The study examines sense of meaning influences on study perseverance and course completion among students within a faculty of management sciences at a South African university (n = 40). Participants were selected for high scores on the Purpose in life (PIL) scale (n = 20; 50%) and contrasting low scores on the same (n = 20; 50%) (age range = 27 to 30 years, females = 73%, majority ethnicity = 70% Sotho speaking). Data were analysed using independent-samples t-test group comparison procedure. The results suggest that a high sense of meaning can explain study perseverance and completion.

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Theory and research suggest that an individual's negative interactions with his or her parents or romantic partner are associated with the perpetration of dating abuse. Research is beginning to explore the role of forgivingness within abusive romantic relationships, and these preliminary findings suggest that dispositional forgivingness might mediate the relations between negative interpersonal interactions and dating abuse. The current study assessed negative interactions with one's parents and one's romantic partner, the frequency of dating abuse perpetration, and dispositional forgivingness of others and oneself among a sample of emerging adults in college ( n = 421). Dispositional forgivingness of others was negatively associated with the perpetration of emotional/verbal dating abuse and threatening behaviors, and it mediated relations between negative interpersonal interactions and dating abuse perpetration. Our findings suggest that the tendency to forgive others may explain why some individuals who experience negative interpersonal interactions with parents or romantic partners do not escalate to perpetration of abuse within their romantic relationships. Implications for future research and application are discussed.

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Inevitably, life in the twenty-first century globalised world brings people into contact with "others". Through these contacts, the need for interactions demands that these people find different ways of understanding one another to generate knowledge. In order for them to achieve this objective, they need a strong and coherent medium. First additional language education has been developed in South Africa to unravel as well as address challenges posed to competence in intercultural communication, with the emphasis placed on how to communicate with a different "other" since the world now has become a small village. The study made use of a qualitative research methodology, revolving around an ethnographic design. The research population constituted lecturers, tutors and students from the University of Western Cape. The four principal tools used for data collection included: Interviews, Questionnaires, Naturally Occurring data and Participant Observation.