Youth Studies Australia articles from September 2003

Youth Studies Australia archives from September 2003

Getting it right.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Many of the topics covered in this issue exemplify the difficulties and uncertainties involved in arriving at definitive policies on youth issues. Identifying an area of concern is much easier than developing a truly effective response. Is...

New YouthSCAN survey.(Attitudes & opinions)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The latest in the series of YouthSCAN surveys, done by Quantum Market Research earlier this year, involved 1,000 Australians aged between 10 and 17. They turned out to be much more optimistic about the future than their counterparts of a decade...

Assaults on teachers.(Bullying & violence)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In Western Australia, Pat Byrne, president of the state's School Teachers' Union, said violent student behaviour was on the rise. Department of Education and Training figures showed that 70 teachers in WA were assaulted by students in 2001....

Taskforce report.(Child abuse & protection)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In Victoria a draft report from a taskforce appointed by the state government to investigate the care of Victoria's most disturbed children warned that the state's child-protection system would continue to lurch from crisis to crisis if the...

Children and courts.(Child abuse & protection)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Addressing an Australian Institute of Criminology conference on child sexual abuse, the New South Wales Commissioner for Children and Young People, Gillian Calvert, said cases of child sexual assault should be given priority in the court...

Professor Freda Briggs, emeritus professor in child development at the University of South Australia, said that through the adversarial system for lawyers Australian courts cause psychological abuse, effectively compounding whatever other abuse a child has suffered.(Child abuse & protection)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Professor Freda Briggs, emeritus professor in child development at the University of South Australia, said that through the adversarial system for lawyers Australian courts cause psychological abuse, effectively compounding whatever other abuse...

Fake IDs.(Crime & justice)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In the 12 months to June 2003, pubs and clubs across Sydney confiscated more than 300 fake identification cards from teenagers under the age of 18. New South Wales police said minors were providing false information to overseas internet sites...

Embracing slang.(Culture & subcultures)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Some Australian school students are embracing black American slang in everyday speech and it could affect their literacy. Linguists have blamed rap and R'n'B music, which has moved from an underground scene to the Top 40 charts, with artists...

Imitative smoking.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Researchers from the Dartmouth Medical School (in New Hampshire, USA) surveyed more than 3,500 adolescents who had never smoked, and assessed their exposure to smoking in films. In a follow-up survey between one and two years later, 10% of the...

Alcohol.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A report from the Commonwealth government's National Alcohol Strategy says the economic and social costs of alcohol misuse are enormous, with liver disease, car accidents, fires and crime having cost taxpayers $7.6 billion in 1998-99. Although...

Out-campaigned.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Speaking at a drug and alcohol conference held in Brisbane, Liz King, from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, said that 15-17-year-olds were actually drinking more, not less, in the wake of the government's $5.3 million...

In the 2003 YouthSCAN survey.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In the 2003 YouthSCAN survey (for details, see 'Attitudes & opinions', above), 86% of 14-17-year-olds acknowledged having drunk alcohol. This was down 4% since 2001 but it was a much higher proportion than in 1992, when only 64% said they had...

Alcohol from parents.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Commenting on reports that some private schools had cancelled their formals amid concern about parents giving alcohol to underage students at pre-formal parties, Paul Dillon, of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, said it was naive...

A survey of 4,000 high-school students on the central coast of New South Wales confirmed that parents are a main source of alcohol for under-18 teenagers.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A survey of 4,000 high-school students on the central coast of New South Wales confirmed that parents are a main source of alcohol for under-18 teenagers. Douglas Tutt, director of health promotion for Central Coast Health, speaking at the...

Reappraisal.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Waverley College, a Catholic school in eastern suburban Sydney, commissioned Paul Dillon and Jan Copeland of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre to conduct a survey asking every student, parent and teacher at the school about their...

Party drugs and dementia.(Drugs)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... At the Canberra launch of Drug Action Week, Trish Worth, Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Health Minister, said the growth in use of psychostimulants such as speed, ice and ecstasy was now the biggest challenge facing drug authorities....

National standards.(Education & training)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... At a meeting of the ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) held in Perth, a national approach to curriculum development was agreed on. Schools around Australia will teach students basically the same...

