An examination of recent education policy and research demonstrates that the development of personal and emotional competence amongst Australian school students is a national priority (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005; Lewis & Frydenberg, 2002; Reid, 2006). In an attempt to determine whether high-schools are indeed supporting the personal and emotional development of young people, the present study investigated personal responsibility, emotional intelligence and self-esteem among a sample of year 11 public (n = 274) and private (n = 124) school students. The study found that all participants demonstrated high levels of personal responsibility and emotional intelligence, with no significant differences between the public and private school. Public and private school participants significantly differed on self-esteem, with private school participants reporting high levels of self-esteem (M = 30.36) and public school participants (M = 26.92) reporting moderate levels of self-esteem. It is sometimes assumed that private schools facilitate better developmental outcomes among students than public schools. Whilst findings are limited to results obtained from one public and one private school, the current study did not find evidence to support that the personal and emotional development of students is hindered in a public school environment.

This study aimed to compare children with different ADHD subtypes and controls on measures of attention, and to examine the relationships between measures of attention and reading and spelling ability. Thirty-eight children with ADHD and sixteen controls were administered tests of four components of attention (viz., attention span, focused attention, selective attention and shifting attention) and two subtests (viz., reading and spelling) from the WRAT-3. The children with ADHD-Combined subtype were found to show deficits in attention span and focused attention, while the children with ADHD-Inattentive subtype were found to show deficits in shifting attention, and subtler deficits in attention span and focused attention. Measures of attention span were found to be significant predictors of reading ability, and measures of attention span and selective attention were found to be significant predictors of spelling ability. These results suggest that different ADHD subtypes show different patterns of attentional problems that have different neuroanatomical bases. Furthermore, academic problems in children with ADHD may be related to their attentional problems.

Relational aggression is becoming increasingly recognized as a very prevalent behaviour amongst females, especially within school settings. Robust findings have supported N.R Crick and K.A. Dodge's Social Information Processing Model (1994) as being a useful model in explaining physical aggression amongst males. However, little research has examined the model with regards to relational aggression in females and research that does exist has shown inconsistent findings. The current study examined the fifth step of the model, Response Decision, in a sample of female adolescents. The four factors that have previously been identified as contributing to the response decision step were examined, including response evaluation, outcome expectancies, self-efficacy evaluation, and response selection. In view of suggestions made by W.F.Arsenio and E.A.Lemerise (2004), level of moral reasoning was also examined with regard to how relationally aggressive responses were evaluated. These factors were examined within hypothetical relationally aggressive peer situations in relationally aggressive, overtly aggressive, relationally plus overtly aggressive and non-aggressive participants. The results show that compared to non-aggressive and overtly aggressive females, relationally aggressive females show a bias in the four processes of the response decision step. Differences in levels of moral reasoning were also found between the different aggression type groups. Hence the findings provide support for Crick and Dodge's (1994) Social Information Processing model in explaining relationally aggressive behaviour. The findings are discussed with regards to their implications for educational settings.

This controlled trial of a teacher training intervention aimed to increase teacher competence in managing the problem behaviours associated with Asperger's syndrome, as manifested in a classroom setting. All teacher-participants currently managed a student with Asperger's syndrome in an inclusive classroom setting. Measures were taken on two occasions: pre-workshop and 6-week follow-up. Variables of interest were number of problem behaviours, success of teacher strategies used to manage problem behaviours and teacher self-efficacy in managing behaviours. Qualitative data assessing both the utility of the workshop and effectiveness of the individual management strategies was also gathered. At 6-week follow up, teachers reported increased confidence in their ability to manage the student with Asperger's syndrome, fewer problem behaviours displayed by the student and increased success in using strategies to manage the student in the classroom. The utility of both the workshop itself and individual management strategies were also endorsed by all teacher-participants. Suggestions for future research and limitation of the study are also discussed.

Childhood fears of objects and events such as spiders, monsters and earthquakes are common, universal and sometimes distressing. At the same time, many children seem to enjoy the thrill of scary ghost stories, ghoulish films, and terrifying theme park rides. It is estimated that around 18% of children are excessively fearful. Although anxiety disorders represent the most common psychopathology in childhood, identification can be difficult because of the diagnostic overlap and co-morbidity of anxiety with other childhood disorders. The present study investigated enjoyment of fear as a potential diagnostic marker of childhood anxiety in a sample of 220 children aged 6-12 years and their parents. Many children reportedly enjoyed scary experiences, with boys and older children displaying greater enjoyment. Children whose parents rated them as excessively anxious experienced significantly less enjoyment of fear. The paper considers possible explanations for this finding and concludes that failure to enjoy scary activities may represent a useful diagnostic marker in the initial identification of childhood anxiety.

