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It has been well established that children's development at school entry is associated with their later academic achievement, but less is known about whether there is also an association with other measures of school success, such as students' social and emotional wellbeing.
The Human Development and Community Wellbeing (HDCW) Team focuses on improving outcomes for children, family, and the community.
The prevalence of child and adolescent breakfast skipping is concerning, and limited existing evidence suggests an association between skipping breakfast and negative emotional wellbeing outcomes. However, positive emotional wellbeing outcomes have been neglected from research in this space.
This research explored adults' perceptions of how sexualized images typically found on social media might influence adolescent girls' mental health, what support girls might need should they experience mental health difficulties, and how such difficulties could be prevented or reduced.
Interest in how the school built environment impacts bullying behaviour has gained momentum in recent years. While numerous studies have identified locations within schools where bullying frequently occurs, few studies have investigated the potential conceptual pathways linking school locations to bullying behaviour.
Bullying in schools has been associated with poor academic and mental health outcomes in students. While students are often encouraged to report bullying incidents to school staff, some students avoid reporting incidents as they lack faith in staff members ability to intervene.
Mandates provide a relatively cost-effective strategy to increase vaccinate rates. Since 2014, five Australian states have implemented No Jab No Play (NJPlay) policies that require children to be fully immunised to attend early childhood education and childcare services. In Western Australia, where this study was conducted, NJNPlay legislation was enacted in 2019.
Bullying behaviour often increases in late childhood and peaks in early adolescence. While interventions to address bullying behaviour typically encourage students to report bullying incidents to school staff, students are often reluctant to report incidents for fear it will worsen their situation or because they lack confidence in a staff members’ ability to intervene effectively. This study explores school staff responses to student reports of bullying behaviour.
Recognition that schools should be responsive to children who are impacted by adversity and trauma is burgeoning internationally. However, consensus regarding the necessary components of a trauma-informed school is lacking. This research developed expert-informed and internationally relevant best-practice trauma-informed principles for schools.
Population-level, nationally representative data on the prevalence of minority stressors and traumatic events, mental ill-health effects, and the preventative utility of school climate, among gender and sexuality diverse young people in Australia, is significantly lacking.