NSW syllabus change.(Education & training)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The New South Wales Minister for Education, Dr Andrew Refshauge, announced major changes to 39 syllabuses, to begin in 2005. They included: * a mandatory technology subject for Years 7 and 8, including the study of 14 emerging...

Early school leavers.(Employment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Students who leave school early are more likely to have full-time jobs, earn more money and enjoy greater job stability than those who stay on to the end of Year 12 but do not then go on to university. Also, rather than simply dropping out,...

Early development centres.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Professor Fiona Stanley, professor of paediatrics at the University of Western Australia, 2003 Australian of the Year and chief executive of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, gave this year's Kenneth Myer Lecture at the...

'Public health time bomb'.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, a Melbourne-based psychologist specialising in adolescent health, wrote that young women are taking more health risks, putting themselves in danger of becoming...

Early deaths.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A study of mortality rates, conducted by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, suggests that young offenders in Victoria are more likely to die of drug...

Teenage depression.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... According to Gabrielle O'Shea, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland who is conducting a depression treatment program for teenagers, approximately 25% of Australian teenagers experience at least one episode of depression before the...

Relaxation and positive thinking work better than antidepressant medication in treating troubled teenagers.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Relaxation and positive thinking work better than antidepressant medication in treating troubled teenagers, a Melbourne study has found. The national depression initiative Beyondblue says the findings highlight the need for more government...

Drug criticized.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... One of Australia's most commonly prescribed anti-depressants has been criticised by Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. The agency said the manufacturer of the drug known in the UK as Seroxat and in Australia as...

Cosmetic lenses.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A fashion for wearing brightly coloured or patterned contact lenses is putting teenagers at risk of serious eye infections and even blindness, according to the Optometrists Association of Australia and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. The...

Driver training.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Road fatalities account for one in three deaths among Australians aged 15-24. In an effort to reduce the disproportionately high number of young people killed or injured on the roads, the federal Transport Minister, John Anderson, has proposed...

Chlorine--asthma connection.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... One of the causes of the increase in cases of childhood asthma could be the chlorine used to disinfect indoor swimming pools, a study has found. The suspected culprit is trichloramine, a gassy, easily inhaled irritant that is released in a...

Faulty diet.(Health & safety)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A study published in Nutrition and Dietetics (journal of the Dieticians Association of Australia) found that despite an abundance of healthy food options, young Australians were not eating in ways that met their nutritional needs. Dr Anthea...

Family breakdown.(Housing & homelessness)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Domestic violence is a common reason for young women, in particular, needing help to find accommodation. This is one of the findings of a report called Young Homeless People in Australia 2001-02, prepared by the Australian Institute of Health...

Pocket money.(Incomes & expenditures)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The 2003 YouthSCAN survey, done by Quantum Market Research, reports that one in four children aged 10-17 receive more than $50 pocket money a week. The average amount of pocket money has doubled in the past 10 years. The study also found...

Financial 'toolkit'.(Incomes & expenditures)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Financial Planning Association has published Dollarsmart--a financial toolkit for teenagers. The CD-based 100-page workbook covers budgeting, financial planning, investments, credit and debt, insurance and careers. Its launch coincided with...

Confronting violence.(Indigenous youth)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In a feature article, two members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, Cliff Foley and Alison Anderson, welcomed a move by the Prime Minister to call Indigenous leaders together to confront the problem of family violence and...

The New South Wales government has set up a high-level taskforce on sexual assault in Indigenous communities, after a study uncovered an alarming number of Aboriginal women in prison who were abused as children and went on to develop a drug problem.(Indigenous youth)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The New South Wales government has set up a high-level taskforce on sexual assault in Indigenous communities, after a study uncovered an alarming number of Aboriginal women in prison who were abused as children and went on to develop a drug...

Threats in advertising.(Media)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Young people's responses to threat of death in health-promotion advertising on television were investigated in a study by researchers at the Edith Cowan and Curtin Universities. Associate Professor Nadine Henley, of the business school at Edith...

Behind the News axed.(Media)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Because of a budget shortfall, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation announced budget cuts of $26.1 million which included ceasing production of World at Noon and the children's current-affairs program Behind the News. The federal Opposition...

WA's 'youth register'.(Participation)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Western Australian government has established a youth register in the hope of better involving young people in political decision-making. The register will be used to draw participants for focus and reference groups, advisory councils,...

