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Bullying is widely accepted as a significant issue confronting schools across the globe. The potential short and long-term consequences of bullying for involved students include negative academic and mental health impacts. It is known that a whole-school approach is required to effectively manage bullying. As such, school psychologists and counsellors are well-placed to play an important role in the prevention of and response to bullying in their workplace schools. By virtue of their training and skill-set, school psychologists and counsellors could be involved in the training of other staff, educating and collaborating with stakeholders, and counselling the involved students utilising methods such as motivational interviewing. In order for these staff members to play an effective role in bullying prevention and intervention, they require professional development on bullying, a supportive leadership team and a workplace that provides a clear delineation of their role.

Public opinions are divided on the relative benefits versus harms of allowing mobile phones in schools. When debating the consequences of mobile phones in schools, politicians often argue that students’ use of mobile phones distract from their learning, increase cyberbullying and lead to poor mental health outcomes. We conducted a scoping review of the global literature, followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and pre-registered our protocol with the Open Science Framework (OSF). Our search and screening process identified 22 studies that met our inclusion criteria and shed light on our research questions: whether mobile phone use in schools impacts academic outcomes, mental health and wellbeing and cyberbullying. We found an absence of randomized controlled trials with evidence resting on a small number of studies with different designs, samples, operational definitions of mobile phone bans (i.e. partial, or complete bans) and outcome measures, making reconciliation of findings challenging. Nonetheless, we provide a synthesis of the latest evidence for decision-makers tasked with deciding for or against mobile phone bans in schools. Directions for future research are provided and practical implications for schools are discussed.

ABSTRACTObjectivePsychologists have a responsibility to conduct standardised assessment according to instructions in test manuals and guidelines in assessment texts. In practice, circumstances arise that are not addressed in manuals and texts. The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which experienced psychologists manage some of these issues.MethodThe participants were 10 psychologists with postgraduate training in assessment and reputations as experts within the professional community. Years of experience ranged from 5 to more than 30 years. Most of the participants had specialist area of practice endorsement in educational and developmental psychology. Participants responded to survey questions about aspects of assessment for which ready answers could not be identified in test manuals or published texts. Each participant was asked to explain and justify their decisions.ResultsOn some issues, participants tended to follow the way they had been taught. Other decisions were based on clinical experience, rather than on shared understandings or evidence from research.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the lack of empirical research about best practice in assessment, the importance of ongoing professional development, and the need for rigorous training that addresses the many issues that arise in assessment and encourages ongoing reflective practice.

There are few studies examining the wellbeing of Australian school-based psychologists/counsellors (SPCs) despite the research indicating there are unique stressors associated with the role. The purpose of this study was to measure the stress perceived by working Australian SPCs. Data were collected via an online survey within which the Perceived Stress Scale – 10 item version (PSS-10) was embedded. Mean global stress for 162 participants was calculated then compared with the general population and a previous cohort of Australian SPCs. Four variables of influence were also statistically analysed: school level, years of experience, amount of time participating in supervision and alignment with two differing professional identity statements – ‘I see myself as an educator with a counselling/psychology specialisation’ or ‘as a psychologist/counsellor who works in an education setting’. Moderate – high frequency of stress, in excess of the general population and stress levels reported previously, was found. No significant relationships were found between stress and school level, years of experience or professional identity. A negative relationship was found between stress and the amount of supervision received. The level of stress experienced by Australian SPCs warrants that policies and practices monitor and protect Australian SPC wellbeing.

Anxiety disorders occurs at a high rate amongst autistic children. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a reasonably well-established multi-component intervention used to reduce anxiety in this population. Whilst there are known effective intervention components in CBT for treating anxiety among autistic children, there are few guidelines for how to weight these intervention components to maximise positive outcomes. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether CBT is an effective intervention for autistic children, and if so, what the key components of effective CBT programs are for autistic children. A review of studies using manualised group-based CBT programs with family involvement was completed. The key finding was that the exposure-focused CBT (EF-CBT) studies reviewed showed a greater improvement in anxiety symptoms compared with CBT studies with fewer or no exposure-focused sessions. Compared to CBT without an exposure focus, EF-CBT may better fit the profiles of autistic children, potentially resulting in greater client and family engagement, and possibly greater intervention efficacy.

