Growing Up with Child Sexual Abuse in an Experimental Commune: Making Sense of Narrative Variation

The legitimacy of adult's accounts of child sexual abuse depends on the consistency of the story they tell about this experience. But there are a variety of influences that conspire to create dynamic variation in retrospective accounts of child sexual abuse. In a study of an experimental New Zealand commune called Centrepoint, participants showed considerable variation in accounting for the child sexual abuse that was known to have occurred there. We used a narrative methodology to show the variation between stories that highlighted abuse and suffering and others that represented an idyllic childhood within which sex between children and adults was normalised. There was also considerable variation within individual participant's accounts. The variation within and between accounts was shaped by features such exposure to contradictory experiences, different social positioning in relation to child sexual abuse, shifts in memory and interpretation over time, differences between insider and outsider perspectives on child sexual activity at the commune and alternative perspectives on victimhood. This research challenges the mythology that accounts of child sexual abuse should be expected to be clear and consistent. Instead, variation should be treated the rule rather than the exception in these accounts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Between Minimal Self and Narrative Self: A Husserlian Analysis of Person

The distinction between minimal self and narrative self has gained ground in recent discussions of selfhood. In this article, this distinction is reassessed by analysing Zahavi and Gallagher’s account of selfhood and supplementing it with Husserl’s concept of person. I argue that Zahavi and Gallagher offer two compatible and complementary notions of self. Nevertheless, the relationship between minimal self and narrative self requires further clarification. Especially the embeddedness of self, the interplay between passivity and activity, and the problems of uniqueness and persistence are better understood with Husserl’s analysis of person and its central concepts of position-taking, habitualities, and overall style. The embeddedness of self is elucidated by outlining how person is related to its environment, to other people, and to its past. This relational notion of self is both passively constituted and actively shaped: person mediates between minimal self characterized by perspectival ownership and narrative self based on authorship.     

The Effect of Differential Post-Weaning Environment on the Rigidity of an Animal's Behavior

Seventy-two first, second and third grade boys and girls were administered seriation problems involving different combinations of shape and color variation. Success rates and latency scores were influenced by shape variation, but not by color variation or grade level. The failure to obtain predicted interactions between the effects of grade level and stimulus variation was attributed to the clarity of the relevant stimulus dimension.     

The Problem of Temporal Order in Stimulation and Perception

A nonrandom socioeconomically homogeneous convenience sample of 150 young adolescent mothers, 260 older adolescent mothers, and 242 older mothers was analyzed according to their standing on key determinants of parenting. The results of a discriminant analysis showed that the young teen mothers differed from the older mothers in terms of knowledge of child development, punitive attitudes toward childrearing, and level of depression. Accuracy of classification was improved with the discriminant function for younger and older mothers, but decreased by 20% for older adolescents.     

Review of "The Cultural Context of Sexual Pleasure and Problems: Psychotherapy With Diverse Clients," edited by Kathryn S. K. Hall and Cynthia A. Graham

A content and thematic analysis was conducted using forum messages from websites developed for wives of online gamers who play World of Warcraft. Blog posts from 50 women describing conflict in their marital relationship involving their husband's online game play were analyzed. Four overarching themes were identified and discussed in terms of the impact of online gaming on family functioning and relationships, emotional outcomes, and coping mechanisms. Results of ensuing issues arising from excessive gaming as perceived by the non-gaming spouse and ways in which they cope with these issues are shared.     

Educating Evolutionary Co-Leadership to Embody a Radically New Development Paradigm

The purpose here is to explore why and how to develop an emerging form of integral leadership—called evolutionary co-leadership—that is responsibly dedicated to the co-evolution of life and humanity on Planet Earth. After offering some fresh distinctions about leadership, this article calls for a shift to a radically new development paradigm, and identifies key qualities and practices of evolutionary co-leadership. It then shares some views on the multiplying effects of an integral approach to co-leadership development—in the context of transforming education—and concludes with some avenues to disseminate this emerging leadership form, mainly to deal constructively with what Barbara Marx Hubbard (2001) calls the current “birthing pains” of a new civilization.     

Living with Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia: stigma,coping with unpredictable symptoms,and self-advocacy

Abstract

Objective: Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) is a genetic condition causing frequent nose bleeds, skin lesions (telangiectasia) and arteriovenous malformations. Approximately, 50% of people experience life-threatening HHT symptoms including haemorrhages in the brain, lungs and liver. This study aimed to gain a qualitative understanding of the psychosocial impact of HHT over time. Design: Using a phenomenological framework, a rigorous narrative analysis was performed on 20 semi-structured interviews with individuals with HHT aged 20s–60s. Main outcome measures: Qualitative themes explaining life experiences prior to and following a clinical diagnosis of HHT. Results: Narratives highlighted four psychosocial themes: (i) the psychological impact of visible symptoms was significant and related to experiences of social stigma, (ii) individuals struggled to identify triggers of symptoms in order to reduce unpredictability, (iii) an illness identity was rejected by minimising HHT when talking about the present self, and by positive reframing as ‘lucky’ and (iv) self-advocacy was necessitated due to lack of expert coordinated care. Conclusion: HHT has a demanding impact on social, physical and psychological well-being. These findings have significant implications for health care, as narratives about interactions with health professionals often used the terms ‘frustrating’ and ‘not being heard’.     

Efficacy of a Post-modern Group Career Assessment Intervention of Disadvantaged High School Learners

The study used a post-modern group assessment procedure to explore career perceptions of 11 Grade 11 learners (6= males; 5= females; mean age = 17 years) from disadvantaged communities. A qualitative process of thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results suggest that narrative career assessment in a group setting may provide a viable alternative to career counselling and assessment with disadvantaged learners.     

A Group of Black South Africans' Experience of Telling their Untold Stories about the Apartheid Era

The aim of this research was to explore a group of black South Africans' experiences of telling their untold stories of survival about the apartheid era. The expectation was that if they did become more aware of these alternative stories, it could have a far-reaching effect on their lives. A qualitative study was conducted with a group of seven black South African survivors of the apartheid era, ranging in age from 42–62 years (males =5, females =2). These participants formed part of an earlier study investigating their perceptions regarding factors that helped them to survive the apartheid era. For the present study, unstructured interviews were conducted focusing on their subjective experiences after the initial study. Analysis of the data yielded seven prevalent themes, namely a positive experience that made a difference, gaining of a positive attitude, not all white people are bad, transgressing the past and moving on, awareness of personal strengths, forgiveness and starting to talk to family and friends. The participants became aware of their untold stories of survival and experienced a positive change within themselves, towards others, the past and the future.