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Masters Degrees (Psychology)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/6476

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Psychology) by Subject "Abused children--South Africa."

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    Scared at home : a child-centred perspective on adolescent child fears and anxiety in the family context.
    (2013) Kempster, Wendy.; Collings, Steven John.
    Children experience a multitude fears during their childhood. Fear is a normal part of children‟s development and is essential for their survival (Gullone, 2000; Nicastro & Whetsell, 1999). However, globally and in South Africa, children are exposed to high levels of violence and adversity resulting in fears which go beyond those that are considered to be a normal part of their development and which affect their daily functioning (Seedat et al., 2009). The bulk of previous research has employed fear surveys to explore children‟s fears. Self-report surveys have been criticised over the years as children tend to respond to fear evoked by hypothetical fears listed in fear schedules rather than by actual exposure to fears (Burkhardt, 2007). A scarcity of data exists regarding the actual fears experienced by children. The aim of the current study was to gain a child-centred perspective on normative childhood fears experienced in the context of the home. Bronfenbrenner‟s Ecological Systems theory was used as the theoretical framework and a quantitative research design was employed. The study was conducted amongst 312 adolescents at schools in the North West province. Random stratified sampling was used in order to ensure that the sample represented the target population of adolescent children in the North West province. Participants had a mean age of 14.8 years. The majority of the participants were black Africans, female, and in Grade 7. The data were collected using a one page questionnaire consisting of two open-ended questions and one closed question. The participants were asked to identify the scariest thing that had happened to them during the past year in their homes and to rate the intensity of the fear using a Likert scale. They were also asked what, in their opinion, could be implemented to make them feel safer. Data analysis was conducted using content analysis and the responses were coded according to Hobfoll‟s (1998) Conservation of Resources theory. The findings indicate that 80% of the participants had experienced a fearful event in their homes during the past year. The most frequent and the most intense fears related to the loss, or the threat of loss, of resources necessary for basic survival. The most common fear manifestations related to vicarious, direct, and ambient interpersonal trauma and disputes amongst family members. These findings are in accordance with Hobfoll‟s (1998) Conservation of Resources theory which proposes that threats to resources required for basic survival will result in stress, fear and anxiety. The death of significant people, mainly parents, in the adolescents‟ life resulted in the most intense fears. The majority of the participants indicated that attempts to ensure their safety should come from within their family. No significant age or gender differences were evident. Although the fear manifestations differed, the findings in the current study are in accordance with the broad findings of previous research where the most common and the most intense fears have related to death and danger.
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    Scared at school? : a child-centred perspective on fears and anxieties experienced by adolescents in South African schools.
    (2013) Jameson, Deborah Anne.; Collings, Steven John.
    South African children have been exposed to chronic adversity which has resulted in psychological distress and high levels of fear. Violence against children is ubiquitous and injury is common. Children have been found to be ‘scared everywhere’, not only at school but also in their homes and communities. Yet no systematic attempt has been made to explore this. The aim of this study therefore is to conduct a systematic investigation of how children conceptualize and understand their own fears and anxieties. It is an exploratory study designed to gain baseline information from a child’s perspective. Although this study focused on the school context, it was part of a broader research project that also included the family and community contexts, guided by Ecological Systems theory to gain an integrative perspective. A quantitative approach with a cross-sectional survey research design was employed. This study utilized stratified random sampling in terms of the quintile system, involving random selection of schools proportional to the size of each quintile. The sample consisted of 312 children ranging between the ages of 13 – 18 years from seven schools in the North West Province. The research instrument consisted of open-ended questions to explore the content of children’s fears and possible solutions, and a rating scale to survey their level of fear. A coding strategy was developed to establish the scariest events based on Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources theory, which states that “fear results when valued resources are threatened or lost”. Three categories of fears were identified: Primary (threats to survival and physical integrity); Secondary (threats to financial and interpersonal resources); and Tertiary (threats to competence and social standing). Krippendorf’s Content Analysis was used for the open-ended questions. The findings indicated that fears associated with the primary resource domain were experienced the most frequently and rated the highest in terms of levels of fear. Although some dominant fears were found to be universal, variations were found in the manifestations of specific fears which were related to the school context, including ‘problems with peer relationships’ and fears related to ‘gang activities’; ‘violence or threat of violence from a teacher’ and ‘failure and underachievement at school’. Females were found to experience significantly higher levels of fear than males as a result of ‘interpersonal disputes’. Based on the findings, Conservation of Resources theory would appear to have significant implications for future research investigating normative childhood fears, as it can be successfully applied in predicting fear outcomes as a result of adversity across different childhood developmental levels and in a variety of contexts. Recommendations are made for intervention, including looking beyond the child’s immediate school environment to how the interrelation of multiple levels will influence the developing child.