A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Daniel Hermens, Jim Lagopoulos and Zack Shan, University of the Sunshine Coast Despite the best efforts of clinicians and researchers for decades, we still do not fully know why some people develop mental disorders and others do not. However, changes in the brain are very likely our best clues to future mental health outcomes. The [...]
Joanne Orlando, Western Sydney University This week, one Sydney high school made headlines for banning mobile phones during school hours. Phones can come to school but must stay in locked pouches allowing teachers to “focus on educating students”. This follows other recent phone bans at both public and private schools around Australia. In 2020, Victoria [...]
Mary Woessner and Aurélie Pankowiak, Victoria University Every week millions of Australian children play community sport. Participating in community sport can improve children’s mental, physical and social wellbeing, but only if the sport environment is physically and emotionally safe. Our new research shows community sport spaces aren’t safe for everyone. We found 82% of 886 [...]
Rachael Sharman, University of the Sunshine Coast As any parent will tell you, a common feature of the school holidays is an increase in squabbling kids. Whether in the back of the car, at the park or by the TV, you will hear the whingey sounds of “Muuuum, Ollie just called me a stupid head!”. [...]
Emily Smith-Greenaway, USC; Ashton Verdery, Penn State; Michelle Livings, USC, and Rachel Margolis, Western University The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea The death of a grandmother can have severe and lasting mental health consequences for both her adult children and grandchildren, according to our recently published study. [...]
Kate Highfield, Australian Catholic University It is school holidays in Australia and, in many parts of the country, it’s also raining and bitterly cold. This means many children are stuck indoors and many parents will be grappling with how much “screen time” their kids are having. As as early childhood researcher and parent to a [...]
Anabela Malpique, Edith Cowan University; Deborah Pino Pasternak, University of Canberra; Debora Valcan, Murdoch University, and Susan Ledger, University of Newcastle Learning how to be a confident and communicative writer is one of the most important skills students learn at school. But NAPLAN results show a significant decline in Australian students’ writing performance. Research for [...]
Brendan Hitchens, University of Melbourne For decades, many people have viewed academic success measured through grades, exam results, report cards, and tertiary admission rankings. Consequently, learning has been validated as the rote memorisation of bulk content. As the world becomes increasingly globalised and the future increasingly uncertain, the need for emotional intelligence (EQ) alongside global [...]
Sarah Hellewell, Curtin University Understanding the facial expressions of others is an important development stage. It helps us learn non-verbal communication and to recognise when someone is angry or scared and primes us to react to threats or show empathy for others’ feelings. A growing body of evidence suggests our neighbourhood environment shapes this response [...]
Melissa Kang, University of Sydney It’s a tale as old as time. Around half of adolescents going through puberty will get their period. In high-income countries, an adolescent’s first period (known as “menarche”) happens on average between ten and 14 years of age, with most occurring between 12 and 13 years. Why then does this [...]
