Although technology provides numerous benefits to young people, it also has a ‘dark side’, as it can be used for harm, not only by some adults but also by the young people themselves. E-mail, texting, chat rooms, mobile phones, mobile phone cameras and web sites can and are being used by young people to bully peers. It is now a global problem with many incidents reported in the United States, Canada, Japan, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. This growing problem has as yet not received the attention it deserves and remains virtually absent from the research literature. This article explores definitional issues, the incidence and potential consequences of cyber bullying, as well as discussing possible prevention and intervention strategies.

This study aims to examine students' perception of the term used to label cyberbullying, the perception of different forms and behaviours (written, verbal, visual, exclusion and impersonation) and the perception of the criteria used for its definition (imbalance of power, intention, repetition, anonymity and publicity) in three different European countries: Italy, Spain and Germany. Seventy adolescents took part in nine focus groups, using the same interview guide across countries. Thematic analysis focused on three main themes related to: (1) the term used to label cyberbullying, (2) the different behaviours representing cyberbullying, (3) the three traditional criteria of intentionality, imbalance of power and repetition and the two new criteria of anonymity and publicity. Results showed that the best word to label cyberbullying is ‘cyber-mobbing’ (in Germany), ‘virtual’ or ‘cyber-bullying’ (in Italy), and ‘harassment’ or ‘harassment via Internet or mobile phone’ (in Spain). Impersonation cannot be considered wholly as cyberbullying behaviour. In order to define a cyberbullying act, adolescents need to know whether the action was done intentionally to harm the victim, the effect on the victim and the repetition of the action (this latter criterion evaluated simultaneously with the publicity). Information about the anonymity and publicity contributes to better understand the nature and the severity of the act, the potential effects on the victim and the intentionality.

This study examined definitions and concepts of cyberbullying. It identified words, terms and definitions used for negative acts on the internet and mobile phones across different age groups in the United Kingdom. Young people and adults' (N = 32; age = 8–54) constructs and perceptions of negative online behaviours were also reported. Focus groups and individual interviews were employed using qualitative triangulation: Thematic Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The study examined current definitions and concepts of cyberbullying and how these differ in its findings; and considered different ways to foster positive online behaviour for the context of practitioners. The concept of cyber-aggression is used to describe a wide range of behaviours other than cyberbullying. The findings indicate that there is a need to include a broader definition in line with the current trend of a range of behaviours that are common with internet and mobile phone usage.

Despite significant overlaps between victim status in traditional forms of bullying and cyberbullying, and qualitative results about self-reported reasons for cyberbullying, the role of revenge and retaliation as a motive to engage in acts of cyberbullying has not yet been examined systematically. As a first step, this study investigates whether and to what extent traditional victims, when they become cyberbullies, actually choose their former (traditional) perpetrators as targets of their own cyberbullying behavior. Furthermore, the impact of individual differences in relevant traits, such as vengefulness and justice sensitivity, on the choice of cybervictims is examined. Data from 473 students were collected via an online survey. Of these, 149 were identified as traditional victims/cyberbullies. Results show that traditionally bullied students indeed tend to choose their former perpetrators as cybervictims, and that individual differences play a role in the choice of their victims. Implications for further research, as well as for interventions and prevention programmes, are discussed.

Adaptability is proposed as individuals’ capacity to constructively regulate psycho-behavioral functions in response to new, changing, and/or uncertain circumstances, conditions and situations. The present investigation explored the internal and external validity of an hypothesised adaptability scale. The sample comprised 2,731 high school students. In terms of internal validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA) suggested a reliable higher order adaptability factor subsumed by a reliable first order cognitive-behavioural factor and a reliable first order affective factor. Multi-group CFA indicated invariance in factor structure as a function of gender, age, and language background. Further, age (younger adolescents), language background (non-English speaking), and parents’ education (higher levels) predicted higher order adaptability, while gender (males) predicted first order affective adaptability. In terms of external validity, consistent with hypotheses, higher and first order adaptability was differentially associated with cognate/aligned factors (personality, implicit theories of ability, buoyancy) and also with psycho-educational wellbeing ‘outcome’ factors (achievement, enjoyment of school, meaning and purpose, life satisfaction). Findings hold theoretical and empirical implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to better understand the constructive regulation of individuals confronted with situations involving novelty, change, and uncertainty.

