Youth Studies Australia articles from June 2006

Youth Studies Australia archives from June 2006

Working together: families, services, schools and young people.
June 1, 2006... All the papers in this issue of Youth Studies Australia demonstrate very clearly how young people's wellbeing depends on families, services, schools and young people working and learning together. Rather than seeking 'solutions' to 'fix' young...

Survey reveals rising stress levels for young Australians.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A survey of young Australians conducted by social research group Australia SCAN last year indicates that teenagers, particularly girls, are facing increasing levels of stress due to the 'expectations of modern life'. Results of the face-to-face...

Pre-school learning linked to aggressive behaviour in adolescence.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Research conducted by Canadian developmental psychologist Richard Tremblay suggests that aggressive children who do not learn self-control, social and emotional skills as pre-schoolers are more likely to engage in violent behaviour as...

Goths not so scary.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The gothic subculture is misrepresented as being associated with 'violence, depression and drug use', according to a study on 'goths' conducted in Germany and Britain. Research by Dr Dunja Brill from the University of Sussex suggests that...

The secret of song success.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Research published in the February edition of the journal Science suggests that teenagers' musical preferences are based on their peers' preferences. A study conducted by Columbia University researchers Duncan Watts, Matthew J. Salganik and...

Girl talk.(research)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... '... the language of teenage girls holds a particular fascination for linguists', according to Age journalist Alana Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum interviewed a number of teenage girls for a feature story on this subject. One of the teenagers remarked...

Anti-social behaviour linked to peer acceptance.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The results of an Italian study on the development of antisocial behaviour in young people indicate that peer acceptance plays a key role in this process. The University of Padova study of 577 children found that while students in Year 6...

Call for ban on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The majority of young people cannot tell the difference between milk-based alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic milkshakes, according to a study recently conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Centre (NDARC) and the University of New South...

Parental separation and marijuana use in young people.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A study of 3008 mothers and their children up to age 21, conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland's School of Population Health between 2001 and 2004, found that 'exposure to 3 or more changes in maternal marital status during...

Youth drug statistics from Victoria.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Centre has released statistics showing that Victorian ambulance officers treated over 1900 young people under the age of 21 for drug-related problems during 2004, with some patients as young as 10 years old....

Teenagers' exposure to alcohol advertising.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A Curtin University analysis of alcohol advertising on television has found that over 90% of alcohol advertisements are screened at times when over a quarter of the viewing audience is underage. The study indicates that, based on audience...

Assessment of teens' financial literacy.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The first ever national study into the basic financial skills of young Australians, commissioned by the Commonwealth Bank Foundation, revealed that almost half of those surveyed lacked some basic skills in financial matters such as reading bank...

Motivation for reluctant students.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Several recent studies by Dr Andrew Martin from the University of Western Sydney's Self-Concept Enhancement and Learning Facilitation Research Centre have addressed the issues of student motivation and academic resilience. One study involved...

VCE alternative for 'at-risk' students.(Victorian Certificate of Educatiom)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Former high school deputy principal and chemistry teacher Damien Blake, now a researcher at Deakin University, has conducted a study into applied learning, finding that students perceived to be 'at risk' perform better under the Victorian...

Queensland boarding schools upgrading to secure enrolments.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A feature piece on the changing nature of boarding schools in Queensland by Elizabeth Allen indicates that factors including 'rural recession, increased school running costs, better distance education, more high schools in rural areas and more...

Emotional intelligence assists learning.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A comparison of the IQs, emotional intelligence levels and ENTER (tertiary entrance) scores of 375 Year 12 students found that students with a high level of emotional intelligence often achieved higher ENTER scores than students of the same IQ...

Overseas school trips becoming the norm.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Mary Bluett, the Victorian branch president of the Australian Education Union, says that school excursions to overseas destinations are on the increase--and not just for private schools. In a feature on this phenomenon, Claire Halliday says...

Risks of casual employment.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A feature article by journalist Debra Jopson highlights the risks associated with young people in casual employment. The Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training last year completed a survey of over 5000 young people...

Teenage kissing may increase meningococcal risk.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A study published online by the British Medical Journal has found that teenagers who engage in 'French kissing' with multiple partners face a fourfold risk of contracting meningococcal disease. It also found that teenagers with viral infections...

