Australia is a culturally diverse country with many migrant families in need of support and assistance from clinical psychologists. Yet, surveys indicate that migrants do not feel comfortable in accessing community mental health services, due to the lack of cultural sensitivity and understanding of our current practices. Despite this finding, there remains a paucity of research on migrant families, their different values and needs, and how they adjust to the Australian culture. The present article reviews research on migrant children, their characteristics, and the factors that help or hinder healthy adjustment to a new culture. This review focuses particularly on anxiety, which is not only the most common form of childhood psychopathology, but also frequently coincides with stressful life events such as migration. Our review concludes with recommendations for the development of assessment and intervention protocols, and areas of future research.

Young immigrants frequently experience anxiety as a consequence of the stress associated with migration. Despite being at high risk for the development of psychopathology, culturally sensitive assessment and intervention procedures for use with ethnic minority groups residing in Australia have yet to be developed and validated. The aims of the current study were to (a) investigate the level of anxiety in a sample of former-Yugoslavian teenage refugees; (b) appraise the efficacy of the FRIENDS program, a validated Anglo-Australian anxiety-prevention program, for use with this high-risk group; and (c) obtain information from both the program participants and facilitators regarding how the intervention could be modified to better meet the needs of this growing refugee population in Australia. Twenty female former-Yugoslavian youths completed standardised measures of internalising symptoms. Participants were allocated to either an intervention (n = 9) or a waiting list (n = 11) condition. In spite of the small sample size, post-assessment indicated that participants in the intervention condition reported significantly less internalising symptoms than participants in the waiting list condition. Social validity data indicated that, overall, participants were highly satisfied with the intervention. Suggestions for assessment and treatment program modifications are discussed.

Test anxiety in children has long been recognised to be a significant and challenging educational problem. Recent advances in diagnostic interviewing, cognitive assessment, and physiological recording have facilitated a considerable amount of research on test-anxious youth. This research has yielded important clinical insights about test-anxious children and adolescents of interest to teachers and psychologists. We describe and evaluate the findings of these investigations. Finally, we discuss the implications of the research findings for intervention in school settings. Cognitive-behavioural strategies are tentatively recommended for the treatment of test-anxious children and adolescents.

The Adolescent Risk-taking Questionnaire (ARQ) was developed to comprehensively assess adolescent risk-taking beliefs and behaviours. Research has shown that it is a reliable instrument with strong construct validity. The current study investigated the convergent and discriminant validity of the ARQ by comparing responses of a sample of 52 male adolescents from a juvenile justice centre and 211 school-attending male adolescents. Consistent with past research, the juvenile justice centre youth reported significantly higher levels of depression and less optimal levels of parent attachment compared to school-attending youth. Convergent validity of the ARQ was demonstrated through significant relationships between attachment and risk-taking. Specifically, those adolescents with less optimal parent attachment were more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour and were less likely to perceive the behaviours included in the ARQ as risky compared to those with more optimal levels of parent attachment. Discriminant validity of the ARQ was demonstrated through significant differences between the two groups on risk beliefs and behaviours. Responses on the ARQ indicated that youth from the juvenile justice centre were significantly more likely to engage in risky behaviours, if given the opportunity, than school-based youth. They also perceived the behaviours to be less risky. It was concluded that the ARQ has good convergent and discriminant validity.

This study investigated the relative contributions of risk-taking behaviour (RTB), parental attachment, and depression to delinquency. Data were gathered from 108 university students and youth group members, aged between 17 and 23 years (M = 19 years). Each participant completed four self-report questionnaires: the Australian Self-report Delinquency Scale, the Adolescent Risk-taking Questionnaire, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The three predictor variables were significantly related to each other, and risk-taking behaviour and depression uniquely predicted total delinquency. While parent attachment was not a significant predictor of delinquency, when the subscales of parent attachment were assessed individually, parental trust and communication inversely predicted delinquent behaviour. Although based on a nondeviant sample, the findings suggest that adolescents who display poor parent attachment, depression, or high risk-taking behaviour, singularly or in combination, are more prone to engage in delinquent behaviour. The results hold a number of potentially important implications for both further studies and the design and provision of intervention and preventative programs.

In this study, the relationship between adolescent leisure and gambling was explored. Three different models of time usage were compared as potential predictors of gambling behaviour and problem gambling among 769 adolescents (15 to 18 years old) from five secondary schools in Melbourne. More leisure time, particularly unstructured leisure, predicted more frequent gambling behaviour for girls and boys. Specific activity factors provided the best time usage-based prediction of gambling behaviour. More time socialising and being involved in organised sport predicted more gambling for boys, possibly because of the access these activities provide to gambling venues. For boys, lower levels of so-called masculine pursuits (activities with other male peers) were associated with problem gambling, as were “cognitive pursuits” such as board games and collecting hobbies. For girls, more time in studious activity mitigated against gambling frequency. Lower levels of typically “feminine” adolescent pursuits predicted problem gambling. By far the major predictor of problem gambling for both sexes was gambling frequency. The role of leisure in problem gambling was discussed in terms of the role played by peer socialising, which may increase risk through access to gambling venues yet simultaneously increase protection through a sense of belongingness.

Over the past decade, promoting the psychological wellbeing of adolescents has been the subject of increasing interest. To this end, a number of scales have been constructed that specifically assess life satisfaction among adolescents. Using specific selection criteria, the present study reviewed the psychometric properties of five life satisfaction measures available for use with adolescent populations. These scales were the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Perceived Life Satisfaction Scale, the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale – School Version, and the Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale. Suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Adult levels of subjective quality of life (SQOL) are remarkably stable on a population basis. This has been explained through the operation of a homeostatic system that acts to maintain each individual's SQOL within a narrow range. However, there are good reasons to expect this homeostatic system to come under severe challenge during adolescence. Many of the variables thought to be involved in the homeostatic process are undergoing marked change during this period, including the balance between primary and secondary control, perceived social support, and interaction with parents. In order to test the stability of SQOL and the influence of these other variables, a sample of 279 adolescents between the ages of 12 to 17 years were recruited. It was found that the SQOL of the older adolescents lay below the predicted range for adults, thereby supporting the idea of a strong challenge to homeostasis during this period. A new scale to measure perceived control was found to possess a useful two-factor structure of primary and secondary control. Moreover, both of these factors, together with social support, predicted levels of SQOL, even though the levels of primary control decreased with age. Finally, adolescents who perceived an authoritarian parenting style experienced a higher SQOL than those who perceived an unengaged style. These findings contribute to our understanding of SQOL homeostasis.

Development and maintenance of mental health is a major requirement for successful adolescent transition. During this critical process of change, when many mental health concerns first manifest, it has been suggested that positive leisure experiences provide opportunities that support and promote adolescent development and mental health. This investigation examined the relationship between leisure and mental health in an adolescent population. Based on an extensive literature review and analysis of focus-group interviews with 130 adolescents, it was hypothesised that self-efficacy, competence, and self-worth act as mediators between leisure and mental health. Measures of leisure, mental health, and the three intervening factors were collected from a total sample of 850 adolescents aged from 12 to 18 years. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the interrelationships of the variables and for testing the goodness-of-fit of the hypothesised model. Results suggest that some forms of positive leisure involvement, namely achievement-oriented leisure (which provides challenges and a range of demands), and social leisure, do significantly influence mental health through the identified intervening factors. The construct of competence, in particular, formed a crucial link in the model. However, the third type of leisure, time-out leisure (which typically involves solitary activities such as lying on one's bed and reflecting, or watching television), demonstrated a significant but negative association with mental health. These outcomes provide some guidelines for facilitating and promoting mental health through leisure in adolescence.