Cyber bullying or bullying via information and communications technology tools such as the internet and mobile phones is a problem of growing concern with school-aged students. Cyber bullying actions may not take place on school premises, but detrimental effects are experienced by victims of cyber bullying in schools. Tools used by cyber bullies are presented and the impact on victims is discussed. Intervention strategies for school counsellors, guidance officers, and school personnel to adopt with students and parents are presented.

In a replication of a previous study of the incidence and contributing factors in anxiety, depression and stress in Victorian parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a sample of 107 Gold Coast parents completed a questionnaire that assessed their demographic backgrounds, anxiety and depression scores on standardised inventories, and also tapped several aspects of those factors that may have contributed to their wellbeing. Over 90% of parents reported that they were sometimes unable to deal effectively with their child's behaviour. Nearly half of the participants were severely anxious and nearly two thirds were clinically depressed. Factors that emerged as significant in differentiating between parents with high versus low levels of anxiety and depression included access to family support, parents' estimation of family caregivers' expertise in dealing with the behavioural difficulties of a child with ASD, and parental health. Parents' suggestions for personal support services are reported, and some comparisons across the data from the two states are made, with suggestions for further research into parent support mechanisms.

In 2004, a set of validated guidelines for school bullying prevention and management was released by the Child Health Promotion Research Centre in Australia to guide schools' action to prevent and manage bullying behaviours. At this time little was known about cyber and other forms of covert bullying behaviours. These guidelines were updated in 2010 to include current research that provides a greater understanding of all forms of bullying behaviour. This article describes a summary of the current empirical evidence used to update these guidelines particularly related to relatively new and emergent forms of bullying, such as cyberbullying. Meta-analyses and reviews that assessed the effectiveness of school-based bullying interventions were examined to inform the relevance of the previously validated guidelines and to identify potential intervention strategies to reduce cyberbullying. This review confirmed the importance of a systematic whole-school approach to effectively prevent and manage all forms of bullying behaviours in schools (including cyberbullying) and the need to strengthen capacity supports to enable schools to put evidence into informed practice.

In this study international and domestic students were compared on variables such as accommodation and financial satisfaction, social support, mismatched expectations, academic stress, dysfunctional coping, and psychological distress. International and domestic students (N = 86 for each group), enrolled at a large Australian university based in a capital city, completed a battery of questionnaires. Results demonstrate that in comparison to domestic students, international students had less social support, used more dysfunctional coping strategies and had greater incongruence between their expectations and experiences of university life. The results endorse the significance of providing high quality supportive and orientation programs to international students, to enhance their social support and coping strategies, which, as demonstrated, are lacking.

This paper assesses the psychometric properties of the Student Motivation Scale, an instrument measuring school students' motivation. Motivation is assessed through nine measures, separated into what are referred to as boosters and guzzlers. Boosters are constructs that reflect adaptive motivation and guzzlers are constructs that reflect less adaptive motivation. Boosters are subsumed by thoughts (self-belief, learning focus, value of schooling) and behaviours (persistence and planning and monitoring). Guzzlers are subsumed by thoughts or feelings (low control and anxiety) and behaviours (avoidance and self-sabotage). Data show that the Student Motivation Scale has a clear factor structure reflecting the hypothesised five boosters and four guzzlers, is reliable, and correlated with achievement. Gender and year level differences also emerge: girls are significantly more learning focused and engage in more planning and monitoring than boys; girls are significantly more anxious than boys; Year 9 students are significantly lower than Year 10 and Year 11 students in learning focus, significantly higher than Year 11 students in avoidance, and significantly higher than Year 10 and Year 11 students in self-sabotage. Strategies for intervention are discussed in the context of these findings and the issue of academic resilience is introduced as an additional aspect of motivation that the Student Motivation Scale is able to assess.

