In this issue, the focus of psychological issues in schools is the predominant feature. There are six articles covering various themes that are designed to enhance practice and research knowledge in educational and developmental psychology. The journal is attempting to regularly increase the number of articles per issue from five to at least six, and this is the second issue in a row where this has been achieved. There has been an increase in submissions to the journal, but the quality of the articles that are accepted for publication still remains very high.

When I think of educational and developmental psychology, two words come to mind — learning, and transitions. Learning is of course the priority in formalised education, but also through our experiences across the lifespan. And as we grow and develop, transitions and change are inevitable. This edition of The Educational and Developmental Psychologist heralds another transition with a changing of the guard and an opportunity for personal reflection on learning and transitions as the incoming editor of the journal.

Aims: To determine whether distinct trends can exist in children's diurnal cortisol slopes as they transition to school, and the extent to which these trends relate to preschool attendance and/or exerted effortful control. Method: A secondary analysis of the anonymised data gathered for the UK Transition to School Study was carried out. 105 children were studied over a 12-month period during transition to school at mean age 55 months. Children's diurnal cortisol slopes were measured as the difference between average salivary cortisol concentrations (SCC) sampled at waking and early evening over two days at each of three measurement time points: 4 months before, 2 weeks after, and 6 months after school entry. Children's effortful control was measured at 2 weeks after school entry using the parent-administered Child Behavior Questionnaire. Parental questionnaires recorded the duration children spent in preschool (months; days per week; hours per week), and four background characteristics: child gender, parental cohabitation, responding parent's age, and responding parent's level of education. Findings: Latent class growth analysis suggested two distinct trends in diurnal cortisol slopes during children's transition to school: 39% of children demonstrated flatter diurnal cortisol slopes. These children were likely to have spent fewer hours per week in preschool, and were likely to exert less effortful control 2 weeks after transitioning to school. These associations underscore the importance of continuity in children's daily routines as they transition to school. Implications are discussed concerning school readiness and the effectiveness of early interventions.

This study examined the association and directionality of effect between mental wellbeing and depressive symptoms in Australian adolescents. Data were collected on two occasions 21 months apart. At Time 1, 1,762 10- to 14-year-old adolescents from a range of socio-economic status areas participated. At Time 2 (T2), 1,575 participated again. On both occasions, the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) and the Children's Depression Inventory 2 (CDI 2) were administered via online survey. Cross-lagged, longitudinal path analyses demonstrated a negative association between earlier symptoms of depression and later positive mental wellbeing, and that the reverse was also true, though weaker. The model accounted for 20% of the variance in males’ T2 CDI 2 depressive symptom scores (26% for females) and 21% of the variance in males’ T2 SWEMWBS mental wellbeing scores (23% for females). Depressive symptomatology and mental wellbeing were highly correlated, but symptoms of depression were more strongly associated with later mental wellbeing than vice versa. This has implications for educational psychologists, teachers, health professionals, and policy makers seeking to reduce depressive symptoms or promote mental wellbeing. Focusing solely on the promotion of mental wellbeing, without intervening to reduce symptoms of depression, may limit the potential outcomes that might be achieved.

Interpersonal relationships are the recent focus of research identifying protective factors in adolescent psychological health. Using an attachment theory perspective, this study examines the relationship of normative attachment strength and individual differences in attachment expectancies on self-reports of depression and stress in 511 Australian high school students. Attachment reorganisation was demonstrated, but only father attachment uniquely predicted self-reported stress. Age moderated the relationships between peers and depression and stress among romantically involved adolescents. Individual differences in attachment styles, particularly anxious attachment, were most predictive of adolescent psychological health. These findings highlight the complexity of adolescent attachment relationships and suggest that interventions target both normative and individual factors in adolescent development to enhance adolescent psychological health.

The role of affective and cognitive factors in learning have long been recognised as imperative determinants of the learning process. Maladaptive styles with which we perceive and explain accomplishments and failures in achievement outcomes have an important motivational impact upon approach and avoidance behaviours towards academic tasks. Interventions to change these maladaptive styles are well established, although they stand to gain via addition of cognitive behavioural therapy components. A pilot study attribution retraining intervention was implemented with eight secondary school students, and their results on academic performance, self-concept, and attributional styles were compared to a control group. With significant gains in some specific academic domains, the attributional retraining program is being substantiated for effective use within secondary schools. Implications suggest that this could be an effective tool to retrain students’ attributions, with some gains, as the reattribution technique is revisited and reinvigorated.

