Adolescent Meaning Making of Past Experience

This study examined the meaning making processes of self-defining memories in adolescents, as well as how they co-construct the narratives of these events with their parents. The sample consisted of 53 students, aged 12-14, who came in for recorded laboratory sessions to discuss self-defining memories with their parents. These sessions were later coded on levels of meaning making and co-construction. These codes were, then, analyzed with the adolescents’ questionnaire scores regarding friendship quality, internalizing, and externalizing behaviors. The data revealed that adolescents and parents were both rated higher for more complex levels of meaning making and that those rated higher for more complex meaning making abilities had better friendship qualities. The implications of these findings were discussed in terms of their importance for parents supporting their children’s emotional expressivity, narrative abilities, and meaning making strategies.

Rights at Risk: Refugees in the New South Africa

This thesis seeks to analyze the relationship between public attitudes toward refugees in a refugee receiving state and the realization of the legal rights afforded refugees (de facto rights). I hypothesize that the more negative a host culture is toward refugees, the less refugees are able to realize their rights. Conversely, the more positive a host culture is toward refugees, the more refugees are able to realize their rights. I test the hypothesis through a case study of refugee populations in Cape Town, South Africa, based on research conducted from May to June 2007. The orientation (positive or negative) of the host culture's perceptions toward a refugee group (Independent Variable) is measured through: (1) a coded content analysis of the South African media, (2) a coded content analysis of semi-structured interviews, and (3) an assessment of secondary source public opinion surveys and reports. The realization of refugee rights (Dependent Variable) is operationalized as a function of two rights: (1) the right to personal physical integrity and (2) the right to protection from unlawful detention. These rights are measured by coding (1) media reports and (2) interviews, and by (3) assessing NGO reports and secondary source public opinion surveys. My empirical data shows that the cultural orientation toward refugees is not overwhelmingly negative, and the realization of rights is not conclusively "low." However, the frequency of data coded "negative" and "low" versus "positive" or "high" suggest that South Africans regard refugees somewhat negatively and that rights are not fully realized. This finding is strengthened by the analysis of secondary sources and field notes.

Church and State

Church and state have historically had an uneasy relationship, sometimes close allies, at others harsh adversaries, and at still others largely independent of one another. This paper develops an economic model of this relationship, where the state's objective is to maximize net tax revenue, while the church provides religious goods. Religious goods benefit the state in two ways: first, they provide utility to citizens, thus allowing the state to extract more taxes before running up against citizens' reservation utility (the point at which they would revolt), and second, they potentially provide legitimacy to the state, thereby lowering the costs of tax collection. If the latter effect is strong enough, the state may find it optimal to take control of the church, either to enhance its legitimizing effect, or to suppress its de-legitimizing effect. To evaluate the model's implications, we use recent cross-country data on the relationship between religion and state, including measures coded from the 2001, 2003, and 2005 International Religious Freedom reports. We also examine in more detail some of the paradigmatic cases indicated by the model, presenting various types of evidence from current and historical examples of each case.

Joint Attention in Young Children with Autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are classified as pervasive developmental disorders characterized by social, communicative, and behavioral impairments. According to formal and informal reports, children with ASD present with receptive and expressive language delay. Joint attention (JA: the behavior that occurs when two individuals focus on the same object or event) has been identified as a possible marker of delayed language development in children with ASD. In this study, the JA behaviors in children with ASD were contrasted with initially language-matched typically developing (TYP) children across three visits. Measures of language, the frequency, duration, and source of initiation of JA episodes, and the choice of toy during those episodes, were coded. Across visits and groups, mothers initiated more JA episodes than children; however, typical children also initiated more JA episodes than ASD children at visits 1 and 2. Also, the total duration of typically developing children’s JA episodes was generally longer than that of the ASD children’s, significantly so at Visit 2. Significant associations emerged between children’s vocabulary and two measures of JA: frequency and number of maternal initiations. Teaching parents to incorporate JA training in their interactions with their children may likely help children with ASD acquire language.