During the transition from primary to secondary school, students typically experience a new social environment, moving from primary school with small intact classes throughout the day with one main teacher, to a larger secondary school with teachers, classrooms and often classmates changing throughout the day. During this time, students report a reduced sense of connectedness, which has been associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. This study investigated the temporal association between feeling connected to school and mental health prior to and over the transition period. Data were obtained from 3,459 students in a longitudinal study of adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes and experiences of bullying victimisation and perpetration during the transition from primary school to secondary school. Students completed a questionnaire at four time points from Grade 7 to the end of Grade 9. Path analysis was used to model relationships between school connectedness, depression and anxiety. The findings suggest reciprocal relationships between connectedness and mental health where increased connectedness to school is associated with decreased depression and anxiety; conversely, increased depression and anxiety is associated with decreased connectedness to school. The significant reciprocal associations found in the cross-lag models in the first two years of secondary school indicate the need to intervene during the transition period to improve students’ social and mental health outcomes.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health problems affecting children and adolescents. Current estimates indicate that 1 in 5 children or 4 to 6 students within a classroom of 30 children are at risk for developing an anxiety disorder (Boyd, Kostanski, Gullone, Ollendick, & Shek, 2000). Of these children, many will not receive clinical intervention. The school environment is the optimal setting to address this issue and to minimise the risk and prevent the development of anxiety disorders. This article examines the importance of early intervention and prevention within the school setting through an examination of the risk and protective factors of anxiety and the comparability of three approaches to prevention in schools — selective, indicated, and universal approaches. All three prevention approaches are discussed along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. The applicability of the universal approach to prevention is discussed in relation to the FRIENDS for Life (FRIENDS) program (Barrett, 2004, 2005) and its implementation within schools. The FRIENDS program is an evidence-based, cognitive–behavioural anxiety program for children and youth. It is the only evidence-based program endorsed by the World Health Organization as an effective program for the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression in children and youth.

International students encounter a range of additional challenges as a part of their tertiary study experience. A qualitative approach was used to understand the challenges faced by international students, coping strategies that promoted their personal resilience and advice they have for future international students. Twenty-two international students from an Australian university participated in four focus groups. The challenges identified by students included adjustment, social isolation, English language skills, academic difficulties, unmet expectations, employment, culture shock and psychological distress. Participants shared their own personal experiences and strategies used by them to cope and identified strategies that future students could use prior to leaving their home country and whilst in Australia to improve their adjustment. Uses of international student stories in prevention interventions are discussed.

This study explored acculturation and acculturative stress in Sudanese adolescent refugees living in Brisbane. Twenty Sudanese adolescents participated in semi-structured interviews which revealed that the main source of acculturative stress was related to concern over English language proficiency, issues of parental control and conflicting cultural rules. However, optimism for the future was also evident in all the interviews. The results suggested the need for culture specific counselling practices and ongoing English language and cultural support for Sudanese refugee children in mainstream schools.

Many young people who are bullied do not tell anyone. School staff therefore are often unaware of which students are being victimised and when to provide support or assistance. A critical strategy to overcome this problem is to encourage victimised students to seek help and report this bullying. This study aims to examine the relationship between help-seeking behaviours and self-reported emotional symptoms in young people from Australia (n = 5959; M age = 12.36 years, SD = 1.46 years) and Austria (n = 1530; M age = 12.68 years, SD = .84 years) who reported being victimised (via cyber and traditional bullying). In both countries, students who were cyber-victimised compared to those who were victimised in more traditional methods were less likely to seek help. Girls in both countries were significantly more likely to seek help and endorse more emotional symptoms than boys. No relationship was found between help-seeking and emotional symptoms in students who had been cyber-victimised. These preliminary results have important implications for the types of strategies used to enhance the approachability of school staff and families to provide appropriate help and support for young people who are being bullied.

