title: Understanding the transition to university

authors: Clifton, Katie Naomi

abstract: The current study aimed to provide an understanding of the transition to university for students and the factors that are associated with both positive and negative transitions. The research aimed to identify what coping strategies and resources students accessed during this time. Participants consisted of 135 first-year university students at the University of Waikato. Participants completed an online survey which included measures of change, psychological distress, significant life events, alcohol use, coping strategies, resource access and general demographics. 

The majority of students in the study were experiencing psychological distress that was considered within the normal range. However, approximately two in five students were experiencing distress above a normal range. Students who were living out of the family home for the first time, those who reported more significant life events, and those using avoidant emotion and active emotion coping were more likely to report higher levels of overall distress. However, avoidant emotion coping was the only factor that significantly predicted distress. Students self identified overall level of change was related to overall distress, which suggests that it may be students perceived overall level of change that impacts on their well-being rather than the specific changes itself.

Thirty percent of the students in the study identified alcohol use of a hazardous level. However, no relationship was seen between alcohol use and psychological distress. Instead, it appears that alcohol use in university consists of a social factor rather than a way of coping. 
Student reported low use of services and many students reported not knowing about the service they could access. Students who were experiencing psychological distress above a normal range were not more likely to access students support services than students who were reported in the normal range. 

The results of the study should be taken into account when considering transitioning students into university life and the services that are offered to students. Students need support during the transition to university. However, not all students are aware of or access the supports that are available. The consideration of students’ experience at only one point of their university journey was a limitation of the current study. Future research could examine the experience of university students over there time at university using a longitudinal approach. This would allow for an understanding of how distress and coping may change.

text: Understanding the transition to university The current study aimed to provide an understanding of the transition to university for students and the factors that are associated with both positive and negative transitions. The research aimed to identify what coping strategies and resources students accessed during this time. Participants consisted of 135 first-year university students at the University of Waikato. Participants completed an online survey which included measures of change, psychological distress, significant life events, alcohol use, coping strategies, resource access and general demographics. 

The majority of students in the study were experiencing psychological distress that was considered within the normal range. However, approximately two in five students were experiencing distress above a normal range. Students who were living out of the family home for the first time, those who reported more significant life events, and those using avoidant emotion and active emotion coping were more likely to report higher levels of overall distress. However, avoidant emotion coping was the only factor that significantly predicted distress. Students self identified overall level of change was related to overall distress, which suggests that it may be students perceived overall level of change that impacts on their well-being rather than the specific changes itself.

Thirty percent of the students in the study identified alcohol use of a hazardous level. However, no relationship was seen between alcohol use and psychological distress. Instead, it appears that alcohol use in university consists of a social factor rather than a way of coping. 
Student reported low use of services and many students reported not knowing about the service they could access. Students who were experiencing psychological distress above a normal range were not more likely to access students support services than students who were reported in the normal range. 

The results of the study should be taken into account when considering transitioning students into university life and the services that are offered to students. Students need support during the transition to university. However, not all students are aware of or access the supports that are available. The consideration of students’ experience at only one point of their university journey was a limitation of the current study. Future research could examine the experience of university students over there time at university using a longitudinal approach. This would allow for an understanding of how distress and coping may change.

year: 2017

title: Late Quaternary climate variability and change from Aotearoa New Zealand speleothems: Progress in age modelling, oxygen isotope master record construction and proxy-model comparisons

authors: Lorrey, Andrew M.

abstract: We re-evaluated speleothem isotope series from Aotearoa New Zealand that were recently contributed to the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and AnaLysis (SISAL) database. COnstructing Proxy Records from Age Models (COPRA) software was used to produce Bayesian age models for those speleothems. The new age modelling helped us examine Late Quaternary temporal coverage for the national speleothem network, and also supported our exploration of three different isotope master record generation techniques using Holocene δ¹⁸O data from Waitomo. We then applied the output from one of the isotope master record techniques to test an application case of how climate transfer functions can be developed using climate model simulated temperatures. Our results suggest Holocene δ¹⁸O trends at Waitomo capture air temperature variations weighted toward the primary season of soil moisture (and epikarst) recharge during winter. This interpretation is consistent with the latest monitoring data from the Waitomo region. Holocene δ¹⁸O millennial-scale trends and centennial-scale variability at Waitomo likely reflect atmospheric circulation patterns that concomitantly vary with surface water temperature and the isotopic composition of the Tasman Sea. A climate model simulation context for the Holocene millennial-scale trends in the Waitomo δ¹⁸O isotope master record suggest that site is sensitive to changes in the subtropical front (STF) and the Tasman Front. Our comparison of isotope master record techniques using Waitomo δ¹⁸O data indicate that caution is needed prior to merging δ¹⁸O data series from different caves in order to avoid time series artefacts. Future work should incorporate more high-resolution cave monitoring and climate calibration studies, and develop new speleothem data from northern and eastern regions of the country.

