The relation between low self-esteem and depressive mood in a nonclinical sample : the role of gender and negative life events

Abstract: The suggestion that low self-esteem is both a protective and a risk factor for depression is well document. However, this association is not consistently observed by empirical research. The current study investigated the main and interactive effects of low self-esteem and stressful life events on depressive mood in a sample of university students (N = 862, females = 72%, Blacks = 67%, mean age = 21.70, SD = 13.51). The students completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale and Perceived stress scale. Data were analysed using structural equation modeling (SEM), with stressful life events scores as a mediator and gender as a moderator of the relation between low self-esteem and depression. Results indicate that low self-esteem significantly predicted depression, and that stressful life events partially mediated that relationship. Support emerged for the vulnerability effects of low self-esteem on depression and they held across gender groups. Low self-esteem may be a significant indicator of individuals who are at risk for developing depressive mood

“From psychology in Africa to African psychology” : going nowhere slowly

This provocation reimagines the dominant indigenisation discourse of psychology in South Africa, which conceives the process of “decolonizing” as equivalent to “Africanizing”. I argue that some African psychologists’ indefatigable insistence on narrow localism and ethno-theorising, is a cowardly defeatism and an accessory to domination. The in toto refusals of Western psychology, are themselves ahistorical and totally ignorant of the historicity and historical anteriority of Africa in science. Western knowledge is neither monolithic, nor the sole property and prerogative of the West. Africa has significantly contributed to its creation and should admissibly make foundational claims on it. I gesture at a different decolonial ethics, grounded on the Dusselian transmodernity, pluriversalism and ethical universalism, to negotiate the incongruous obscure particularism of some African psychologists, and also disabuse modernist psychology of its false universalisms. The paper reads ultra-essentialist responses to modernism as still being intrinsically Eurocentric, in that they have rather ironically continued to reinforce the process of “Othering” and negating through their fixation with identity politics and cultural reductionism.http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=1015-6046&lng=en&nrm=isoam2017Psycholog

Exposure to domestic violence and identity development among adolescent university students in South Africa

This study examined the relationship between exposure to domestic violence and identity development in a sample of 108 undergraduate students with an average age of 18.7 yr. from University of Limpopo in South Africa. There were more women (n=64; 58.7%) in the study than men (n=45; 41.3%). Adolescents were classified into high and low domestic violence exposure groups on the basis of a median split in physical violence scores from the Child Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale (CEDV). Exposure was then compared with identity development as measured by the Ochse and Plug Erikson scale. The results indicated a significant mean difference between the two groups on identity development. Furthermore, exposure to domestic violence was significantly associated with lower scores for identity development as represented by subscales measuring trust, autonomy, initiative and other Eriksonian constructs. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.The National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africahttp://www.amsciepup.com/gv201

Ego-identity formation in black South African young adults

The study examined aspects of ego-identity development among black African students (N = 104; males = 42%; females = 58%; mean age = 18.7 yr.; SD = 0.9). They completed an ego-identity development measure. Data was analysed descriptively and also comparatively. Findings indicate that ego-identity development appear to be similar between genders, although relatively higher in males than in females on trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity stages. Results challenge the gendered bias discourse impressions regarding the influence of collectivistic cultures on psychosocial development in patriarchal societies.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpia202016-02-27hb201

Factorial validity of the death obsession scale in African university students

In this study the factor structure of the Death Obsession Scale (DOS) was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Data used consisted of DOS reports of 328 Black African students. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that two- and three-factor models obtained among female and male African students, respectively, provided the best fit to the data. The two factors in female African students were Death Rumination and Apprehension, and the three factors of their male counterparts were Death Ruminations, Apprehension, and Comprehensibility of Death. Factor intercorrelations did not resolve the dimensionality issue of the measure, leading to the conclusion that the factors must be investigated further.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/udst202016-08-30hb201

Moderator effects of gender and age on the relationship between exposure to domestic violence and identity development

This study examined the association between exposure to domestic violence and identity development in adolescents, and the moderator effects of gender and age. Measures of exposure to domestic violence and identity development were administered to 109 high school students and undergraduate university students from South Africa. Data were analysed using the moderated hierarchical regression analyses. There were no gender and age effects on the relationship between exposure to domestic violence and identity development. Implications are proffered.www.ijsk.org/ijrssam2016PsychologyStatistic

