modified version of the Matrix Analogies subtest (i.e. Pattern Recognition) is used in the K-ABC II, not yet widely used in South Africa. This study has important implications for using the K-ABC and K-ABC II across cultural-linguistic groups, for educational purposes.
The Significance of Sub-Threshold Symptoms of Anxiety in the Aetiology of Bruxism
Authors: Basson Reneda A. , Mwaba Kelvin , Rossouw Roelof J. , Geerts Greta A.V.M. , Kotze Theunis J.W. , Stuhlinger Martin E.
Published: March 2013

Bruxism is the oral parafunctional habit of clenching and grinding the teeth. It occurs mainly unconsciously, diurnally and/or nocturnally. It is considered an important contributory factor in the aetiology of myofascial pain and temporomandibular joint disorders and derangements. The aetiology of bruxism is considered to be multifactorial, involving both physiological and psychological factors. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the sub-threshold symptoms of anxiety and bruxism, using a spectrum model. Firstly, levels of anxiety were determined using the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Kessler-10 (K-10). Secondly, a tooth-wear score was determined by means of a clinical examination and dental casts. Thirdly, bruxism was rated on an ordinal scale according to specified criteria. A dualistic trend in the relationship between sub-threshold symptoms of anxiety and bruxism was observed in the results. In approximately half of the subjects with higher than average anxiety scores, bruxistic behaviour was found. This indicates the possibility of two groups with separate relationships. The dentist could play a role in recognizing that a patient may be experiencing anxiety, expressed through bruxism behaviour, and refer the patient for therapy or counselling. An understanding of the psychological factors involved in the aetiology of bruxism could foster a more holistic approach to the treatment of patients with signs of bruxism.
Narratives of Therapists Using a Fortigenic Approach — Synthesis and Synergy
Authors: de Lange Erica F.
Published: March 2013

I focus on the fortigenic qualities of psychotherapists in full-time long-term private practice to explore the narratives of these therapists from a fortigenic perspective. The qualitative research process and methodology are presented, with a description of the unique method of narrative synthesis and synergy. The focus in the article is to discuss this research process. The research results of the conversations are presented in the form of a literary short story — this is the new narrative or product of the research. This research review concludes with a reflection on resonance and the complexity of the research process, as well as possible future directions for research, both locally and internationally.
Sources of Stress and Support among Rural-Based First-Year University Students: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Pillay Anthony L. , Ngcobo Humphrey S.B.
Published: March 2013

First-year university students are faced with numerous challenges, some of which prove more than they can cope with. As a result their prospects of graduating are reduced, as reflected in the high failure and drop-out rates nationally. These challenges are certainly greater in rural-based institutions, and the authors sought, therefore, to examine the stressors endured by students from mainly poorer, rural communities attending such an institution. Fear of failing, finance and accommodation problems featured very strongly, with deaths of family members and significant others also prominent. Parents and friends were viewed as most supportive. Significantly more female than male students found friends and religious leaders/priests to be supportive. Approximately one-quarter of the sample found their siblings and health professionals unsupportive. Students younger than 21 years were more affected by conflict with and between parents than students over 21 years. The results are discussed within the context of socioeconomic as well as gender and developmental variables.
Adaptation of Aphasia Tests for Neurocognitive Screening in South Africa
Authors: Mosdell Jill , Balchin Ross , Ameen Ozayr
Published: March 2013

Two aphasia tests — the Cookie Theft Test and the Boston Naming Test — were adapted to help eliminate western cultural, language and education bias in neurocognitive screening in South Africa. These tests were among the commonly used tests initially chosen for inclusion in a larger neurocognitive screening battery currently being developed and translated for use in South Africa — the Groote Schuur Neurocognitive Battery. The adaptations were made employing quantitative and qualitative converging lines of evidence to evaluate their efficacy. This evidence included consultation with clinicians at Groote Schuur Hospital and translators knowledgeable in Afrikaans and isiXhosa language and culture, qualitative feedback from the research participants, and the results on the tests. The adapted tests were piloted by testing 30 neurocognitively intact controls consisting of equal numbers of Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa speakers, comparing their scores to their performances on the original tests. Three aphasic patients were also briefly tested. Results indicate that the adaptations made to the tests improved the performance of controls over the original versions, and tentatively suggest that the adapted tests should be able to screen for aphasia. This pilot study recommends further changes to the Groote Schuur Naming Test before its introduction into the battery ahead of its validation.
A Preliminary Investigation of the Suitability of the WAIS-III for Afrikaans-Speaking South Africans
Authors: Grieve K.W. , van Eeden R.
Published: March 2013

