African
Journals Online
Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Volume
15 Issue 1, 2003
ABSTRACTS
Open
adoption: a review of the literature with recommendations to adoption
practitioners
Loraine
Townsend
Department
of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory 7925, South
Africa
e-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract
As
openness in adoption is still in its infancy, there has not been much
systematic research on open adoption. This practice involves anything
from sharing non-identifying information through an intermediary to
regular face-to-face fully identifying information-sharing and contact
between all members of the adoption triangle — the birthparent/s,
the adoptive parents and the adoptees. Open adoption appears to offer
birthparent/s the greatest benefits. Although adoptive parents express
varying degrees of positive reactions to being involved in open
adoptions, there are instances of discomfort and reservations
expressed by some. With no studies investigating adoptees’ own
perceptions around contact with their birthparent/s, the potential
risks and/or benefits of open adoption for the children involved, is
inferred from adoptive parents’ reports and theoretical
perspectives. Adoption practitioners advocating openness in adoption,
should be prepared for additional investments in time, effort and
emotional energy in order to facilitate what is not a discrete event
in time, but an on-going process.
Social
contexts, age and juvenile delinquency: a community perspective
Catherine
L Ward1,2* and James E Laughlin1
1
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, USA
2
Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote
Schuur Hospital, Observatory 7925, South Africa
*
Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Objective
— Social disorganisation of communities, family bonds, school bonds,
the peer group and age, have been shown to be related (either
positively or negatively) to delinquency. This study addressed gaps in
the literature by (1) using a large and randomly drawn sample of
adolescents, within a large number of randomly selected communities;
(2) investigating the influence of community social disorganisation
directly on delinquency, while including in the same model the
moderating effect of community social disorganisation on the
micro-contexts of family, school, and peer group, as well as the
direct effects of these micro-contexts; and (3) including age as a
variable likely to have both direct effects on delinquency and
moderating effects on the micro- and macro-level social contexts.
Method
— The public-use data set of Wave I of
the (US) National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was used.
The model was tested using hierarchical linear modelling and included
the social disorganisation of communities; adolescents’ bonds to
school and family, family controls and involvement with a deviant peer
group; and age and its interaction with these social contexts.
Results
— Community social disorganisation was found to be positively
related to delinquency, but effects of micro-level contexts were not
found to be moderated by social disorganisation. Family bonds and
controls, and school bonds, were negatively related to delinquency. No
effect of peer group was found. Age was found to have a direct effect;
effects of the interaction of age with family controls and age with
school bonds were also significant.
Conclusions
— Results strengthen those from previous studies (using more limited
samples) which show that integrated views of macro- and micro-level
social contexts and developmental trends are necessary to understand
delinquency.
Prevalence
and attitudinal predictors of child sexual offending in a non-forensic
sample of South African high school males
Thandekile
S Magojo* and Steven J Collings
School
of Psychology, University of Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa
*
Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Objective
— The prevalence, and attitudinal predictors, of sexual aggression
were examined in a non-forensic sample of South African high school
males.
Method
— Survey questionnaires were administered to 446 males (aged 16 to
25 years) attending schools in the greater Durban area, South Africa.
Results
— A history of sexually aggressive behaviour was reported by 66.8%
of respondents, with 17.5% reporting an act of sexual aggression that
met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape. A multivariate
analysis of variance indicated a significant relationship between
sexually abusive behaviour and attitudes supportive of both sexual and
physical aggression. Additionally, a tendency to attribute blame to
the victim of sexual aggression and attitudes reflecting an
internalised culture of violence significantly discriminated between
respondents who committed rape/attempted rape, indecent assault, and
crimen injuria.
Conclusions
— These findings indicate relatively high rates of sexual offending
among South African high school males and suggest that primary
prevention programmes are likely to be most effective if they target
attitudes supportive of both sexual and physical violence.
The
usefulness of commercially available ‘culture fair’ tests in the
assessment of educational success in Grade 1 Black pupils in South
Africa — an explorative study
André
Venter1* and Amina Bham2
1
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health
Sciences, University of the Free State, PO Box 339 (G69), Bloemfontein
9300, South Africa
2
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of the Health
Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
School
failure among Grade 1 pupils and the subsequent drop out rate is of
major concern in South Africa, especially as far as Black pupils are
concerned. The school drop out rate is estimated to be four times
higher in Black pupils than White children. The dilemma for the
professionals in assessing children, who are experiencing difficulty
at school, and who are from disadvantaged, non-English speaking
communities, is the paucity of reliable, objective tests to identify
children at risk. The purpose of this study was to determine whether
commercially available ‘culture fair’ tests could be used to
evaluate Black pupils early in Grade 1 and if they were associated
with educational success. A parental questionnaire was used to examine
non-academic predictors of educational success, such as birth history,
socio-economic status and the medical profile.