School vision and mission statements are an explicit indication of a school's priorities. Research has found academic motivation, mental health promotion, and school belonging to be the most frequently cited themes in these statements. The present study sought to examine whether these themes relate to student academic achievement, as indicated by National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) scores. A stratified sample of 287 secondary schools in Victoria, Australia was analysed using two language analytic approaches: qualitative emergent coding and supervised lexical analysis. The highest academic scores occurred when mental health promotion was included, though results depended to some extent on the analytic approach and the level of aggregation. Results do suggest that explicitly prioritising both academic performance and mental health is beneficial. Further, the study provides an approach for using language analysis to investigate multilevel constructs in schools.

The present study explored the component structure of coping in preschoolers as measured by the Children's Coping Scale — Revised (CCS-R) through principal component analysis (PCA). The study also examined the relationship between different coping patterns and mental health (as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ) in preschoolers. One hundred and thirty-two parents of preschoolers enrolled at a university-affiliated Early Learning Centre in Melbourne, Australia completed the CCS-R and the SDQ as part of a larger project. The PCAs found that a three-component structure of coping in preschoolers best fit the data for all general and situation-specific forms of the CCS-R. The majority of the forms, for both mothers and fathers, resulted in the components of: (1) Positive Coping, (2) Negative Coping — Emotional Inhibition, and (3) Negative Coping — Emotional Expression. The Situation Specific Coping forms resulted in the most reliable components, and the items that loaded on each component were the most consistent with previous research, underscoring a need to focus on situation-specific, as opposed to general, coping in preschoolers. Results for the relationship between the CCS-R and the SDQ found associations between positive coping and positive mental health, and negative coping was associated with some aspects of poor mental health. The patterns of associations provide evidence of construct validity for the component structure of the CCS-R and also highlight opportunities for intervention for this age group. Understanding the processes involved in managing and adapting to stress provides the opportunity to develop prevention and intervention approaches targeted at healthy adaption. Coping in preschoolers, and the degree to which preschoolers’ coping is associated with mental health, is largely under-studied in comparison to other life stages. The present study contributes to this small body of research in an effort to help inform teaching and therapeutic approaches for preschoolers.

This research explored how psychologists working in the Victorian secondary state school system construct meaning around ethical practice. The specific aims of the research were to examine psychologists understanding of ethics in practice within schools and to explore challenges they faced regarding professional ethics when working in the education system. A qualitative design was adopted to explore the topic. Five psychologists working in the Victorian state education system were interviewed, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Two themes presented from the transcripts: legalities and ethics and varied peer support. The psychologists reported having to confront often and repeated ethical challenges, but despite this, positioned themselves as ethical practitioners. Ethical practice was portrayed as a complex construct that is always socially and politically embedded. Subsequently, discussion on the topic should extend beyond the sole practitioner. The research provides future direction for policy development and workplace procedures, including access to professional supervision.

Adolescence is a period of heightened risk-taking. Therefore it is important to investigate positive settings that can facilitate healthy adolescent development and reduce risk-taking behaviour. This study investigated the relations between non-sporting extracurricular activity participation intensity and risky behaviour. Adolescents’ coping efficacy was tested as a moderator between extracurricular activity participation and risk-taking among adolescents at different levels of contextual risk. Adolescents (N = 1,599) across Western Australia were surveyed. Results for moderately at-risk youth indicated a significant interaction, such that greater activity intensity was associated with less risk-taking for adolescents with higher coping efficacy. However, higher intensity activity participation predicted more risk-taking for adolescents with low coping efficacy.

Since its inception, relational aggression has been conceptualised as a set of destructive attempts by young girls to get their own way, and these aggressive acts have been demonised in public and media debate. This article challenges the prevailing developmental psychopathologisation literature to centre the focus on functionality, positioning relational aggression as a set of behaviours that are used as specific communication strategies. A ‘Girls’ Relational Aggression Communication Model’ is provided as a new conceptual framework that integrates positioning subtypes from the literature: ‘popular’, ‘regular’, and ‘tough’ girls. This reconceptualised communication model is a contribution to the field as it enhances understanding of the nuances in girls’ relationships. In particular, it reframes the positioning of ‘tough’ girls, who have been largely ignored in relational aggression research.