The standardised version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) for English-speaking South Africans is currently widely used. Although an Afrikaans translation of the verbal subtests of the WAIS-III is provided in the manual, this translation has not been standardised. This preliminary investigation of the suitability of the translation for use with Afrikaans-speaking South Africans indicated comparability of the performance of an urbanised sample with good quality education and similar groups tested with the English version. The results also revealed significant differences between the urbanised Afrikaans speakers and a relatively non-urbanised group of Afrikaans speakers with inadequate quality education. There were no significant relationships of performance with gender and age. University graduates/students obtained higher scores than college graduates/students and subjects without tertiary education. Multivariate analyses of the contribution of demographic variables to variations in scores confirmed the significant effect of quality of education on test performance. The reliabilities for the verbal subtests ranged from acceptable to good, and inter-subtest correlations were at the expected level. An analysis of item difficulty revealed the expected sequence of progressively more difficult items, but with some exceptions. While some scoring criteria may need to be re-examined, inconsistencies also appear to be related to the role of schooling and social background. Limitations of the study pertain to the design and the small sample size that do not allow for conclusive evidence in terms of construct validity and in terms of measurement equivalence between the Afrikaans and English versions.
The Crown Prince and the Frog-Prince: Characterisations in the Identity Construction of Firstborn Males
Authors: van Schalkwyk Gertina J.
Published: March 2013

I explore the identity construction and narrative self of firstborn males at the hand of metaphors contained in the well-known fairytale of the “Frog King”. In many societies around the world, the oldest male offspring — the firstborn, lastborn, or single child — confronts a host of legacies, privileges and social structures that lead him to adopt a particular characterisation of self. Using a non-empirical philosophical design, narrative analysis, and a fairytale as metaphoric framework, I analysed the narratives of two firstborn males explicating images of the crown prince and the frog-prince as metaphors for socially organised frameworks of meaning that define categories and specify what constitutes being a firstborn male. I searched for conceptual linkages between the crown prince, the frog-prince and the dominant discourse of patriarchy in identity construction, proposing that his enmeshment in social stereotypes precludes explorations of a multi-faceted, differentiated self and an integrated adaptation to life's challenges.
Determination of Differential Bundle Functioning (DBF) of Numeracy and Literacy Tests Administered to Grade 3 Learners in South Africa
Authors: Kivilu Joseph Mbithi wa
Published: March 2013

The study is based on data gathered for the Assessment Modelling Initiative (AMI), part of the District Development Support Programme (DDSP) project conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in 2002, in conjunction with the Department of Education (DoE) and provincial departments of education of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, and Limpopo. The project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International. The Joint Education Trust (JET) developed the Grade 3 numeracy test and adapted the literacy test from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) survey. The aim of AMI was to develop assessment materials in literacy and numeracy for learners in Grade 3 that could be used by teachers in classroom instruction and for learner assessment. The purpose of the analysis was to investigate Differential Item Functioning (DIF) and Differential Bundle Functioning (DBF) in these tests and to determine item difficulty, discrimination, reliability, and evidence of construct validity. Participants were 4,000 male and 4,000 female Grade 3 learners selected using the stratified random sampling method from 13,425 Grade 3 learners who participated in the DDSP project. The Simultaneous Item Bias Test (SIBTEST) was used for detecting DIF and bias. SIBTEST was also used to detect bundle bias or DBF. There were significant gender differences in mean scores of both numeracy and literacy tests. Female participants performed consistently better than male participants in both tests. Both the numeracy and the literacy tests possessed appropriate psychometric properties of difficulty, discrimination, reliability, and some evidence of construct validity. Significant estimates of beta (test for DIF and DBF) were obtained for literacy but not for numeracy. The literacy test exhibited DIF at item level and DBF at bundle level. Although a myriad of factors could have caused DIF and DBF, the use of tests translated into various languages may have introduced bias. Further analysis should be done to identify other factors that could have caused DIF and DBF.
Resilience in Families Living with a Child Diagnosed with Hyperactivity/Attention Deficit Disorder
Authors: Brown Ottilia , Howcroft Greg , Muthen Tania
Published: March 2013

There has been limited South African research to date on family resilience as well as on the resiliency of families living with children diagnosed with AD/HD. We aimed to explore and describe the factors that facilitate adjustment and adaptation in families after a child has been clinically diagnosed with AD/HD. The Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation served as a framework to conceptualize the families' adjustment and adaptation processes. The study was triangular in nature, with an exploratory, descriptive approach. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to gain participants for the study. A biographical questionnaire and seven structured questionnaires were used to gather data. The biographical data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Quantitative data were analysed by means of correlation analysis, and content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data obtained from the open-ended question on the biographical questionnaire. While the results of the quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis yielded various results, some commonalities can be highlighted; social support, family time and routines, and incendiary (affirmative) communication. The study sample also demonstrated their ability to bounce back from the adversities that previous research consistently highlighted as difficulties in their context. The findings of the research can be incorporated into individual and family level interventions for families living with a child diagnosed with AD/HD.
Facing the Apartheid Archive, or, of Archons and Researchers
Authors: Laubscher Leswin
Published: March 2013