More young poor.(Poverty)
September 1, 2003... Over 145,000 people aged 15-24 live in poverty in Australia and the problem is so widespread that the nation must consider urgent action that goes beyond current welfare policies, says a Mission Australia report to the Senate's inquiry into...

WA curfew.(Public space)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Western Australian government has instituted a Young People in Northbridge policy, whereby unsupervised children aged 12 and younger are banned from Northbridge (an inner suburb of Perth) after dark and teenagers aged 13-15 must be off the...

Counsellors online.(Services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Since 1999, Kids Help Line, a free service for young people aged 5-18, has been providing online counselling in addition to counselling by phone. It has now brought in new technology that will enable young people using its internet service to...

High-school condoms.(Sexuality)
September 1, 2003... Professor Susan Sawyer, deputy director of the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, drew attention to the findings of an American study on condom availability in schools. The study investigated the impact...

'Morning-after pill'.(Sexuality)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Following the preliminary decision by the National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee to allow pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception, Dr Natasha Cica, lecturer at the University of Canberra and fellow in the Centre for Applied...

Bad-sport parents.(Sport & leisure)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A sports psychologist at Melbourne's Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre says she has been inundated with enquiries from junior sports organisations on what to do about parents who become violent or abusive during sporting events. Jacqui Louder...

Room to roam.(Sport & leisure)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... A study of the factors underlying children's physical activity or the lack of it has confirmed that the children whose homes have adequately sized backyards spend significantly more time in active play than those whose outdoor space is small or...

Teenagers turn to GPs for help.(Suicide)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Adolescents who have suicidal thoughts are more likely to seek help from a general practitioner than from any other source, research has found. A supporting study also found that four in five teenagers who go to GPs with physical complaints are...

How young is too young?(Technology)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... In a feature article about computers and young children, Simon Sharwood asked how young is too young to start? One of the views he quoted was from Dr Michael McDowell, a Brisbane developmental paediatrician. Dr McDowell, who recently completed...

Precursors to a media frenzy: supervised chroming, young people in care and the Victorian Government's drug policy.(Peer Reviewed Paper)
September 1, 2003... Supervised chroming in Victoria was an issue that received wide media attention in January 2002. Judith Bessant argues that the amount and type of coverage given this issue was influenced by preceding events, including the heroin injecting...

Spiked drinks: "I'm more worried about getting home on the train": a focus group study of young women's perceptions of risk and behaviours.(Peer Reviewed Paper)
September 1, 2003... An increase in reports of drug assisted sexual assault (DASA), including those involving spiked drinks, has been noted by a range of service providers across NSW. The project described here explored the way young women use alcohol in social...

Surviving risk: juvenile justice workers' perspectives on managing blood borne viruses and other health risks.(Peer Reviewed Paper)
September 1, 2003... Victorian research reveals that the management of blood borne viruses and other health risks in the juvenile justice system raises a number of issues including continuity of care, the need to balance the imperatives of corrections and health,...

Suicide, schools and young people - tackling the youth suicide industry.
September 1, 2003... Although suicide is a major cause of death of young men in the Western world it is still, statistically, a rare event. Michael Carr-Gregg is concerned that suicide is increasingly becoming a preoccupation for many young people, and that many...

What's in it for ...? Benefits and dilemmas in the practice of youth partnership accountability.
September 1, 2003... Youth partnership accountability (YPA) is one of several approaches to youth participation. It has a strong focus on the accountability of workers and agencies to young people; therefore, it is directly concerned with issues of power,...

Arguing for a better future: children and young people's participation.
September 1, 2003... Youth participation has the potential to provide all of us with a better place to live. However, a rights-based approach to participation on its own could alienate the general public. David Burfoot discusses the importance of children and young...

Creating Common Wealth Australia 2003.
September 1, 2003... On 9 November 2003, young social and business entrepreneurs from around Australia and about 50 Commonwealth nations will be arriving on Queensland's Sunshine Coast for the Creating Common Wealth Youth Enterprise Development Forum. The Forum is...

The DrugInfo Clearinghouse.(Web site news)
September 1, 2003... The DrugInfo Clearinghouse is a service provided by the Australian Drug Foundation. Its web site's many useful features include the DrugInfo Newsletter and a handy section for parents. There are 'alerts', e.g. on 'ice', drink-spiking and party...