Report on health of young West Australians.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... In April, the WA Health Department released a report delivering mixed findings on the health of young West Australians. Findings from the report, Health and wellbeing of young adults in Western Australia 2002-2005--an overview, are taken from a...

TV watching = junk food eating.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A survey commissioned by the Australian Greens suggests that young people who are 'heavy watchers of television' are more likely to eat junk food, find advertisements 'interesting' and dislike healthy food than those who watch less television....

Sedentary behaviour, obesity and sleep.(HEALTH)
June 1, 2006... * Teenagers spend 27% of their waking time 'in front of a screen; with three-quarters of this time devoted to television watching and playing video games, according to research conducted by the University of South Australia's Dr Tim Olds. Olds'...

Lap-band surgery a weight loss option for young Victorians.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Laparoscopic bariatric surgery--or 'lap-band surgery'--is becoming an increasingly popular weight loss option for overweight young people. In Victoria, Medicare figures indicate that 81 young people under 24--four of them under the age of...

Diabetes drug used to treat childhood obesity.(HEALTH)
June 1, 2006... Doctors at Sydney's Westmead Children's Hospital have conducted a trial in which the drug metformin, usually used to treat adults with type 2 diabetes, was given to young people aged between 9 and 18 as a treatment to prevent them from reaching...

Soft drinks in the spotlight.
June 1, 2006... * A 6-month study on the effects of soft drinks on over 100 American 13-18-year-olds found that teenagers who drank water and 'diet' soft drinks as replacements for sugary soft drinks 'could lose the equivalent of 6.5 kilograms per year'. The...

Increased health risks for overweight NSW teenagers.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... As part of a NSW Government project to determine the 'true magnitude' of the childhood obesity problems in NSW, researchers from the NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity analysed blood samples from 500 Year 10 students to measure insulin...

Mononucleosis, MS link.(multiple sclerosis)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A study published in the Annals of Neurology has found that adolescents and young adults who contract infectious mononucleosis (also known as glandular fever) may face a twofold risk of developing multiple sclerosis in later life. The study...

Effects of Year 12 stress on mental health.(MENTAL HEALTH)
June 1, 2006... Psychologist Karen McGraw says that stress caused by exams and homework is having an 'alarming' effect on Year 12 students. A Swinburne University study conducted by McGraw surveyed 941 Victorian Year 12 students, finding that approximately 1...

Cultural attitudes towards teen pregnancy.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A group of researchers at the University of Western Australia and the Telethon Institute for Child Health research is to conduct a study into the 'cultural attitudes of teenage girls who become pregnant'. University of Western Australia senior...

Australian teenagers embracing a 'consumerist' attitude to spirituality.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Spirituality is not an important issue for Australian teenagers, according to a survey on the religious and spiritual lives of young Australians conducted by the Christian Research Association. The survey, involving 809 Australian teenagers,...

Majority of Victorian students hold negative attitude towards Muslims.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Preliminary findings from a survey of Victorian students attitudes towards the Muslim community show that over 50% of those surveyed believe that Muslims are terrorists and 'act strangely'; 45% of students surveyed also believe that Australians...

Afternoon sex not favoured by teens.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... An American study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health has cast doubt over suggestions that increased teenage sexual activity is due to 'unsupervised afterschool hours'. The Indiana University of Medicine study surveyed the sexual...

Virginity pledges not sustained.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... While estimates indicate that at least 2.5 million adolescents throughout the world have signed 'virginity pledges' in recent years, a Harvard study suggests that over half of a group of adolescents surveyed broke their pledges to abstain from...

Rural youth face increased sports injury risk.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... University of Sydney researcher Lawrence Lam has found that young people in rural areas face a 10% higher risk of hospitalisation from sports injuries than those in metropolitan areas. Lam's study of over 3100 5-19-year-olds admitted to...

Young tennis players take part in exercise study.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Researchers at Deakin University are using young tennis players from the elite tennis program at Box Hill Senior Secondary College in Melbourne in a longitudinal study on the effects of a lack of exercise on the bone strength of young people....

Cyber-bullying.(survey)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... * An Australian survey, conducted by adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg on behalf of the National Coalition Against Bullying and teen girls' magazine Girlfriend, found that 42% of the 13,300 female adolescents surveyed had been...