This article examines the potential benefits of possessing the personality traits of determination and perseverance (often referred to as ‘grit’) in an academic setting. Previous studies in Western individualistic societies have emphasised the advantages of possessing this attribute of grit; but, to date, very few investigations have been conducted in collectivist cultures, such as those in the Asian contexts. This article provides a brief review of literature on this topic, reflecting perspectives from various socio-cultural milieus. From this knowledge base, several themes emerge, with implications for improving grit-related theory. Possible lines for future research are also suggested.

Bullying in all its forms, including cyberbullying, is a continuing problem in schools. Given the severe consequences it can have on students (socially, psychologically and physically) it is not surprising that a number of intervention programs have been developed, with most advocating a whole-school approach. The current study compared students' self-reports on bullying between schools with and without a Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach. A sample of 35 students in the P4C school and a matched sample of 35 students in other schools between the ages of 10 and 13 completed the Student Bullying Survey. Results indicated that while there were significant differences in incidences of face-to-face bullying, there were similar results from both cohorts in relation to cyberbullying. Both groups of students felt that teachers were more likely to prevent face-to-face bullying than cyberbullying. Findings indicate that teachers and guidance counsellors need to be as overt in teaching strategies about cyberbullying as they are in teaching strategies about reducing face-to-face bullying.

The aim of the present study was to better understand the combined and unique effects of teacher–student and parent–child relationships in students' achievement motivation and self-esteem. Participants were 3450 high school students administered items assessing their interpersonal relationships, academic motivation and engagement, academic self-concept, and general self-esteem. Preliminary correlations showed that both teacher–student and parent–child relationships are significantly associated with achievement motivation and general self-esteem. Importantly, however, when using appropriate structural equation models to control for shared variance amongst predictors, findings showed that although teachers and parents are clearly influential, after controlling for gender, age, and the presence of both interpersonal relationships in the one model, teacher effects are stronger than parent effects, particularly in the academic domain.

Is there a point where parental effort can be too much? While the link between parenting effort and the wellbeing of children has been firmly established, contemporary discussion has proposed that extreme levels of parental protection of and responsiveness to children could be counterproductive. Research has not yet addressed this phenomenon to ascertain if overparenting is a genuinely different type of parenting approach. The purpose of the present study was to gain insight into the parenting actions considered by parenting professionals (psychologists and school guidance counsellors) to be overparenting. One hundred and twenty-eight professionals responded to an online survey about their observations of overparenting, with eighty-six respondents providing lists of the types of actions they believed were behavioural examples of the term. The survey data revealed that certain types of actions were considered to be indicative of overparenting, and that particular beliefs and outcomes may be involved in this parenting approach. Implications for parenting advice and education programs, and further research are discussed.

Adolescent development involves a complex interplay between genetics, biology, and social and emotional relationships within multiple contexts of home, school and the broader community. The transition from primary to secondary school, coupled with the onset of puberty, can therefore be a difficult period for young people to negotiate at a critical period of their developmental pathway. Using a social ecological perspective, this article examines the impact of the transition experience on adolescent social and emotional health, both immediately following transition to secondary school and at the end of the first year in this new school environment. This 1-year prospective study involving 1,500 Australian Grade 8 secondary school students found that 31% of students in the sample experienced a ‘difficult’ or ‘somewhat difficult’ transition to their new school. This third of the student sample were consequently more likely to experience poorer social and emotional health, including higher levels of depression and anxiety at the end of their first year of secondary school, while controlling for these variables at the time of transition. A central message from this work exemplifies the urgent need for a longitudinal intervention trial to develop best practice guidelines for activities that help ameliorate the negative impact a change in education context can create for adolescents negotiating a rapid metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood.