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Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis and estimate the economic costs attributable to child and adolescent bullying victimization in Australia. Method: The costs of bullying victimization were measured from a societal perspective that accounted for costs associated with health care, education resources, and productivity losses. A prevalence-based approach was used to estimate the annual costs for Australians who experienced bullying victimization in childhood and adolescence. This study updated a previous systematic review summarizing the association between bullying victimization and health and nonhealth outcomes. Costs were estimated by calculating population attributable fractions to determine the effects of bullying victimization on increased risk of adverse health outcomes, such as anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, intentional self-harm, and tobacco use. A top-down approach to cost estimation was taken for all outcomes of interest except for costs incurred by educational institutions and productivity losses of victims’ caregivers, for which a bottom-up cost estimation was applied. Results: Annual costs in Australian dollars (AUD) in 2016 on health and nonhealth outcomes attributable to child and adolescent bullying victimization were estimated at AUD $763 million: AUD $750 million for health system costs with AUD $147 million for anxiety disorders, AUD $322 million for depressive disorders, AUD $57 million for intentional self-harm, and AUD $224 million for tobacco use; AUD $7.5 million for productivity losses of victims’ caregivers; and AUD $6 million for educational services. Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest a substantial annual cost to Australian society as a result of bullying victimization with more than 8% of annual mental health expenditure in Australia estimated to be attributable to bullying victimization.

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Crim & Crim Justice, Arts, Education and Law, Extant research on police use of force has established that force is not distributed evenly across communities. However, this body of research is limited compared to the attention afforded to the influence of individual and situational factors on police use of force. Further, findings on the influence of community characteristics have been inconsistent and the overwhelming majority of this research has been generated out of policing jurisdictions in the United States (U.S.), so the transferability of these findings to other jurisdictions, such as Australia, is unclear. There is also a dearth of rigorous translational research that can inform police agency responses that might reduce police use of force across communities. While community-oriented policing (COP) has been associated with reduced police use of force (theoretically and, recently, at the policy level), to date there is no empirical evidence to support the association. This thesis aims to address these critical evidence gaps: to explain variations in police use of force across communities by examining the influence of community characteristics and COP on police use of force in Australia. The thesis comprises four empirical studies to address the research aim. Study 1 aimed to determine the influence of community characteristics on the distribution of police use of force across communities, examining the most commonly applied theories and community characteristics used to explain community-level distribution of police use of force from the extant literature – minority threat theory, ecological contamination theory, social disorganisation and socio-economic disadvantage. This study utilised data from police use of force reports from a three-and-a-half-year period (comprising 18,322 police use of force events) in combination with recorded crime data and census data. Findings from a negative binomial regression analysis indicated support for ecological contamination theory (violent crime rates), social disorg

Purpose: Student competency in science learning relies on students being able to interpret and use multimodal representations to communicate understandings. Moreover, collaborative learning, in which students may share physiological arousal, can positively affect group performance. This paper aims to observe changes in student attitudes and beliefs, physiology (electrodermal activity; EDA) and content knowledge before and after a multimodal, cooperative inquiry, science teaching intervention to determine associations with productive science learning and increased science knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 214 students with a mean age of 11 years 6 months from seven primary schools participated in a multimodal, cooperative inquiry, science teaching intervention for eight weeks during a science curriculum unit. Students completed a series of questionnaires pertaining to attitudes and beliefs about science learning and science knowledge before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the teaching intervention. Empatica E3 wristbands were worn by students during 1 to 3 of their regularly scheduled class sessions both before and after the intervention. Findings: Increases in EDA, science knowledge, self-efficacy and a growth mindset, and decreases in self-esteem, confidence, motivation and use of cognitive strategies, were recorded post-intervention for the cohort. EDA was positively correlated with science knowledge, but negatively correlated with self-efficacy, motivation and use of cognitive strategies. Cluster analysis suggested three main clusters of students with differing physiological and psychological profiles. Practical implications: First, teachers need to be aware of the importance of helping students to consolidate their current learning strategies as they transition to new learning approaches to counter decreased confidence. Second, teachers need to know that an effective teaching multimodal science intervention can not only be associated with increases

Extant research on police use of force has established that force is not distributed evenly across communities. However, this body of research is limited compared to the attention afforded to the influence of individual and situational factors on police use of force. Further, findings on the influence of community characteristics have been inconsistent and the overwhelming majority of this research has been generated out of policing jurisdictions in the United States (U.S.), so the transferability of these findings to other jurisdictions, such as Australia, is unclear. There is also a dearth of rigorous translational research that can inform police agency responses that might reduce police use of force across communities. While community-oriented policing (COP) has been associated with reduced police use of force (theoretically and, recently, at the policy level), to date there is no empirical evidence to support the association. This thesis aims to address these critical evidence gaps: to explain variations in police use of force across communities by examining the influence of community characteristics and COP on police use of force in Australia. The thesis comprises four empirical studies to address the research aim. Study 1 aimed to determine the influence of community characteristics on the distribution of police use of force across communities, examining the most commonly applied theories and community characteristics used to explain community-level distribution of police use of force from the extant literature – minority threat theory, ecological contamination theory, social disorganisation and socio-economic disadvantage. This study utilised data from police use of force reports from a three-and-a-half-year period (comprising 18,322 police use of force events) in combination with recorded crime data and census data. Findings from a negative binomial regression analysis indicated support for ecological contamination theory (violent crime rates), social disorg, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Crim & Crim Justice, Arts, Education and Law, Full Text

A cost of illness (COI) study was undertaken to estimate the magnitude and range of lifetime effects associated with child maltreatment in Australia, using an incidence-based approach. Costs were primarily estimated through calculation of population attributable fractions (PAFs) to determine the marginal effects of child maltreatment on a range of outcomes. PAFs were then applied to estimates of expenditure, inflated to 2014–15 Australian dollars, projected over the life course, according to a baseline age of incident cases for child maltreatment in 2012–13, and discounted at 7% per annum. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using a best and lower bound estimate of incidence of child abuse. The best estimate of the total estimated lifetime financial costs for incident cases of child maltreatment in 2012–13 was $9.3 billion (a cost per child maltreated of $176,437), with a lower bound of $5.8 billion. The best estimate of lifetime costs associated with reduced quality of life and premature mortality (non-financial costs) for all incident cases of child maltreatment in 2012–13 was $17.4 billion, or $328,757 per child maltreated. The considerable lifetime costs associated with child maltreatment warrants an expansion of existing investment in primary and secondary prevention and targeted support services for children and families at risk.

Child maltreatment is a complex phenomenon, with four main types (childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) highly interrelated. All types of maltreatment have been linked to adverse health consequences and exposure to multiple forms of maltreatment increases risk. In Australia to date, only burden attributable to childhood sexual abuse has been estimated. This study synthesized the national evidence and quantified the burden attributable to the four main types of child maltreatment. Meta-analyses, based on quality-effects models, generated pooled prevalence estimates for each maltreatment type. Exposure to child maltreatment was examined as a risk factor for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and intentional self-harm using counterfactual estimation and comparative risk assessment methods. Adjustments were made for co-occurrence of multiple forms of child maltreatment. Overall, an estimated 23.5% of self-harm, 20.9% of anxiety disorders and 15.7% of depressive disorders burden in males; and 33.0% of self-harm, 30.6% of anxiety disorders and 22.8% of depressive disorders burden in females was attributable to child maltreatment. Child maltreatment was estimated to cause 1.4% (95% uncertainty interval 0.4–2.3%) of all disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in males, and 2.4% (0.7–4.1%) of all DALYs in females in Australia in 2010. Child maltreatment contributes to a substantial proportion of burden from depressive and anxiety disorders and intentional self-harm in Australia. This study demonstrates the importance of including all forms of child maltreatment as risk factors in future burden of disease studies.