Bystanders to bullying perpetration are considered an extremely important group to engage in bullying prevention and intervention. It is important to understand the key differences between students who are proactive bystanders, who try to stop the bullying and those bystanders who observe but take no action to help the student being bullied. Of 1,231 secondary students (aged 11 to 15 years) surveyed in 12 Australian schools, only 26.9% (509) reported they had not witnessed any bullying. The actions taken by student witnesses were grouped into proactive bystanding (786, 41.5%) and passive bystanding (445, 23.5%) responses. Age, gender, victimisation, being connected to school, perceived peer support and moral engagement were examined. The strongest predictor for proactive bystander responses was previous experience of bullying victimisation. Feeling connected to school, having higher levels of peer support and being morally engaged also predicted proactive bystander behaviour. Age and gender were not associated with being a proactive bystander or a passive bystander. Implications for school policy and practices to prevent and reduce peer bullying behaviour are discussed.

Research and resources are crucial to educate parents and carers the world over about the best ways to manage their children’s use of social media.

Cyberbullying is a harmful practice to which schools must respond. Australia does not have a cyberbullying-specific law, so schools navigate their responses within a range of laws not created for the online world, nor for youth. In this study, the murky legal environment of youth cyberbullying was problematised from perspectives found within two Australian secondary school communities. School leaders, key staff, teachers, students, and parents participated in interviews or focus groups held to gather their views about whether a new cyberbullying-specific law was needed to help reduce youth cyberbullying. A thematic analysis found three themes: that an educational approach was favoured over a legal one; that current laws mediated a constrained discussion about the benefit a new cyberbullying-specific law would have for schools and that there were school-identified unmet spaces where the law should be contributing better solutions to youth cyberbullying. Legal responses with implications for reducing youth cyberbullying are discussed.

Early childhood education and care is recognised as extremely important for the health, education and welfare of all children. As Australia is a multicultural society then the early childhood education and care workforce needs to reflect the proportion of the population who were born overseas in non–English-speaking countries, often referred to Culturally and Linguistic Diverse individuals. With the staff shortages in the sector, we propose that supporting students in initial teacher training from a CALD background is important. Several ways to accomplish this goal are discussed.

A commonly suggested strategy for addressing bullying is for victims to seek help from a trusted person. Despite this recommendation, there are a group of adolescent victims who choose not to seek help. This study aimed to identify factors associated with notseeking help among adolescents who experienced bullying victimisation. A sub-sample of youth who self-reported being bullied (N= 652) was drawn from an Australian nationally representative household survey of adolescents aged 11–17 years (N= 2,967). Adolescent participants and their parents completed survey items on demographics, bullying experiences, mental health, school, and family characteristics. Overall, 45.3% of bullied adolescents did notseek help. Neither the type, frequency, nor levels of distress caused by the bullying victimisation were associated with help-seeking. Age was no longer associated with increased odds of notseeking help for bullying victimisation, after controlling for mental health, social, and interpersonal functioning. In a multivariate logistic regression model examining demographic, mental health, social, and interpersonal factors, those with poorer prosocial skills, lower perceived social support, and higher internet use had increased odds of notseeking help for bullying victimisation (OR = 2.81, 95% CI = 1.00, 7.93; OR = 2.70, 95% CI = 1.32, 5.52; and OR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.11, 4.33, respectively). Identifying and supporting young people who are socially isolated and/or have poorer prosocial skills may improve help-seeking among adolescents who experience bullying victimisation. This approach has the potential to address victimisation earlier in its course thereby reducing consequent harm.

Effective drama teaching and learning needs physical space: space for performance, expression, interaction and exploration. However, the Sri Lankan classroom environment remains largely unexplored in terms of investigating the relationship between the physical classroom environment and the teaching and learning of drama when process drama is the method of instruction. This article is based on the findings of a non-randomised control group intervention study, which involved forty classroom observations in secondary schools in Sri Lanka. The observations showed that students who were able to use the school’s open-air theatre for the entire intervention period engaged in far more collaborative, energetic, performative and creative behaviours than other classes who were in a confined classroom space with desks and chairs crammed closely together. Implications for the teaching of drama by different methods are discussed in the Sri Lankan context.