Studies investigating the impact of postnatal depression on later child cognitive functioning report mixed results. Some show ongoing effects of depression in the first postnatal year, others show no lasting adverse effects, yet others report effects only when the depression is chronic and coupled with additional risks to development such as low socioeconomic status. This study examined the impact of depression in the first postnatal year and subsequent episodes between one and four years postpartum in a sample of 92 mothers and their four year old children from a relatively high socioeconomic group. Children were administered the WPPSI-R at four years of age. Findings revealed only modest effects. Compared to those whose mothers were not depressed, children whose mothers were diagnosed with depression in the first postnatal year had lower verbal IQ scores, but there were no differences on the performance scale. There were also no differences between children whose mothers recovered after one year and those whose mothers experienced further depression between one and four years. Effects were similar for boys and girls.

The current study investigated the associations between the influence of parent and peer characteristics and adolescent involvement in different types of out-of-school leisure activities using a structured versus unstructured activity dichotomy. Questionnaires completed by 1280, 12- to 17-year-old, Western Australian metropolitan, high-school students were analysed. It was found that perceived parent strictness, connectedness to adolescents, and parenting style were positively associated with adolescent participation in structured leisure activities, but negatively associated with time spent in unstructured activities. Hours of involvement in structured and unstructured leisure activities were negatively associated with perceived susceptibility to peer pressure. Peer connectedness was positively associated with hours spent in unstructured activities, but there was no significant interaction with participation in structured leisure activities. These findings suggest that peer influence is not always a dominant force in all aspects of adolescents' lives and also endorse the continued influence of parents as per Individuation and Relatedness theory in which it is argued that individuals' transition through adolescence is optimised if they remain connected to parents while concurrently developing their autonomy.

High school students in the U.S. (N=1,078; 47% boys) responded to survey items on their self-esteem and interest in schoolwork, their personal expectancy of high school completion, and their perceived support from parents, teachers and peers for their expectancy. Their GPA and days absent from school were collected from school records. Personal expectancy, parent, teacher, and peer support all had significant positive impacts on students' self-esteem, interest in schoolwork, and GPA. The pattern of effects was consistent across the subsamples of Grades 5 to 6 (n=264), Grades 7 and 8 (n=226), and Grades 9 to 12 (n=319). Positive personal expectancy and teacher support also had significant negative effects on absence from school for Grades 7 and 8. Of all the significant others considered, support from teachers had the strongest impact on self-esteem, interest, and GPA in the high school subsamples. Teachers are probably the most influential agent in promoting self-esteem, interest, and academic performance in the school context.

Previous research has established a relationship between children's language development and their behaviour. The aim of the present study was to determine whether children's language ability influenced the degree to which their behaviour changed following participation in the PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) curriculum. Participants were 86 pre-primary children who attended two mainstream schools in regional Western Australia. Analyses of pre- and post-intervention behaviour and language measures found PATHS to be effective for improving the behaviour and social skills of children with language difficulties. Changes in children with better language skills showed a positive but non-significant trend. Although a relationship was found between children's general language skills and their behaviour at pre-intervention, changes observed in behaviour were not accompanied by changes in language skills at post-intervention.

The communication style of adolescents was assessed using the factors of the Focus of Communication Questionnaire (FOCQ), gender and year level. The FOCQ has six factors that individuals focus on during conflict including success, task, other-person, concession, withdrawing, and confusing. Data from the 460 adolescent participants showed that there were interaction effects involving success and other-person focused communication. Younger students were lower on concession, task, and confusion focused communication. Females were more withdrawing, concession and less confusion focused than males. The magnitude of the effect sizes resulting from the gender and year level analyses was small. Profile analysis of the six communication factors resulted in two clusters similar to those from previous research. The third cluster comprised a group of students low in all six communication factors. The discussion addresses the relevance of the findings and profile analysis in school settings.