Support for the efficacy of cognitive—behavioural therapy (CBT) for anxious youth has accumulated. Significant treatment effects are observed and maintained over the long term for the majority of children receiving individual, family or group-based treatments. Nevertheless, all children do not improve. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that a significant percentage of children continue to experience anxiety following treatment and will seek additional treatment for their anxiety. This article will review the substantial evidence for CBT, the current information available on predictors of outcome and mechanisms of change. The article will also discuss the need for adequately powered randomised clinical trials that continue to refine and evaluate treatments for anxious children in an effort to improve outcomes for those children whose needs are not being met by our current treatments.

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of the four telephone contact sessions that are prescribed as an integral component of the Group Triple P parenting program, and to compare the efficacy of Group Triple P to a waitlist control group. Parents of children aged 2 to 8 years were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: the usual Group Triple P program, consisting of four group sessions and four telephone calls (n = 16); a modified Group Triple P condition, consisting of just the four group sessions (n = 17); or a waitlist control condition (n = 16). Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted using the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and the Parenting Scale (PS). Statistically and clinically significant main effects were found for attending either the full Triple P or the modified Triple P program on both the DASS and the ECBI, but not on the participant's perception of their parenting style (PS). We conclude that (a) the four telephone sessions are not an essential component for the initial effectiveness of the Group Triple P program (though further research needs to explore whether they impact on maintenance of gains), and (b) that Group Triple P is effective in bringing about change, as measured using these self-report instruments.

This study examined whether nonclinical obsessions and nonclinical compulsions relate differently to cognitive and mood factors such as responsibility, perfectionism, trait anxiety and depressed mood. Two hundred and three nonclinical undergraduate psychology students (70.4% females, 29.6% males, mean age = 18.7, SD = 1.1) completed questionnaires. After controlling for the relationship between obsessions and compulsions, obsessions were found to relate significantly more strongly to depressed mood, trait anxiety, socially prescribed perfectionism and responsibility than compulsions. Conversely, compulsions were found to relate more strongly to self-oriented perfectionism than obsessions. These results were interpreted as providing support for the notion that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is maintained by a conflicted mental representation of the self and the world. Obsessions were interpreted as reflecting an overdeveloped vigilance for threat, responsibility and need for social approval. Compulsions were interpreted as emanating from the belief that the self is self-sufficient and resourceful, and that the world is ordered and systematic. Implications for the treatment of OCD were discussed.

In Australia, acculturating adolescents from a non-English speaking background (NESB) face two important challenges: developing a cultural identity and establishing a set of cultural values. These challenges are achieved by balancing a native and Australian orientation. It was expected that NESB adolescents who did not achieve these tasks would experience poor mental health. This study focused on adolescents because a significant relationship between cultural identity, cultural values and mental health in this group will highlight a need for sensitivity to such cultural and developmental issues. Two hundred and sixty-three NESB adolescents completed questionnaires that assessed cultural identity (Australian and native), cultural values (individualism and collectivism), state mental health (depression, anxiety and stress) and trait mental health (positive affectivity [PA] and negative affectivity [NA]). Results indicated that high Australian pride and high native pride are associated with lower depression, anxiety, stress and NA, and higher PA. Results also indicated that adolescents high on individualism and collectivism reported lower depression and stress, and higher PA. Furthermore, adolescents with a separated cultural identity (high native pride and low Australian pride) reported the highest levels of depression, but adolescents with separated cultural values (high collectivism and low individualism) reported the lowest levels of depression and anxiety. We concluded that cultural identity and cultural values are differentially related to mental health, and such relationships, albeit moderate, emerge during adolescence.

The theory of evolution has transformed biology from a largely descriptive science to a causal one. However, few psychologists have a thorough understanding of evolution. As a result, psychologists tend not to consider evolutionary explanations for the phenomena they investigate, or they present flawed evolutionary arguments that violate fundamental principles of evolutionary theory. The primary objective of this article is to outline the basic principles of evolution as they relate to the study of behaviour in general. The article then goes on to demonstrate the application of evolutionary theory to the study of human behaviour in particular, and concludes with a discussion of problems that can occur when evolutionary theory is applied incorrectly.