One
hundred and three Grade 1 pupils were tested in the first term. The
tests used were the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales, WISC mazes,
Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Developmental Test of Visual Motor
Integration (VMI), Motor-free Visual Perceptual Test (MVPT), Test of
Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS) and the Draw-a-Person Test (DAP).
Several backward elimination stepwise regression analysis procedures
were used to examine the multivariate associations between the
psychometric and non-academic variables and three outcome variables,
namely the mid and end of year aggregates and a pass/fail dichotomous
variable.
Non-academic
variables that were significantly associated with academic success
were asphyxia, overcrowding and maternal education. The psychometric
subtests that were significantly associated with academic achievement
were the VMI, DAP, the Raven’s Progressive Matrices, TVPS and WISC
mazes.
Commercially
available ‘culture fair’ tests are significantly associated with
educational success in Black Grade 1 pupils where standardised,
comprehensive tests are not available. To evaluate to what extent
these tests would be reliable predictors of educational success
further studies would have to analyse a larger cohort of pupils.
Health
actions and health promotion among a sample of rural Black South
African children
Supa
Promtussananon1 and Karl Peltzer1,2*
1
Department of Community Health, University of Venda for Science and
Technology, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandu 0950, South Africa
2
Social aspects of HIV/AIDS and Human Sciences Research Council,
Private Bag X9182, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
*
Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract:
The
purpose of this study was to investigate the daily activities that
young South African children perceived as health related activities.
The sample included 117 children (33, ages 5–7 years; 44, ages
8–10 years; and 40, ages 11–12 years) chosen by two-stage cluster
sampling in a rural community of the central region of the Northern
Province. Results indicated that the most important health actions
around healthy eating were, ‘washing hands’; around dressing,
‘wearing warm clothes’; around keeping clean, ‘washing body and
hair’; going to sleep, ‘washing body’; activity at school,
‘read and write’; recess and leisure time, ‘playing football or
netball’. Personal hygiene (washing, brushing teeth, etc.) was the
most common health action of the children around healthy eating,
keeping clean and going to sleep. Some health actions were
insufficiently mentioned, brushing teeth for example and some wrongly
mentioned such as eating porridge before going to sleep. This study
showed that children have insufficient knowledge and understanding
about health related activities. Results suggest that health
professionals and teachers should consider providing more information
about health related activities for young children.
Culture
and infancy: a critical examination
Mark
Tomlinson
Child
Guidance Clinic, University of Cape Town, Chapel Road, Rosebank 7700,
South Africa and Winnicott Research Unit, University of Reading,
United Kingdom
e-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract:
Over
90% of infants born in the world live in low-income countries, but
most scholarly knowledge about infancy is produced in wealthy
countries. More knowledge is consequently needed about infancy
throughout the world. There are logistical and cultural difficulties
associated with gaining this information, but in this paper I focus on
the broader ideological context of knowledge production about infancy
world-wide. Using a recently published volume, A World of Babies:
Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies (DeLoache and
Gottlieb 2000) as an exemplar, I will show that the representation of
infancy as an ideology-free or even romanticised zone may do little to
forward our understanding of infancy and culture.
Treatment
for perinatal disturbancea
Joan
Raphael-Leff
Centre
for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park,
Colchester CO435Q, United Kingdom
e-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract
The
perinatal period of transition to parenthood is one of heightened
passions, which revive the expectant and new parents’ own early
experiences, and particularly unresolved emotional issues. For many
deprived parents close contact with an infant reactivates old
grievances at this time of vulnerability, which may manifest in
syndromes of self-pity or in fury and vengefulness over past
humiliations. Unprocessed dissatisfactions tend to erupt in disruptive
or repetitious behaviours, which inevitably affect the baby in their
care.
In
addition, childbearing in societies undergoing transition, like South
Africa, may be fraught with extra stresses. These include
socio-economic disadvantages and social adversity arising from
geographical relocation and breakdown of traditional patterns, and
psychological distress due to past or current experiences of physical
or emotional trauma and neglect and relationship difficulties which
tend to be exacerbated in times of rapid cultural change in the
absence of a wider supportive network.
It
is argued that, in societies with scarce resources, the mental health
focus must be on prevention, detection of high-risk groups and early
intervention. Two tables are presented — of risk indicators and
treatment guidelines, which may be applied during the perinatal period
to minimise postnatal disturbance. Health workers with minimal
training can be effective in screening and in some cases, delivering
prophylactic or postnatal care to people at potential risk.
Offering such help may enable resilient people in a state of crisis or
transition to marshal their own resources. For others longer-term
professional help may be required to shift the chronic effects of
cumulative trauma by reworking emotional predicaments in a caring and
safe environment.
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