External suspension from school is a common disciplinary practice in traditionally English-speaking countries. Few studies have sought student perceptions of school suspension, as well as measures of problem behaviours and emotional problems, and known factors that influence the development of antisocial behaviour, to examine associations between these variables. Three hundred and four adolescents, aged 12–17 years, from five schools in southern Australia completed a self-report questionnaire that asked about behavioural and mental health problems, and risk and protective factors known to be associated with suspension. Seventy-four of the participants had been previously suspended from school at least once. Having been previously suspended was associated with a greater level of problem behaviours and emotions, poor family management, low school commitment, reduced supportive teacher relationships, and interactions with antisocial peers. School suspension appears likely to be applied to students who lack the ability to self-regulate their behaviours and emotional problems in the classroom. By excluding students from school, pre-existing behavioural problems may be exacerbated by diminishing school protective factors and increasing exposure to known risk factors. Adolescents most at risk of being suspended would benefit from alternative school behaviour management policies and procedures that maintain the school as a protective factor.

The diversity and resilience characteristic of the closing phases of human development are investigated by longitudinal study of change and development in about the last 30 years of the life-span. The Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA) is a population-based psychobiosocial and behavioural study of a cohort of 1,947 adults from Adelaide over the age of 70 years. Four annual waves of data collection started in 1992. At Waves 1 and 3, an extensive personal interview covered psychological, behavioural, social, biomedical, economic, and other contextuol variables. Participants also had the opportunity to provide psychological data on cognitive and psychosocial (self) dimensions through completion of a series of objective assessments and standard paper-and-pencil inventories. Data from these two waves is used to describe and explain changes in cognitive and psychosocial domains, particularly the complexity of functioning, potential gains and losses in memory and well-being, and the interplay amongst these aspects of functioning. Once a range of noncognitive and cognitive contextual factors are taken into account, individual differences in processing and intrapersonal resources contribute significantly and substantially to functioning in each domain, and the contribution from ageing per se is minimised. Furthermore, a “limited impact” hypothesis of late life development suggests that later declines may be a byproduct of rather large decrements in some subset of a population, with the majority showing stability. Insofar as heterogeneity increases with ageing, age per se is increasingly less able to predict functioning. This work identifies some key sources of heterogeneity that may be indicative of ageing well.

Bully-victim problems at school may have negative effects on students' mental health. Adolescents (N = 845) attending schools in South Australia anonymously answered questionnaires that included a measure of suicidal ideation. Student involvement in bully-victim problems at school and the emotional reaction to being viaimised by peers were also examined. Self-report but not peer nomination indicated that high levels of peer victimisation and relatively ineffective coping responses were independently and significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Implications for school policies and practices to address the issue of youth suicide are discussed.

The aim of this paper is to review school-based interventions that have been designed to foster student wellbeing and academic performance by following a positive psychology approach that seeks to cultivate positive emotions, resilience and positive character strengths. Following the calls of the 21st century education movement for schools to incorporate student wellbeing as a focus of learning, the current paper outlines the positive psychology movement and reviews evidence from 12 school-based positive psychology interventions that have been systematically evaluated. The evidence shows that positive psychology programs are significantly related to student wellbeing, relationships and academic performance. The paper makes suggestions for the further development of positive psychology interventions in schools and explores the factors that could allow positive psychology to be extended, and more systematically embedded, into schools.

My journey in the field of stress and coping began in the mid 1980s when I was researching the rather new field of childhood depression. It was a relatively under-explored field, and as a clinical and educational psychologist it was becoming increasingly apparent that there were concerns of young people, with some of these reflected in their experiences of sadness and despair. However, as I researched and measured the depression construct, I became aware of despair as a growing phenomenon, with an increased focus and emphasis on stress, anxiety and depression. In time, the statistics would bear out the concerns, as one in four young people have identified as being or are likely to be depressed in their lifetime in some Western communities like Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom (WHO, 2018). Given the growing ‘ill health’ of our Western communities, something had to change. In the 1980s, young people were concerned about their future with the fear of nuclear war. As I was writing this invited retrospective in late 2019, there were widespread concerns about global warming, and in the first half of 2020 concerns arising from the pandemic of COVID-19 are dominating. Coping theory research and practice can make a significant contribution to how we cope with our world in general and the specifics of our lives in particular. This article reports a body of work in the field of coping to illustrate the value of the core constructs and their applications in diverse settings providing opportunities for helpful adaptation and development in the face of whatever circumstances arise.

Working memory, our ability to work with information, plays an important role in learning from kindergarten to the college years. In this article, we review the what, the why, and the how of working memory. First, we explore the relationship between working memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. We also investigate research on the link between whether environmental factors, such as financial background and mother's educational level, affect working memory. In the next section — the why of working memory — we compare the predictive nature of working memory and IQ in learning outcomes. While IQ typically measures the knowledge acquired by the student, working memory measures what they do with that knowledge. Working memory skills are linked to key learning outcomes, including reading and math. In the final section, we present classroom strategies to support working memory. We also review current research on the efficacy of working memory training.

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 home and parental factors that predict achievement motivation are an important focus in research, because they are a clear point for potential educational and psychological support for students. The present study investigates the achievement motivation of high school students, in the context of parental and home factors such as home resources, in- and out-of-home parental assistance, parenting style, and parental involvement in the school. Among a sample of 100 Australian high school students, hierarchal multiple linear regression analyses were performed in order to determine the relative salience of the proposed home and parental factors predicting students' achievement motivation. Results demonstrated that over and above demographic factors such as age, gender and ethnicity, home and parental factors do indeed play a critical function in predicting student motivation and engagement. Specifically, the study reveals that home resources and parenting style are the most salient home and parental factors associated with key aspects of achievement motivation and engagement (planning, task management, teacher–student relationships — positively, and self-handicapping — negatively). These findings affirm the role of the home and parents in students' academic development. Implications for future research and practice harnessing the present findings are discussed.

As growing numbers of transgender people — including students, parents, and educators — become visible within schools, so comes with this the requirement that schools ensure their full inclusion. This article suggests that school counsellors and psychologists have an important role to play in supporting transgender people within schools. As an initial scoping of this suggestion, the article reports on findings from two Australian surveys: one focused on cisgender parents of transgender children, and one focused on cisgender school counsellors and psychologists in regard to their capacity for working with transgender people. The findings suggest that while the parent sample had largely negative experiences with school counsellors, the professional sample reported a high level of confidence in working with transgender people, although differences in gender and religiosity impacted upon school counsellors’ and psychologists’ acceptance of transgender people, and clinical knowledge for working with transgender people. The article concludes by advocating for ongoing training for school counsellors and psychologists in regard to working with transgender people, in addition to outlining the role that school counsellors and psychologists can play in facilitating a whole of school approach to transgender issues.