The Apartheid Archives project collects narratives of Apartheid experiences, which are archived and provide source material for academic research. Using selected writings of the philosophers, Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas with which to buttress its arguments, this article maintains that a particular ethical responsibility accrues, fundamentally, to the researcher of the post-Apartheid archive. Indeed, it is argued that this researcher, as an archon, does not guard or collect a past as much as it offers a future, and is oriented towards a messianic justice.
Narrating Gender and Sex in and through Apartheid Divides
Authors: Shefer Tamara
Published: March 2013

In this article I reflect on the way in which racist practices intersect with gender as this emerges in narratives on living through apartheid, from a group of academics in contemporary South Africa. A wide range of literature has explored the complex intersections of ‘race’, gender, class and other forms of difference and power inequality through the history of South Africa before, during and after apartheid. The continued intersection of gender with racist practices and other forms of inequality is more than evident in post-apartheid South Africa and reflected in multiple contexts. While a number of stories of women and their experiences of the violent forms of the intersection of gendered apartheid through rape and abuse have been documented by the TRC and other forms of interrogation, the more ‘normal’ stories of how racist and gendered practices played themselves out in patriarchal apartheid South Africa are arguably not widely documented other than in theoretical terms. A narrative analysis located within a broad discourse analytic framework is utilised here, which foregrounds experiences in the narratives that reflect broader ideologies on ‘race’, class, culture, gender and sexuality and their enmeshment with each other that were salient in apartheid South Africa and arguably are still of relevance today. I explore some of the multiple and complex ways, many of them not new to us, in which normative gender roles and gender power relations, and sexual and intimate practices intersect with racialised discourse and racist practices in home, work and public spaces through the stories that participants tell.
Through her Eyes: Relational References in Black Women's Narratives of Apartheid Racism
Authors: Sullivan LaKeasha G. , Stevens Garth
Published: March 2013

We explore the relational nature of race and racism as manifested in women's narratives within the Apartheid Archive Project—a compendium of narratives related to quotidian apartheid experiences generated by “ordinary” people. We argue that apartheid was not only a system of interconnected social, political and economic structures that oppressed, but that it required those who lived under it to enforce it in supremely intimate ways. It is from within this context that this article explores the relational nature of apartheid narratives by black women, with an emphasis on polysemy, or the possibility that the narratives may have multiple meanings and functions. We found that their stories reflected a diverse range of social positioning, with discursive themes drawing on both hegemonic and subordinated discourses of race and gender, and reflecting the nature of black women's social locations within South African society in both the past and the present. Discursive themes illustrating black women's silences, solidarity, voice and mastery are highlighted in the article. Utilising elements of critical discourse analysis within a qualitative framework, this article makes provisional commentaries about the intersection of race and gender during apartheid, and in post-apartheid South Africa, and attempts to highlight the need for an ongoing critical engagement with racialised and gendered subjectivities as historical and contemporary social phenomena.
Engaging with the Apartheid Archive Project: Voices from the South African Diaspora in Australia
Authors: Sonn Christopher C.
Published: March 2013

There is a growing recognition of the importance of storytelling and autobiographical work in critical approaches to social inquiry. This approach is central to liberation psychology that emphasises the importance of deconstructing ideologies of race as part of the process of empowerment. In this article I draw on this approach to discuss themes that have emerged in research in Australia with ‘coloured’ South African immigrants about identity construction following relocation. The themes include the effects of responses to apartheid, unspoken memory, and liberating reconstructions of identities. These are discussed in relation to the narratives submitted to the Apartheid Archive Project (hereinafter referred to as Archive). It is suggested that the Archive is key to legitimising silenced knowledge and unspoken memories. It will also provide a basis from which to explore how people combine histories, social and cultural resources within new contexts, and reveal how people remake identities as well as the ways in which ideologies of race are reproduced through discourses and everyday practices.
Children, Pathology and Politics: A Genealogy of the Paedophile in South Africa between 1944 and 2004
Authors: Bowman Brett
Published: March 2013