text: Late Quaternary climate variability and change from Aotearoa New Zealand speleothems: Progress in age modelling, oxygen isotope master record construction and proxy-model comparisons We re-evaluated speleothem isotope series from Aotearoa New Zealand that were recently contributed to the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and AnaLysis (SISAL) database. COnstructing Proxy Records from Age Models (COPRA) software was used to produce Bayesian age models for those speleothems. The new age modelling helped us examine Late Quaternary temporal coverage for the national speleothem network, and also supported our exploration of three different isotope master record generation techniques using Holocene δ¹⁸O data from Waitomo. We then applied the output from one of the isotope master record techniques to test an application case of how climate transfer functions can be developed using climate model simulated temperatures. Our results suggest Holocene δ¹⁸O trends at Waitomo capture air temperature variations weighted toward the primary season of soil moisture (and epikarst) recharge during winter. This interpretation is consistent with the latest monitoring data from the Waitomo region. Holocene δ¹⁸O millennial-scale trends and centennial-scale variability at Waitomo likely reflect atmospheric circulation patterns that concomitantly vary with surface water temperature and the isotopic composition of the Tasman Sea. A climate model simulation context for the Holocene millennial-scale trends in the Waitomo δ¹⁸O isotope master record suggest that site is sensitive to changes in the subtropical front (STF) and the Tasman Front. Our comparison of isotope master record techniques using Waitomo δ¹⁸O data indicate that caution is needed prior to merging δ¹⁸O data series from different caves in order to avoid time series artefacts. Future work should incorporate more high-resolution cave monitoring and climate calibration studies, and develop new speleothem data from northern and eastern regions of the country.

year: 2020

title: “It was… like a fight and rape club”: A foucauldian discourse analysis of New Zealand’s abuse in care inquiry, exploring child sexual abuse in residential care

authors: Simpson, Karen

subjects: child sexual abuse

abstract: Children and adolescents brought to the attention of New Zealand care and protection authorities are sometimes removed from their homes and placed into State-run residential care facilities. While the aim placing young people into residences is to improve their wellbeing, child sexual abuse is common in this setting and more pronounced than in the general population. There are many psychological theories, perspectives and movements which have attempted to explain child sexual abuse spanning from the 1800s to the present day. These partial and, at times, unsupported understandings of abuse have been shaped by socio-cultural and socio-political conditions. This has had serious implications for our collective (mis)understanding of child sexual abuse and the ways in which we respond to abuse with dominant discourse often transcending into policy, law, and the courtroom where social (in)justice occurs. In addition, despite there being three centuries of child sexual abuse research, to-date there has been limited exploration of the phenomenon in residential care settings both globally and within Aotearoa. However, the opportunity to explore child sexual abuse in this setting has availed itself with the New Zealand Government launching a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in 2018 to better understand abuse across State and faith-based settings between 1950 and 1999. This thesis aims to provide additional insights to the inquiry by exploring the different ways in which child sexual abuse in residential care is understood as well as the conditions which legitimise or silence these understandings.

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was used to analyse 47 publicly available documents from the inquiry including statements, transcripts, and evidence briefs from survivors, survivor advocates, counsel, and representatives from institutions that provide care and protection for young people. Analysis found six discourses: control and punishment, fabrication, harmful, power and oppression, shameful, and State and institutional failure. These discourses reaffirm previous findings in sexual abuse research including sexual abuse as shameful and notions of fabrication. New insights were also found and include the use of sexual abuse as a method of controlling and punishing young people; predatory sexual behaviour in young people as a method of self-protection; cultural genocide and intergenerational care placement as victim sequelae; and the development of adaptive survival behaviours in residents in response to the State’s failures to protect them. In addition, systemic failures were uncovered including inadequacies in internal and external monitoring, failures in vetting, poor investment in professional capabilities of frontline workers, and a culture of tolerance toward abuse. Overall, the analysis found cultures of sexual violence and cultures of tolerance toward abuse within residential care, which emerge from the young person’s status as a State Ward.

text: “It was… like a fight and rape club”: A foucauldian discourse analysis of New Zealand’s abuse in care inquiry, exploring child sexual abuse in residential care Children and adolescents brought to the attention of New Zealand care and protection authorities are sometimes removed from their homes and placed into State-run residential care facilities. While the aim placing young people into residences is to improve their wellbeing, child sexual abuse is common in this setting and more pronounced than in the general population. There are many psychological theories, perspectives and movements which have attempted to explain child sexual abuse spanning from the 1800s to the present day. These partial and, at times, unsupported understandings of abuse have been shaped by socio-cultural and socio-political conditions. This has had serious implications for our collective (mis)understanding of child sexual abuse and the ways in which we respond to abuse with dominant discourse often transcending into policy, law, and the courtroom where social (in)justice occurs. In addition, despite there being three centuries of child sexual abuse research, to-date there has been limited exploration of the phenomenon in residential care settings both globally and within Aotearoa. However, the opportunity to explore child sexual abuse in this setting has availed itself with the New Zealand Government launching a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in 2018 to better understand abuse across State and faith-based settings between 1950 and 1999. This thesis aims to provide additional insights to the inquiry by exploring the different ways in which child sexual abuse in residential care is understood as well as the conditions which legitimise or silence these understandings.

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was used to analyse 47 publicly available documents from the inquiry including statements, transcripts, and evidence briefs from survivors, survivor advocates, counsel, and representatives from institutions that provide care and protection for young people. Analysis found six discourses: control and punishment, fabrication, harmful, power and oppression, shameful, and State and institutional failure. These discourses reaffirm previous findings in sexual abuse research including sexual abuse as shameful and notions of fabrication. New insights were also found and include the use of sexual abuse as a method of controlling and punishing young people; predatory sexual behaviour in young people as a method of self-protection; cultural genocide and intergenerational care placement as victim sequelae; and the development of adaptive survival behaviours in residents in response to the State’s failures to protect them. In addition, systemic failures were uncovered including inadequacies in internal and external monitoring, failures in vetting, poor investment in professional capabilities of frontline workers, and a culture of tolerance toward abuse. Overall, the analysis found cultures of sexual violence and cultures of tolerance toward abuse within residential care, which emerge from the young person’s status as a State Ward.

year: 2024-02-25