“Decolonise, Don’t Diversifyâ€: Discounting Diversity in the South African Academe as a Tool for Ideological Pacification

The problem of the South African university, and society in the same breath, is not so much that of governance or politics but ideology. The deepening realisation of the farcicality and impossibility of strategies, attendant ideologies and “master signifiers†of transformation (such as diversity, multiculturalism and rainbow nation) of the South African society and (whatever remains of) its institutions has never been more acute than now, when the insistence at meaningful change and the unanimous rejection, mostly by blacks, of the university (at least in its current form) have gained traction. This paper draws on Žižek’s Lacanian theory of ideology to provide a counter-narrative and reading of official transformation consensus and ideologies like diversity, by highlighting their ethical liminalities. The underside of diversity’s official claims to equality and justice are unmasked, and the terror and ironies of this liberal ideology are exposed, especially its refusal to recognise that whiteness (as a system) and justice can never coexist or inhabit the same space. Transformation discourse, of our kind, fashioned under diversity’s register can never escape being appropriated by liberal ideology and practice, as yet another means to reaffirm its priorities

“Decolonise, Don’t Diversify”: Discounting Diversity in the South African Academe as a Tool for Ideological Pacification

The problem of the South African university, and society in the same breath, is not so much that of governance or politics but ideology. The deepening realisation of the farcicality and impossibility of strategies, attendant ideologies and “master signifiers†of transformation (such as diversity, multiculturalism and rainbow nation) of the South African society and (whatever remains of) its institutions has never been more acute than now, when the insistence at meaningful change and the unanimous rejection, mostly by blacks, of the university (at least in its current form) have gained traction. This paper draws on Žižek’s Lacanian theory of ideology to provide a counter-narrative and reading of official transformation consensus and ideologies like diversity, by highlighting their ethical liminalities. The underside of diversity’s official claims to equality and justice are unmasked, and the terror and ironies of this liberal ideology are exposed, especially its refusal to recognise that whiteness (as a system) and justice can never coexist or inhabit the same space. Transformation discourse, of our kind, fashioned under diversity’s register can never escape being appropriated by liberal ideology and practice, as yet another means to reaffirm its priorities

"From psychology in Africa to African psychology": Going nowhere slowly

This provocation reimagines the dominant indigenisation discourse of psychology in South Africa, which conceives the process of “decolonizing” as equivalent to “Africanizing”. I argue that some African psychologists’ indefatigable insistence on narrow localism and ethno-theorising, is a cowardly defeatism and an accessory to domination. The in toto refusals of Western psychology, are themselves ahistorical and totally ignorant of the historicity and historical anteriority of Africa in science. Western knowledge is neither monolithic, nor the sole property and prerogative of the West. Africa has significantly contributed to its creation and should admissibly make foundational claims on it. I gesture at a different decolonial ethics, grounded on the Dusselian transmodernity, pluriversalism and ethical universalism, to negotiate the incongruous obscure particularism of some African psychologists, and also disabuse modernist psychology of its false universalisms. The paper reads ultra-essentialist responses to modernism as still being intrinsically Eurocentric, in that they have rather ironically continued to reinforce the process of “Othering” and negating through their fixation with identity politics and cultural reductionism.http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_serial&pid=1015-6046&lng=en&nrm=isoam2017Psycholog

Adolescents exposure to domestic violence and identity development

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.(Clinical Psychology) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2010Aim: This study examined the difference in identity development between adolescents exposed to domestic violence and those in non-violent homes, gender differences, as well as the interaction between gender and exposure to domestic violence on identity development of adolescents. Method: Participants consisted of 45 male and 64 female students from the University of Limpopo, whose ages ranged from 15 to 20 years. Adolescents were classified into one of the two domestic violence exposure groups (namely, those from violent homes and nonviolent homes) on the basis of respondents' ratings of their exposure to domestic violence both as witnesses of violence between their parents and direct victims. Their levels of exposure were then compared with identity development. Results: The results indicated that the difference between the two groups of exposure to domestic violence reached a statistical significance on identity development. However, the gender differences in identity development of adolescents exposed to domestic violence and those not exposed did not reach any statistical significance. Again, on the interaction between gender and exposure to domestic violence on identity development, the results revealed no significant or acceptable level of interaction.Master