By the early 1990s the paedophile as a ‘type’ of child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrator was prioritised for study and intervention by the South African socio-medical sciences, and cases of paedophilia featured prominently in the media reporting of the time. Drawing on the genealogical method as derived from Michel Foucault, this study aimed to account for this relatively recent emergence of the paedophile as an object of socio-medical study and social anxiety within the South African archive. Based on an analysis of archival texts against the backdrop of international biopolitics and local conditions of political possibility, the genealogy contends that the early figure of the paedophile was an instrument and effect of apartheid biopolitics. The paedophile was prioritised for research and escalated as a social threat in the public imagination as part of the broader apartheid project aimed at protecting white hegemony through the ongoing surveillance of and health interventions directed towards South Africa's white children. While the apartheid project constructed black children as posing fundamental threats to white supremacy, discourses beginning in the mid-1980s repositioned them as vulnerable victims of apartheid itself. It was from within these discourses that child sexual abuse (CSA) as a public health concern began to crystallise. By locating blackness within the fields of discipline and desire, the material conditions for an ever-expanding net of sexual surveillance were established. The study therefore demonstrates that even the paedophile cannot be effectively researched without considering the historical co-ordinates that so powerfully contoured its emergence as an important object of study and social intervention within South Africa's highly racialised systems of thought.
From their Perspective: Explanations of Patterns of Racialised Social Interactions among a Group of Post-Apartheid Adolescents
Authors: Keizan Stacey , Duncan Norman
Published: March 2013

We explore a group of adolescents' interpretations of patterns of racial integration and segregation at a racially integrated high school in Gauteng. The article is based on a study that was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the study, which is reported elsewhere, involved naturalistic observation of the patterns of social integration and segregation, primarily on the basis of ‘race’, occurring among a group of post-apartheid adolescents during ‘free’ time at a desegregated co-educational private high school. A dominant pattern of social self-segregation on the basis of ‘race’ was noted in this phase of the research. The second phase of the research, which is the focus of this article, involved a focus group discussion with eight adolescents at a different desegregated co-educational private high school. In the focus group discussion the adolescents confirmed the racialised nature of the dominant pattern of social self-segregation at the school where observations were conducted (as reflected to them in a set of photographs) as well as in their own social experiences. Their explanations and justifications for self-segregation reflected a range of contradictions and included the racialisation of interests, the naturalisation of segregation, homophily, socialisation, and the avoidance of conflict or threat. The numerous contradictions noted in the participants' explanations as well as their use of various psychological defences and positive self-presentation strategies highlighted the highly complex affective nature of intergroup relations and the manifest dilemmas characterising their social experiences and everyday realities.
A Meta-Analysis of Coefficient Alpha for the Impact of Event Scales: A Reliability Generalization Study
Authors: Vassar Matt , Knaup Kayce G. , Hale William , Hale Heather
Published: March 2013

We conducted a score reliability meta-analysis across studies using the Impact of Event Scales. Five hundred and ninety-four studies using the measure were located through electronic database searches and then separated to identify studies that had calculated and reported reliability coefficients from their own data. The 66 articles that remained were then coded to identify potential study characteristics that might influence the variation in reliability estimates. Results indicate adequate internal consistency estimates for all subscales across both scale versions. Furthermore, coefficient alpha was positively correlated with studies involving war and abuse victims for the IES Avoidance subscale. The alpha coefficient was also positively correlated with the percentage of female participants for the Intrusion subscale and negatively correlated to journal type for the composite reliability estimate. Results from this study provide useful information, in terms of scale performance, for researchers interested in using the scale for future academic pursuits and for school psychologists. In particular, implications for school psychologists are considered.
Developing a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Model to Assist Women to Deal with HIV and Stigma
Authors: Tshabalala Jan , Visser Maretha
Published: March 2013

A model of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was developed, implemented, and assessed, in order to assist HIV-positive women deal with HIV and internalised stigma. Interviews with HIV-positive women revealed five common themes in the experience of HIV: feelings of powerlessness; anger and guilt; destructive behaviour; experience of stigma; and uncertainty about the future. These themes were used in the development of an intervention. The intervention was implemented and evaluated. Twenty HIV-positive women were randomly assigned to an experimental group who received eight sessions of individual therapy, and a control group who were placed on a waiting list. Pre- and post-assessments of the two groups were compared using five quantitative scales measuring coping skills, internalised stigma, enacted stigma, self-esteem, and depression. Additionally, a qualitative analysis was made of transcripts of the therapy sessions to explore the effect of various therapeutic techniques. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney tests show that after therapy the experimental group experienced lower levels of depression, internalised stigma and negative coping, and higher levels of self-esteem and positive coping, compared to the control group. Techniques that were effectively used were identified. It is recommended that practising psychologists explore and develop this CBT model with their HIV-positive clients.