Laptops are the way of the future.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Lower prices, more sophisticated technology and greater portability mean that laptop computers are rivalling desktop computers as consumers' computers of choice, with students leading the way. Statistics from research firm IDC Australia reveal...

Bedroom technology causes sleep deprivation.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Sleep deprivation in teenagers was the focus of a study released by the National Centre on Sleep Disorders Research in the USA. This research found that teenagers who had 4 or more 'mentally stimulating devices' such as mobile phones,...

Telcos target teens and tweens.(TECHNOLOGY)
June 1, 2006... * Telsyte, a Sydney-based telecommunications research company, predicts a dearth of new adult and teenage mobile phone customers will result in telecommunications companies marketing their products to 'tweens'--young people aged between 8 and...

Youth still socially engaged.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... While some may see computers and internet technology as obstacles to young people's development of social skills, a US study of two internet sites for teenagers and young people shows that young people have shifted their community involvement...

Comfortably numb: young people, drugs and the seductions of popular culture.
June 1, 2006... Karen Brooks believes young people have become part of what she terms resistance conformity. That is, they believe they are fashioning for themselves a unique identity carved in their own self-image when in reality they are donning a...

RRISK: a sustainable intersectoral partnership.(reduce risk increase student knowledge)
June 1, 2006... RRISK (Reduce Risk Increase Student Knowledge), a school-based harm minimisation program, aims to provide students in Years 10 and 11 with skills to make informed decisions to reduce risks associated with drug and alcohol use, driving and...

The BEST Plus approach to assisting families recover from youth substance problems.
June 1, 2006... The BEST Plus program is a whole-of-family therapy option for families to address not only youth substance abuse issues, but also challenging and antisocial adolescent behaviours. It uses an evidence-based strategy that can be implemented...

The Resilient Families program: promoting health and wellbeing in adolescents and their parents during the transition to secondary school.
June 1, 2006... Resilient Families is a school-based prevention program designed to help students and parents develop knowledge, skills and support networks to promote health and wellbeing during the early years of secondary school. The program is designed to...

Dual diagnosis support kit.
June 1, 2006... The term 'dual diagnosis' describes when an individual is affected by both a mental illness and substance misuse problems. Up to 80% of people diagnosed with a mental illness also have substance misuse problems, while up to 75% of people with...

The 'Teen Triple P' Positive Parenting Program: a preliminary evaluation.
June 1, 2006... Adolescents who develop severe conduct disorders are at greater risk of becoming involved in juvenile crime, including property crime, interpersonal violence, theft, arson and illegal substance use. Prior research has found that dysfunctional...

Primary health care for young people: are there models of service delivery that improve access and quality?
June 1, 2006... Using seven principles as reference points, the NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health has developed six 'models' of primary health care, which appear promising for improving youth access and quality of primary health care for...

Relationships between peer harassment and adolescent problem behaviours.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... J.C. Rusby, K.K. Forrester, A. Biglan & C.W. Metzler, Journal of Early Adolescence, v.25, n.4, 2005, pp.453-77 This study investigates student reports of verbal and physical harassment from peers and its relationship to the development of...

Learning to belong: children talk about feeling 'Australian'.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... S. Howard & J. Gill, Childrenz Issues, v.9, n.2, 2005, pp.43-49. Research suggests that affective responses to one's country are 'centrally involved in any effective civics or citizenship education program.' This study investigated...

Developmental shifts in parent and peer influences on boys' beliefs about delinquent behaviour.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... D.A. Pardini, R. Loeber & M. Stouthamer-Loeber, Journal of Research on Adolescence, v. 15, n.3, pp.299-323. A number of studies identify a link between an individual's 'antisocial beliefs and subsequent deviant behaviours'. Structural...

Image, context and transition: smoking in mid-to-late adolescence.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... S. Wiltshire, A. Amos, S. Haw & A. McNeill, Journal of Adolescence, v.28, n.5, 2005, pp.603-17. Current smoking prevention and cessation programs give little consideration to the contexts of young people in their mid-to-late teens. This...

New jobs, old occupational stereotypes: gender and jobs in the new economy.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... L. Miller & R. Hayward, Journal of Education and Work, v. 19, n. 1, 2006, pp.67-93. This survey-based study investigates 'the extent to which occupational gender segregation and occupational sex-role stereotypes influence young people's...