ABSTRACTPolicy is an important part of prevention and intervention when it comes to peer bullying amongst university students. Therefore, the contents of these policies need to be informative and easy to find, understand and use. With the United Kingdom having a low prevalence of peer bullying at university when compared to other countries, determining whether the quality of a university student anti-bullying policy is related to the prevalence, may help universities in other countries reduce bullying prevalence. This study adds to the body of knowledge by analysing the content and usability of student anti-bullying policies of 39 universities in the UK. The results were then compared to the results of a similar study conducted with Australian universities, to determine similarities and difference, and where improvements could be made. Through this, and future studies, it is hoped that a relationship can be determined between the quality of university student anti-bullying policies, and the prevalence of bullying. It is also hoped that the results of this study will allow universities to identify where their policy may be improved and promote the importance of having a bully-free culture on campus.

ABSTRACTBullying has been a topic widely researched in schools and the workplace, however, comparatively there is a paucity of research into bullying among university students. This is an oversight, as bullying may also have negative consequences for university students, ranging from anxiety to suicidal ideation. Anti-bullying policies are an important part of bullying prevention and intervention, however, due to Australian Federal legislation, policies for students are not mandatory at universities. To be an effective prevention and intervention strategy, anti-bullying policies and procedures should be informative, supportive, well publicised, and student user friendly. Through analysing the anti-bullying policies and procedures from 39 Australian universities, using a 37-item analysis tool adapted from Purdy and Smith as well as thematic analysis, this study aims to determine if Australian universities are providing students with the information and support they need to be able to report bullying to their university and study in a safe environment. Both strengths and weaknesses were found in 37 individual universities’ student anti-bullying policies and procedures, as well as overall trends displayed by universities Australia-wide. The overall paucity of information and consistency, as well as the poor user-friendliness of many of the documents, highlights the need for changes to be made. Without the reform of student anti-bullying policies and procedures in Australian universities, students will be unsupported and ill-equipped to identify and report bullying. Universities will also run the risk of gaining a bad reputation and not promoting a bully-free culture for students in which to learn and socialise.

The increasing tendency of immigration and forced migration practices around the world has made countries’ populations culturally and linguistically diverse. Australia is considered one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Consequently, the proportion of school-aged children with different culture and language is also increasing. Thus, school psychologists and guidance counsellors face the challenge of designing fair assessment practices and sound interventions for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students who experience difficulties with their learning. Although many multicultural countries have extensive research regarding the assessment of learning difficulties in CALD students, Australia lacks this research. This study explored the most common assessment strategies that school psychologists and guidance counsellors usually implement in their assessment of CALD students. These results were then compared to a best practice model from the literature. In order to understand the current practices of school psychologists and counsellors in Australia who have assessed CALD children, a survey was administered to 34 school psychologists and counsellors. It was found that the reported strategies and protocols were very close to the ones proposed by experts, which was an unexpected outcome of this study. Implications for school psychologists and counsellors are discussed.

ABSTRACTArts subjects such as drama provide an effective context for developing 21stcentury skills, yet drama teaching in Sri Lanka is still mainly delivery through traditional, lecture-based methods. This article presents evaluation results of a drama-based intervention program that was designed specifically to develop junior secondary school students’ creative thinking capacity and adaptability skills in the Sri Lankan context. The participants were 128 students aged 11-12 years in Year 7 drama classes. The program was implemented over twelve consecutive weeks in weekly two-hour sessions by regular drama teachers who had been trained in a process drama teaching approach. Results evidenced a positive effect emerging from the intervention: creativity and adaptability test scores of the students in the intervention group increased significantly compared to those of the students in the control and active control groups. This paper identifies implications of these findings for Sri Lankan drama teaching and learning and beyond.