Which Way You Mob!(Web site news)
September 1, 2003... Which Way You Mob! youth project, an initiative of the Aboriginal Coordinating Council in Queensland, aims to empower families and communities to provide direction and support for their young people. See: www.whichway.accq.org.au

EdNa Online.(Web site news)
September 1, 2003... EdNA Online is one of Australia's largest education and training resources. Recently EdNA announced its new generation portal, web services, distributed search and community areas. See: www.edna.edu.au

The International Council on National Youth Policy.(Web site news)
September 1, 2003... The International Council on National Youth Policy is 'a global initiative to support national youth policies and programs' and their new-look web site has a section about major publications and international events relating to national youth...

The International Bulletin for Youth Research.(Web site news)
September 1, 2003... The International Bulletin for Youth Research serves as newsletter for members of the International Sociological Association's Research Committee on Sociology of Youth (also known as RC34). It's edited by Prof. James Cote of the Department of...

Forum 21: European Journal on Youth Policy.(Web site news)
September 1, 2003... Forum 21: European Journal on Youth Policy is a new journal produced by the UK's National Youth Agency together with organisations in Germany and France. The first issue looks at youth policy in Ireland, Russia, France, England, Germany and...

Netscape's last days are at hand.(Net news)
September 1, 2003... America Online has begun to phase out Netscape, which it bought in 1998. The program was one of the first web browsers but, despite its loyal following, has been losing its market share steadily.

Email detachment.(Net news)
September 1, 2003... We all blame email for adding to our workload, but perhaps it's the lazy habit of sending attachments to multiple recipients that's to blame. Recently, US market research analysts, the Radicati Group and Merrill Lynch, reported that the volume...

My Child Frightens Me: Information for Families with Abusive Children.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... S.H.E. (Support Help and Empowerment), Hobart, 2003, 20pp. Unexpected and abusive behaviour from children towards family members is an issue that is not widely discussed in the academic or general literature. However, this booklet suggests...

World Mental Health Day 2003: Emotional and Behavioural Disorders of Children and Adolescents.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... World Federation for Mental Health, 2003, 112pp. World Mental Health Day (WMHD) has been an annual event on 10 October since its inception in 1992. It is an initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), which is an...

Queensland Government Programs and Services for Young People 2003.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Office of Youth Affairs, Department of Employment and Training, Queensland, ISBN 0724283102, 2003, 66pp. The Queensland Government's impressive range of programs and services available to young people in the State is outlined in this...

Diversion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth from Juvenile Detention.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... Siggins Miller Consultants in association with Catherine Spooner Consulting, Australian National Council on Drugs, 2003, ISBN 1877018074, 149pp. The number of young people in juvenile corrective institutions in Australia is small and has...

How Young People Are Faring: Key Indicators 2003.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... R. Curtain & Dusseldorp Skills Forum, published by Dusseldorp Skills Forum, ISBN 0957769199, 2003, 50pp. This is the fourth in a five-year series of reports released by the Dusseldorp Skills (DSF) that aims to 'provide timely, accurate...

Youth Speak: A Queensland Story.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... R. Valentine & P. Morton, Push Productions, 2003, ISBN 1920802002, 117pp. After working in human and youth-related services for a combined 41 years, Richard Valentine and Paul Morton decided to produce a resource that challenged what they...

Adolescence: A Guide for Parents, 6th ed.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... 6th edition, Michael Carr-Gregg & Erin Shale, Finch Publishing, Sydney, ISBN 1876 451 351, 2002. RRP $22.95, can be ordered from: http://vs124128.server-store.com/ There's not much useful, practical advice or support around for the parents...

How Schools Counter Bullying: Policies and Procedures in Selected Australian Schools.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... K. Rigby & E. Barrington Thomas, The Professional Reading Guide for Educational Administrators, ISBN 1875722084, 2003, 82pp. Resources for countering bullying have been widely available for Australian schools for the last 10 years; however,...

No Space for Racism.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... S. Carland and K. Chandra-Shekeran, Western Young People's independent Network and Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria, ISBN 0975058908, 2003, 24pp. Western Young People's Independent Network (WYPIN) and the Equal Opportunity Commission...

Get that Job!(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... G. Saunders, S. Harrison & R. Carnsew, Streetwize Communications, ISBN1876226579, 2002, 8pp. Financial support is a major concern for today's youth. It enables the adolescent to be independent in many ways, which is what most teenagers...

The Seventh Generation.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... A. Bergstrom, L. Miller Clear & T.D. Peacock, ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, ISBN 1880785250, 2003, 196pp. Many adults define the young people of today as wayward and reckless. The Seventh Generation is an...

Long and Winding Road: Adolescents and Youth in Canada today.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... V. Tyyska, Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., ISBN 1551301946, 2001, 261 pp. Tyyska takes a very statistical look at today's youth of Canada and attempts to dislodge the reputation of irresponsibility that they hold. Long and Winding Road aims...

Peak youth organizations report on their recent activities: ACT to introduce code of ethics at conference.(From The Peaks)
September 1, 2003... The Youth Coalition of the ACT has been working with the ACT youth sector on the development of a code of ethics for the past 12 months. In September 2002, ACT workers and managers participated in a forum on ethics and youth work in the local...

Unfounded assumptions and the abandonment of 'at risk' youth.(At-risk youth)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... F. Ainsworth, Children Australia, v.28, n.1, 2003, pp.24-33. Residential care for at-risk youth in Australia is characterised by the themes of small, local and 'last resort'. The author argues that these themes are based on assumptions that...

Acts of war: military metaphors in representations of Lebanese youth gangs.(Bullying and violence)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... G. Noble & S. Poynting, Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, n.106, Feb., 2003, pp.110-23. The authors suggest that media representations of the September 11 terrorist attacks resemble the media coverage given to...

Types of voluntary service and adolescents' civic development.(Civics and citizenship)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... E. Metz, J. McLellan & J. Youniss, Journal of Adolescent Research, v.18, n.2, 2003, pp.188-203. One explanation for conflicting opinions about the capacity of voluntary service to turn adolescents into active and engaged citizens is that...

Social competence in young adulthood: its nature and antecedents.(Development)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... D. Smart & A. Sanson, Family Matters, n.64, Autumn, 2003. The Australian Temperament Study is a longitudinal community study of Australian children's development that began in 1983. Among the questionnaires completed by 940 young people...

Factors associated with self-esteem in pre-adolescents and adolescents with cerebral palsy.(Disabilities)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... J. C. Manuel, R. Balkrishnana, F. Camacho, B. Paterson Smith & L. A. Koman, journal of Adolescent Health, v.32 n.6, 2003, pp. 456-58. Fifty young Americans aged between 9 and 18 (mean age 13) with cerebral palsy completed a questionnaire...

Drug courts--a departure from adversarial justice.(Drug and alcohol)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... D. McGlone, Alternative Law Journal, v.28, n.3, 2003, pp. 136-40. The Victorian Government has recently established its first Drug Court on a trial basis for three years. The court can impose a new sentencing option, the Drug Treatment...

Education and advertising: a content analysis of commercially produced booklets about menstruation.(Education)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... M.J. Erchull, J.C. Chrisler, J.A. Gorman & I. Johnston-Robledo, Journal of Early Adolescence, v.22, n.4, 2002, pp. 455-74. Girls rate mothers as their most important source of information about menstruation; and mothers often initiate...

What is in a family? Adolescent perceptions.(Family)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... S. E. Anyan & J. Pryor, Children and Society, v.16, n.5, 2002, pp. 306-17. To rectify the lack of research on adolescents' conceptualisations of families, this study collected data from 232 New Zealand high school students who completed a...

A longitudinal study of the effects of family, friends, and school experiences on the psychological adjustment of ethnic minority, low-SES adolescents.(Family)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... N. Way & M.G. Robinson, Journal of Adolescent Research, v.18, n.4, 2003, pp. 324-46. One hundred students from a public high school in New York completed questionnaires when freshmen and again two years later. The sample consisted of...

The significance of parental depressed mood for young adolescents' emotional and family experiences.(Family)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... P.A. Sarigiani, P.A. Heath & P.M. Camarena, Journal of Early Adolescence, v.23, n.3, 2003, pp. 241-67. As part of a longitudinal study, data were collected from American adolescents in grade seven and again in grade eight. The subjects were...