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Children with mental health disorders have lower physical activity levels compared to their peers; however, minimal research has been conducted to date to understand their unique experiences of physical activity. We sought to better understand these experiences, along with contributing factors, through interviews with children with mental health disorders and their parents/guardians.

Strong evidence supports our current understandings of student bullying behaviours and ways schools can prevent and respond effectively to bullying behaviour. In the late 1990’s, however, little was understood about the most effective ways to reduce bullying in Australian schools. In response to schools’ need for evidence-informed action, a pipeline of research called Friendly Schools was initiated in 1999 which for the past twenty years, has provided robust whole-school evidence-based knowledge and skills to support policy makers, school staff and other practitioners working in schools and families across Australia.

Cognitive and motor dysfunction are hallmark features of the psychosis continuum, and have been detected during late childhood and adolescence in youth who report psychotic experiences (PE). However, previous investigations have not explored infancy and early childhood development.

Wellbeing and mental health are fundamental rights of children and adolescents essential for sustainable development. Understanding the epidemiology of child and adolescent wellbeing is essential to informing population health approaches to improving wellbeing and preventing mental illness.

Increasing numbers of trans young people are seeking medical services worldwide, but there have been few qualitative investigations of the experiences of trans young people attempting to engage with these services to explore in-depth experiences of clinical interactions.

This chapter discusses the importance of investment in early life determinants of health to break the cycle of long-term disadvantage. This chapter addresses these issues while focussing on neurodevelopmental disorders and their related mental health concerns as the targets at the centre of a biopsychosocial transformation of the health system.

There is growing interest in how and why individuals adjust their goals in response to difficulties encountered during goal striving and the outcomes of such adjustments; however, research on these topics is fragmented across theoretical perspectives and life domains. 

Autistic children experience significantly higher rates of anxiety compared to nonautistic children. The precise relations between autism characteristics and anxiety symptoms remain unclear in this population. Previous work has explored associations at the domain level, which involve examining broad categories or clusters of symptoms, rather than the relationships between specific symptoms and/or individual characteristics. We addressed this gap by taking a network approach to understand the shared structure of autism characteristics and anxiety symptoms.

Effective social skills are essential for functional social support, help-seeking, and resource access. Digital social skills training plays a key role in empowering individuals to develop social competence, improve access to various support and resources, and enhance locus of control through dynamic media. 

Qualitative research on sensitive topics (e.g. abuse, mental health difficulties, discrimination) is needed to understand lived experiences of complex issues. However, this type of research raises concerns about potential adverse effects on participants, especially with younger participants and those from marginalized populations. In this study, we conducted a reflexive thematic analysis of 20 trans adolescents’ (14–18 years of age) experiences of participating in research about their stigma experiences.