First-year university students are faced with numerous challenges, some of which prove more than they can cope with. As a result their prospects of graduating are reduced, as reflected in the high failure and drop-out rates nationally. These challenges are certainly greater in rural-based institutions, and the authors sought, therefore, to examine the stressors endured by students from mainly poorer, rural communities attending such an institution. Fear of failing, finance and accommodation problems featured very strongly, with deaths of family members and significant others also prominent. Parents and friends were viewed as most supportive. Significantly more female than male students found friends and religious leaders/priests to be supportive. Approximately one-quarter of the sample found their siblings and health professionals unsupportive. Students younger than 21 years were more affected by conflict with and between parents than students over 21 years. The results are discussed within the context of socioeconomic as well as gender and developmental variables.
with a copy to sdedward@telkomsa.net.Guidelines for Multicultural Counseling Competencies In South Africa 647-654 The study sought to explore multicultural counseling competences that are relevant for the South African context, in order to advance appropriate multicultural competent theory and practice. A total of 271 psychologists on the national register participated 109 Clinical, 79 Counselling, 60 Educational, 12 Industrial and 11 Research Psychologists, of whom 191 were women and 80 men, with 206 English, 50 African and 15 Afrikaans home language speakers. Data were collected using questionnaire and also discourse analysis methods. Themes that emerged from the analysis included competencies with regard to the relationship, understanding, respect, innovation of training programmes, use of culture fair tests, contextually grounded research and intervention, tolerance, trust, empowerment, community internships and celebration of diversity. These themes are relevant to the development of guidelines for multicultural counselling competencies for South African psychologists.
Black university students in South Africa reported lower mean rated psychological well-being than U.S. subjects. Social and political factors may contribute to these differences.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.