Adolescents experiencing excessive anxiety are often under-identified in the school context, and consequently under-referred for in-school counselling or other mental health support. This is despite anxiety being the most prevalent mental health condition currently experienced by adolescents. The purpose of this study was to explore secondary teachers’ ability to recognise the need to refer adolescents with excessive anxiety symptoms. One hundred and fourteen secondary school teachers completed a questionnaire with five vignettes describing students experiencing various degrees of anxiety. Statistical analysis of the data involved use of the one-sample Wilcoxon test and Spearman’s rank non-parametric correlation coefficients. Results indicated that teachers recognised the need to refer adolescents with very severe anxiety symptoms. However, they were less likely to correctly identify and refer students with severe, moderate or mild anxiety symptoms. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female teachers’ decision to refer students for school counselling. These findings are an important step forward in understanding how teachers decide whether or not to refer anxious children for support, and in identifying areas for further training and professional development. Implications are discussed for future professional development for secondary school teachers.

AbstractThe increasing tendency of immigration and forced migration practices around the world has made countries’ populations culturally and linguistically diverse. Australia is considered one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Consequently, the proportion of school-aged children with different culture and language is also increasing. Thus, school psychologists and guidance counsellors face the challenge of designing fair assessment practices and sound interventions for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students who experience difficulties with their learning. Although many multicultural countries have extensive research regarding the assessment of learning difficulties in CALD students, Australia lacks this research. This study explored the most common assessment strategies that school psychologists and guidance counsellors usually implement in their assessment of CALD students. These results were then compared to a best practice model from the literature. In order to understand the current practices of school psychologists and counsellors in Australia who have assessed CALD children, a survey was administered to 34 school psychologists and counsellors. It was found that the reported strategies and protocols were very close to the ones proposed by experts, which was an unexpected outcome of this study. Implications for school psychologists and counsellors are discussed.

AbstractBeyond the basic information provided in foundation texts and test manuals, there is a notable scarcity of professional literature addressing complex issues and dilemmas in assessment. At times, psychologists need to make decisions based on their professional experience or personal preferences, and it is possible that some of these decisions are made without adequate justification or reflection. Intern psychologists may be confused by the differing advice they are given by university staff, supervisors and experienced practitioners. Our aim in this project was to identify specific issues in psychoeducational assessment that need clarity, guidance and reflection, not only during postgraduate training, but also across the professional lifespan. Focus groups with educational and developmental psychology interns revealed confusion about aspects of test administration and interpretation, as well as a number of challenging professional issues. The findings have implications for trainers and supervisors, as well as for experienced practitioners.

AbstractBeyond the basic information provided in foundation texts and test manuals, there is a notable scarcity of professional literature addressing complex issues and dilemmas in assessment. At times, psychologists need to make decisions based on their professional experience or personal preferences, and it is possible that some of these decisions are made without adequate justification or reflection. Intern psychologists may be confused by the differing advice they are given by university staff, supervisors and experienced practitioners. Our aim in this project was to identify specific issues in psychoeducational assessment that need clarity, guidance and reflection, not only during postgraduate training, but also across the professional lifespan. Focus groups with educational and developmental psychology interns revealed confusion about aspects of test administration and interpretation, as well as a number of challenging professional issues. The findings have implications for trainers and supervisors, as well as for experienced practitioners.

Peer bullying in schools is a significant public health problem that contributes to poor health and wellbeing outcomes for those who bully or are bullied. Meta-analyses of the efficacy of secondary school bullying prevention interventions have typically found no effects or an increase in student bullying. Consequently, few secondary school studies have examined the “real-world” effectiveness of these interventions. This age-cohort study design evaluated the effectiveness of the Friendly Schools (FS) secondary school intervention, previously found to be efficacious. FS was implemented in schools under real-world conditions by an education publisher. Student survey data were collected in 12 schools. The primary outcomes were bullying victimisation and perpetration. Results showed a significant decrease in reported bullying perpetration in subsequent cohorts of both grade 8 and 9 students, and a significant reduction in bullying victimisation and cybervictimisation for grade 8 students, when the FS student curriculum was taught compared to the usual curriculum. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the effectiveness of secondary school bullying prevention interventions and real-world implementation supports for schools.

In this session we will discuss three successful programs featuring  innovative education for geriatric psychiatry  residents  including  Geriatric Addiction Guidelines, Geriatric Addiction needs assessment for ECHO rounds and curriculum development  and evaluation for  geriatric psychiatry  residents. These the ability increase participants capacity to support Older Adults with Substance Use disorders.

Although physical activity (PA) is associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases, fewer than half of American adults meet the recommendations for daily PA, in part, due to large amounts of sedentary time in the workplace.Purpose: To determine the efficacy of an incentivized workplace PA intervention.Design: Retrospective cohort design.Setting: Large southeastern university.Participants: Of the 16 588 eligible employees working ≥8 h/wk, 6246 (37.6%) participated and 2206 (13.3%) were included in data analysis.Intervention: Six-week PA intervention with tiered incentives (value: $10.50-$29.00).Measures: Steps/day measured via consumer-grade PA monitors for 1-week pre-, 6-weeks during, and 1-week postintervention.Analysis: Participants were grouped by preintervention PA into 4 groups: <6000 (I); 6000 to 7999 (II); 8000 to 9999 (III); and ≥10 000 (IV) steps/d (n= 481, 540, 485, and 700, respectively) in accordance with the tiered incentive schedule. Statistical comparisons were made by repeated-measures analysis of variance.Results: During the intervention, participants achieving ≥10 000 steps/d increased by 60%. Groups I, II, and III significantly increased steps/day during the intervention (46%, 24%, and 11%, respectively), which was partially maintained in groups I and II 1-week postintervention. Group IV did not increase steps/day during the intervention and significantly decreased steps/day 1-week postintervention. The estimated cost per participant of this intervention increased with from group I ($55.41) to IV ($71.90).Conclusion: An incentivized, workplace PA intervention preferentially increases PA and is most cost-effective among university employees with low initial PA who may benefit substantially from increased levels of PA.

In this qualitative study, we explored the perspectives of 10 adolescents with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their experiences of bullying. Through individual semistructured interviews, they were asked to describe their understandings and experiences of bullying. Details of their experiences are described as well as the perceived impact on the students and their schooling. Data analysis revealed a number of common experiences including high rates of traditional bullying and more specifically verbal bullying, with fewer incidents of cyberbullying reported. In support of literature in the area, the results of the study indicate that bullying can be a significant inhibitor, which may prevent students with ASD from taking full advantage of their schooling. Listening to and reflecting on the voices and personal stories of adolescent students with ASD is critically important for developing more supportive approaches to their education and needs. The reports of bullying by students on the autism spectrum emphasises the need for more effective interventions and management strategies to be implemented in a whole-school approach as well as targeted strategies to prevent bullying experiences for this particular population of students.

All forms of bullying, physical, verbal, social, and cyber, are prevalent among youth worldwide. An especially vulnerable population for involvement in bullying is students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although there are some studies that have investigated bullying in these students, many of these are beset by methodological issues. We surveyed 104 students with ASD on their bullying experiences in all 4 forms of bullying and examined their roles as victim, perpetrator, and bully-victim, comparing them with a group of typically developing students matched for age and gender. It was found that students with ASD reported significantly more traditional victimisation (physical, verbal, and social) than their typically developing peers. Cyberbullying victimisation was similar for the 2 groups. There were no differences between the groups on traditional bullying perpetration; however, typically developing students reported more cyberbullying perpetration behaviours. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.

This study measured bullying roles across an academic year and examined how change in bullying experiences is associated with symptoms of depression, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation among adolescents in Vietnam. 1424 students in middle and high schools completed two self-administered questionnaires, six months apart in 2014–2015. Students who were victimised often and those who were classified as highly involved as both victims and bullies at one or both survey times showed significantly higher levels of depression, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation than other students. The mental health of adolescents who were involved in bullying as a victim or bully remained at low levels was generally similar to those not involved in any bullying. However, females who had stable but low level in victimisation or bully–victim status had worse mental health than males with stable-low-level exposure. This is the first longitudinal analysis of bullying among adolescents in Vietnam. Persistent and frequent bullying was strongly linked with poor mental health for males and females. A new observation is that Vietnamese girls appear to be more sensitive to low level but long-term bullying involvement than were boys.

Cyberbullying is a relatively new and serious form of bullying with negative social and emotional effects on both victims and perpetrators. Like traditional bullying, cyberbullying is a social phenomenon and often unfolds in the context of a large network of bystanders. This study examined gender and age of cyberbullying bystanders out of 2109 upper primary and secondary school students in Australia. The actions the bystanders took when a peer was cybervictimised were analysed. The results of the study suggested bystanders to cyberbullying were most likely not to do anything or help the person cyberbullied at the time. Girls were more prosocial in helping students who were cyberbullied than boys. In addition, those students who knew someone who was bullied in both ways were more likely to tell their parents and friends about it than those who knew someone who was cyberbullied only. Implications for prevention and intervention in cyberbullying are discussed.

Students with developmental disabilities have many challenges with learning and adaptive behaviour, as well as a higher prevalence rate of mental health problems. Although there is a substantial body of evidence for efficacious interventions for enhancing resilience and promoting mental health in typically developing children, very few programs have been modified for use with students with developmental disabilities. In this article we present two interventions (Aussie Optimism and the Resourceful Adolescent Program) that have been rigorously tested with typically developing students and subsequently adapted and evaluated for their effectiveness for students with developmental disabilities. The article highlights the critical importance of using interventions with a robust evidence base, and the important role for school psychologists and counsellors in program selection, implementation, and evaluation.

A high level of parental involvement is widely considered to be essential for optimal child and adolescent development and wellbeing, including academic success. However, recent consideration has been given to the idea that extremely high levels of parental involvement (often called ‘overparenting’ or ‘helicopter parenting’) might not be beneficial. This study used a newly created overparenting measure, the Locke Parenting Scale (LPS), to investigate the association of overparenting and children's homework. Eight hundred and sixty-six parents completed online questionnaires about their parenting beliefs and intentions, and their attitudes associated with their child's homework. Parents with higher LPS scores tended to take more personal responsibility for the completion of their child's homework than did other parents, and ascribed greater responsibility for homework completion to their child's teacher. However, increased perceived responsibility by parents and teachers was not accompanied by a commensurate reduction in what they perceived was the child's responsibility. Future research should examine whether extreme parental attitudes and reported behaviours translate to validated changes in actual homework support.

The current study explored the reasons that primary school teachers reported were tipping points for them in deciding whether or not and when to refer a child to the school student support team for excessive anxiety. Twenty teachers in two Queensland primary schools were interviewed. Content analysis of interview transcripts revealed six themes reflecting teachers’ perceived reasons for deciding to refer anxious children: (1) impact on learning; (2) atypical child behaviour; (3) repeated difficulties that do not improve over time; (4) poor response to strategies; (5) teachers’ need for support; and (6) information from parents/carers. Teachers considered different combinations of reasons and had many different tipping points for making a referral. Both teacher- and system-level influences impacted referral decisions. Implications and future research are discussed.

The current study explored the reasons that primary school teachers reported were tipping points for them in deciding whether or not and when to refer a child to the school student support team for excessive anxiety. Twenty teachers in two Queensland primary schools were interviewed. Content analysis of interview transcripts revealed six themes reflecting teachers’ perceived reasons for deciding to refer anxious children: (1) impact on learning; (2) atypical child behaviour; (3) repeated difficulties that do not improve over time; (4) poor response to strategies; (5) teachers’ need for support; and (6) information from parents/carers. Teachers considered different combinations of reasons and had many different tipping points for making a referral. Both teacher- and system-level influences impacted referral decisions. Implications and future research are discussed.

A high level of parental involvement is widely considered to be essential for optimal child and adolescent development and wellbeing, including academic success. However, recent consideration has been given to the idea that extremely high levels of parental involvement (often called ‘overparenting’ or ‘helicopter parenting’) might not be beneficial. This study used a newly created overparenting measure, the Locke Parenting Scale (LPS), to investigate the association of overparenting and children's homework. Eight hundred and sixty-six parents completed online questionnaires about their parenting beliefs and intentions, and their attitudes associated with their child's homework. Parents with higher LPS scores tended to take more personal responsibility for the completion of their child's homework than did other parents, and ascribed greater responsibility for homework completion to their child's teacher. However, increased perceived responsibility by parents and teachers was not accompanied by a commensurate reduction in what they perceived was the child's responsibility. Future research should examine whether extreme parental attitudes and reported behaviours translate to validated changes in actual homework support.

Social networking sites are changing the way in which young people develop and maintain friendships and relationships. This study investigated the relationship between level of Facebook addiction, Facebook behaviors, gender, and intimacy development in emerging adults. Participants were 273 university students aged 18 to 25. They completed an online questionnaire that measured their level of Facebook addiction, what they do on Facebook, and their ability to form intimate relationships. A gender difference was found with long distance, passive, active photo, and organizing behaviors relating to high levels of Facebook addiction in females, whereas gaming was related to high levels of Facebook addiction in males. Intimacy development was related to high Facebook use and long distance, active photo, and organizing behaviors, but not to the level of Facebook addiction. Implications regarding the identification of at-risk for addiction emerging adults are discussed.

This study examined the opinions of influential, authoritative employees from the education and legal systems, regarding their perceptions of the role of the law and cyberbullying in Australian schools. Participants were asked whether they thought a specific law for cyberbullying should be introduced, what particular behaviours, if any, should be criminalised and who should be involved. Participants were located across three Australian States. Thematic analysis was used to identify eight main themes within the data, namely (1) uses of the law in general, (2) introduction of a law for cyberbullying, (3) benefits and difficulties of criminalising cyberbullying for young people, (4) conditions for a cyberbullying law for young people, (5) who should be involved in a cyberbullying law, (6) legal sanctions thought to be appropriate, (7) educational and legal solutions and (8) educational interventions for student cyberbullying. Implications include increasing the awareness of how existing legislative responses can be used as deterrents, working towards more effective cooperation of education and legal systems.

The quality of the sibling relationship has an important role in the development of psychosocial skills throughout childhood. While the literature suggests that the significance of sibling relationships is heightened when one sibling has a disability, empirical findings about the quality of these relationships are few and inconsistent. The present study aimed to address this gap, by investigating mothers' perspectives about the impact of disability on the quality of the childhood sibling relationship. Forty-one mothers with a child with disability, and 48 with no children with disability completed an online questionnaire that assessed the amount of perceived warmth/closeness and conflict in their children's sibling relationship. It was found that while there were no differences in reported conflict between the two groups, mothers with a child with disability reported significantly lower warmth/closeness in their children's sibling relationship than mothers without a child with disability. Demographic variables such as number of children, gender grouping, target gender, target age and age order did not moderate this result. Mothers overall reported significantly more warmth/closeness for younger rather than older children, and more conflict when the sibling was younger than the target child as opposed to older than them. Clinical implications for intervention are discussed.

The quality of the sibling relationship has an important role in the development of psychosocial skills throughout childhood. While the literature suggests that the significance of sibling relationships is heightened when one sibling has a disability, empirical findings about the quality of these relationships are few and inconsistent. The present study aimed to address this gap, by investigating mothers' perspectives about the impact of disability on the quality of the childhood sibling relationship. Forty-one mothers with a child with disability, and 48 with no children with disability completed an online questionnaire that assessed the amount of perceived warmth/closeness and conflict in their children's sibling relationship. It was found that while there were no differences in reported conflict between the two groups, mothers with a child with disability reported significantly lower warmth/closeness in their children's sibling relationship than mothers without a child with disability. Demographic variables such as number of children, gender grouping, target gender, target age and age order did not moderate this result. Mothers overall reported significantly more warmth/closeness for younger rather than older children, and more conflict when the sibling was younger than the target child as opposed to older than them. Clinical implications for intervention are discussed.

School guidance counsellors worldwide seek ways of providing appropriate professional assistance to all students. While young people integrate online technology into their daily lives and go online for information and to communicate with each other, school counsellors in Australia are not offering online support to students. This cross-sectional study reported on the reluctance of school counsellors to offer online counselling and the reasons for this. A survey was developed focusing on the intention to offer online counselling based on indicative factors favouring the use of this initiative. 210 school guidance counsellors completed the survey online, which showed that there is conditional support for the introduction of online counselling into the school setting. Counsellors indicated that they would use online counselling if students accepted its use in the school setting though they question how genuine students would be in its use. Most respondents reported a lack of confidence in understanding the ethical and legal implications of online counselling. However, the majority of participants were prepared to undertake further professional development in this mode of counselling. Additionally, they sought confirmation of the effectiveness of counselling students online before committing themselves to it. The implications for school guidance practice are discussed.