The importance of social connection for cybervictims : how connectedness and technology could promote mental health and wellbeing in young people

A substantial amount of research has documented the negative impact technology has on young people's lives: particularly cyberbullying and the negative mental health outcomes associated with it. Research examining how technology could promote mental health and wellbeing in young people however, needs further investigation. This paper reports on a mixed methods study, which involved quantitative online surveys (N=229), and face to face interviews (N=30), across eight South Australian high schools. This paper will only address the quantitative results. The study involved young people aged 12 to 17 years. This paper discusses the importance of social connectedness and the use of technology to promote social connectedness among young people. A key finding was that young people who were more socially connected, were more likely to cope actively in response to frequent cyber victimisation. They were more likely to seek help and have positive mental health as a consequence. Findings from this study could aid policy development, social media campaigns, and the education of health professionals, teachers, and parents about the benefits of technology and the importance of staying connected.peer-reviewe

Help-seeking online by young people : does the influence of others matter?

Help-seeking is an adaptive process whereby a person seeks external support for a problem. Help-seeking early in response to mental health concerns is thus important in preventing mental illness in later life. Recent developments in service provision such as online help services, have been identified as promoting help-seeking behaviours, but there are many barriers that work against a young person seeking effective help early on, including personal characteristics such as attitudes toward help sources. Further, the influence of others on a young person’s help-seeking behaviours is beginning to emerge in the youth help-seeking literature, and may be an important facilitator of help-seeking behaviours. The present mixed- method study explored young people’s attitudes toward help sources, and how receptive young people are to the influence of others on their help-seeking intentions. Critically, the study aims to determine whether these variables have varying effects on different types of help sources (formal, informal and online). It was found that the influence of others and attitudes toward help sources had little bearing on online help-seeking intentions, in contrast to help-seeking intentions from traditional modes of help-seeking. Recommendations are made as to how young people can be better informed about the benefits of online help-seeking, with the hopes of highlighting the potentially untapped resource of other people’s influence on a young person’s decision to seek help online.peer-reviewe

Implementing a new initiative in mental health in Australian primary schools

Published version of the paper reproduced here with permission from the publisher.Student wellbeing is of central concern for parents/caregivers and teachers and for state and national governments. In Australia in recent times several major initiatives have been undertaken to address the area of student mental health, including the KidsMatter Initiative. Across 2007-8 a trial of KidsMatter was carried out in 101 schools across Australia. Part of the roll-out of KidsMatter was a detailed evaluation of its implementation. Thus, in this paper we report on findings associated with the implementation of the KidsMatter Initiative. Underpinned by a framework of quality, fidelity and dosage (Domitrovich, 2008) we used Latent Class Analysis to create an Implementation Index, which was used to classify KidsMatter schools into high implementation and low implementation categories. Profiles of the high and low categories provide insights to the characteristics of successful and less successful implementation. This analysis shows the influence of factors associated with both the KidsMatter initiative and the environments in the sites where KidsMatter was implemented

KidsMatter Primary Evaluation Final Report

KidsMatter is an approach to the promotion of good mental health, the prevention of mental illness, and early intervention where problems arise. It requires a whole-of-school approach and has four key components – a positive school community; social and emotional learning for students; parenting support and education and early intervention for students with mental health difficulties. Based on approaches already tested by the World Health Organization and the American Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, it has been adapted to suit Australian conditions.KidsMatter Primary and KidsMatter Early Childhood are being conducted in collaboration between beyondblue: the national depression initiative, which is contributing funding of $3.5 million, the Australian Psychological Society, Principals Australia and Early Childhood Australia

A special gift we bestow on you for being representative of us: Considering leader

Two experiments tested hypotheses, derived from social identity and self-categorization theories, regarding the attribution of charisma to leaders. In Experiment I (N = 203), in-group prototypical leaders were attributed greater levels of charisma and were perceived to be more persuasive than in-group non-prototypical leaders. In Experiment 2 (N = 220), leaders described with in-group stereotypical characteristics were attributed relatively high levels of charisma regardless of their group-oriented versus exchange rhetoric. Leaders described with out-group stereotypical characteristics, however, had to employ group-oriented rhetoric to be attributed relatively high levels of charisma. We conclude that leadership emerges from being representative of 'us'; charisma may, indeed, be a special gift, but it is one bestowed on group members by group members for being representative of, rather than distinct from, the group itself. © 2006 The British Psychological Society

Cyberbullying in Australia

While bullying at school has long been recognised as existing in Australian literature the empirical study of the phenomenon really did not begin until 1989-90. In 1994 an Australian Commonwealth Senate inquiry into school violence resulted in the publication of an influential report ‘Sticks and Stones: A report on violence in Schools’. This inquiry heralded a nationwide movement to address the issue of school violence,particularly bullying. While the report generally concluded that school violence was not an issue in Australian schools, bullying was. The inquiry raised significant questions regarding the frequency of violence in Australian culture, the impact of violence on the community, and identified the need for intervention programs to reduce violence, particularly that associated with bullying. Overall, in 2003 between one in five and one in seven students reported being bullied face-to-face once a week or more. In Australia victimization is more frequently reported by younger students and girls generally report less victimization than boys. In secondary school the amount of bullying was highest in Years 8 and 9 (Slee,2003

School policy responses to cyberbullying: An Australian legal perspective

The use of electronic means of contact to support repeated aggressive behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others – or ‘cyberbullying’ as it is now known – is increasingly becoming a problem for modern students, teachers, parents and schools. Increasingly victims of face to face bullying are looking to the law as a means of recourse, not only against bullies but also school authorities who have the legal responsibility to provide a safe environment for learning. It is likely that victims of cyberbullying will be inclined to do the same. This article examines a survey of the anti-bullying policies of a small sample of Australian schools to gauge their readiness to respond to the challenge of cyberbullying, particularly in the context of the potential liability they may face. It then uses that examination as a basis for identifying implications for the future design of school anti-bullying policies

Cyberbullying: Legal implications for schools

Most educators are now aware that cyberbullying is bullying through the use of technology. This new form of bullying makes use of the diverse range of technology now available including email, texting, chat rooms, mobile phones, mobile phone cameras, i-pods and websites. Cyberbullying shares many of the same attributes as face-to-face bullying such as a power imbalance which causes a sense of helplessness on the part of the victim, repetition and the intent to hurt

School-based strategies to address cyber bullying

Bullying and victimisation among school age children is recognised as a major public health problem. The Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study (ACBPS) reports that just over one quarter (27%) of school students aged 8 to 14 years were bullied and 9% bullied others on a frequent basis (every few weeks or more often) (Cross et al., 2009). Bullying is associated with a host of detrimental effects, including loneliness (Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, & Ruan, 2001), low self‐esteem (Jankauskiene, Kardelis, Sukys, & Kardeliene, 2008; Salmivalli, Kaukiainen, Kaistaniemi, & Lagerspetz, 1999), anxiety, depression (Kaltiala‐Heino, Rimpela, Rantanen, & Rimpela, 2000), suicide ideation (Kaltiala‐Heino, Rimpela, Marttunen, Rimpela, & Rantanen, 1999), impaired academic achievement (Nansel et al., 2001), and poorer physical health (Wolke, Woods, Bloomfield, & Karstadt, 2001)