YP4--a model of joined up practice for young homeless jobseekers.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... L. Coventry, Parity, v.19, n.2, 2006, pp.15-16. YP4 is a trial service delivery model for young homeless jobseekers, which provides clients with a single point of contact for employment and housing assistance over a two-year period. YP4...

Youth consumer participation in SAAP services at Brophy Family and Youth Services.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A. Macgarvey, Parity, v.18, n.10, 2005, pp.66-67. This research project was conducted by Brophy Family and Youth Services (BFYS) in south-west Victoria to explore ways to more closely engage young people aged 15-21 participating in the...

Teenage mothers: constructing family.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A. Morehead & G. Soriano, Family Matters, n.72, summer 2005, pp.64-71. The Teenage Mothers Study examined 'some of the recognised factors in the work and family debate that lead mothers to decide not to participate in paid work'. Conducted...

Domestic violence, single parenthood and fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy.(PARENTING)
June 1, 2006... L.H. Tan & J.A. Quinlivan, Journal of Adolescent Health, v.38, n.3, 2006, pp.201-07. This Australian study examines males' demographics and childhood experiences of family relationships and their association with fatherhood in contexts...

Out of order? The increasing regulation of young people in public space.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... P. Grogan, Parity, v.19, n.1, 2006, pp.85-87. Laws regulating behaviour in and access to public spaces have been known to 'disproportionately' affect marginalised groups in society such as young people, the homeless and the mentally ill. To...

Leading themselves: refugee youth participation--learnings and challenges.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... K. Chandra-Shekeran & E. Singer, Just Policy, n.39, 2006, pp.49-53. The Western Young People's Independent Network (WYPIN) is a youth service organisation for refugee and migrant youth in the western suburbs of Melbourne. WYPIN undertook a...

A review of research on the effects of religion on adolescent tobacco use published between 1990 and 2003.(RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY)
June 1, 2006... A.J. Weaver, K.J. Flannelly & A.L. Strock, Adolescence, v.40, n.160, 2005, pp.761-76. A number of studies have reported 'an inverse relationship between drug use and religious involvement among teens and young adults'. Here, researchers...

Gay adolescents and suicide: understanding the association.(SEXUALITY ISSUES)
June 1, 2006... R. Li Kitts, Adolescence, v.40, n.159, 2005, pp.621-28. This article combines information from previous studies to emphasise the 'need to understand the increased risk of suicide among gay adolescents,' a need which is currently unmet by...

Using TV as a guide: Associations between television viewing and adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviour.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... L.M. Ward & K. Friedman, Journal of Research on Adolescence, v.16, n.1, 2006, pp.133-56. This study 'seeks to offer fuller insight into television's role in the sexual socialisation process' of adolescents. A group of 244 adolescents aged...

Counsellor practices and student perspectives: perceptions of career counselling in Australian secondary schools.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... K. Walker, N. Alloway, L. Dalley-Trim & A. Patterson, Australian Journal of Career Development, v.15, n.1, 2006, pp.37-45. Research conducted into the efficacy of school-based career counselling services has thus far paid little attention...

Assessing international youth service programmes in two low-income countries.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... A. Jones, Voluntary Action v.7, n.2, 2005, pp.87-99. There has been much debate about the worth of overseas youth volunteering programs undertaken as 'gap year' activities by young people in countries such as the UK, the USA and Australia....

Power and its practice: an ethics for professional youth work.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... H. Sercombe, Commonwealth Youth and Development, v.3, n.2, 2005, pp.84-95. Postmodern and post-structuralist theories challenge traditional notions of power within society. Power is no longer seen as being exclusively located in 'formal...

Strong bonds project: promoting family-aware youth work practice.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... E. Robinson & R. Pryor, developing practice, n.15, autumn 2006, pp.28-35. The Jesuit Social Services' Strong Bonds Project 'aims to increase the emphasis in youth-oriented organisations on families as a support and resource for young...

Mentoring.
June 1, 2006... There is growing recognition of the role youth mentoring can play in improving the lives of young Australians, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. As youth mentoring increases in recognition, so does support for enhanced...