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Electronic cigarette use, especially among younger members of society, has grown to concerning levels in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Uptake in the general population, driven by technological and pharmacological innovations, and accelerated by aggressive tobacco/vaping industry marketing, has outpaced medical research. 

Peers play a crucial role in supporting wellbeing and psychosocial development for young people aged 12-25. However, a cancer experience often leads to challenges maintaining friendships. There have been no prior attempts to map or synthesise available research or resources on support specifically from friends for young people with cancer, limiting the capacity to draw conclusions or determine next steps for how to best support young people with cancer. This review aims to address this gap by mapping and synthesising the available literature and resources.

Globally, nearly 9 million people are living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Although the incidence of T1D is not affected by socioeconomic status, the development of complications and limited access to modern therapy is overrepresented in vulnerable populations. Diabetes technology, specifically continuous glucose monitoring and automated insulin delivery systems, are considered the gold standard for management of T1D, yet access to these technologies varies widely across countries and regions, and varies widely even within high-income countries.

Increasingly, preterm-born children are entering adulthood as survival at earlier gestational ages improves. However, there is little understanding of the lived experience in preterm-born adults.

A type 1 diabetes (T1D) transition clinic in Sydney, Australia, provides age specific care for young adults (aged 16-25 years) and for adults (aged 21 years and above), and has reported improved clinical outcomes post transition to adult care over a 21-year period. This study investigated the contribution of digital technology to long-term resilient capacity of the clinic.

Prescriptions and use of medications to treat mental health conditions in young autistic populations are inconsistent worldwide. This makes it hard to compare findings from international studies to the Australian autistic population, where there are limited relevant studies. Apart from risperidone, there are no other medications specified for direct use in autistic persons. This study aims to gain initial broad understanding of the use of medications, commonly prescribed for mental health conditions, specifically by autistics under the age of 21 years.

There is mounting concern over the potential harms associated with ultra-processed foods, including poor mental health and antisocial behavior. Cutting-edge research provides an enhanced understanding of biophysiological mechanisms, including microbiome pathways, and invites a historical reexamination of earlier work that investigated the relationship between nutrition and criminal behavior. Here, in this perspective article, we explore how this emergent research casts new light and greater significance on previous key observations.

Australia’s history of negative child protection outcomes for children in state care highlights the sustained, systemic nature of serious harm. Situated in emerging conversations on structural challenges and state violence for parents involved in child protection systems, we trace the resources and barriers to responsive and ‘just’ child protection practice, highlighting how institutions can serve to compound disadvantage and injustice. We argue that addressing challenges such as access to advocacy at the level of the individual is to miss the underlying politics of oppression that serves to keep families marginalised.

Unmet language and literacy needs are common among young people who are involved with youth justice systems. However, there is limited research regarding the functional text-level language skills of this population with regard to narrative macrostructure (story grammar) and microstructure (semantics and syntax) elements. In this study, we examined macrostructure and microstructure elements in the oral and written narrative texts of 24 adolescent students of a youth detention centre. The students, who were aged 14- to 17- years, were all speakers of Standard Australian English, and 11 (46%) students met criteria for language disorder (LD).

"Psychotic-Like Experiences" (PLEs) are common in the general population. While they are usually transient and resolve spontaneously, they can be distressing and signify increased risk for later psychosis or other psychopathology. It is important to investigate factors associated with PLEs which could be targeted to reduce their prevalence and impact. Males and females are known to experience PLEs differently, but any gender differences in the relationships between PLEs and other, potentially targetable, factors are currently unknown.