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Background: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are vulnerable to racism, trauma and Lateral Violence (LV) where negative feelings and behaviours are directed towards members within their own oppressed group. Conversely, Lateral Empowerment (LE) is the collective prevention and repair of the effects of LV and promotes resilience and strength. There is limited peer reviewed literature directly relating to LV and LE. Objective: This review focuses on grey literature to gain greater insight into the understanding and experiences of LV/LE among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people within Australia. Method: This grey literature scoping review identified N = 38 documents between January 1980 and September 2023 related to LV or LE to gain a greater insight into the understanding of LV and LE among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community outside of published publications. Results: The results elucidated that the experience of LV for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth is largely based upon internalised racism pertaining to Aboriginal identity. Strength-based gender-specific approaches which focus upon positive cultural experiences, the use of lived experience mentors and the inclusion of family were identified as the foundation for LE. Conclusion: The grey literature review highlights that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community are taking an active role in addressing and preventing LV through culturally informed practices and approaches based upon the truth telling of Australia's colonial history. There remains the need for specific approaches directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth to help prevent and address LV/LE. KEY POINTS: What is already known about this topic: LV is an emerging area of discourse within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. LV is prevalent within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as a symptom of the ongoing oppression of colonisation, with young people particularly vulnerable and most at risk. LE is a relatively new term that aims to counteract LV by empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have control over their lives. What the topic adds: This analysis provides a thorough review of unpublished information ("grey literature") pertaining to LV and LE for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within Australia, with a specific focus on young people. Insight into the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their communities in relation to their understanding and lived experiences of LV/LE. Insight into the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth and their communities with regard to approaches to counteract the effects of LV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious, deadly disorders that emerge in adolescence and early adulthood. Further, reported incidences of EDs are increasing worldwide. As such, accessible, affordable, and effective early intervention and prevention efforts are critical. The Body Project is a well-established ED prevention program with demonstrated success at reducing ED symptom severity and the risk of onset of EDs in young females. However, it has not yet been formally evaluated in an Australian population, nor have the benefits of the treatment for young people of all genders been thoroughly investigated. This protocol paper outlines the design for a study which aims to investigate the outcomes and feasibility of the Body Project as a brief ED prevention program within an Australian youth mental health service: headspace Camperdown. This pragmatic trial will compare outcomes between a Body Project treatment group and a Treatment-as-usual control group. Primary outcomes include body image concerns, ED symptomatology and general psychological distress, measured pre- and post-treatment, and at one-month follow-up. All young people attending headspace Camperdown for care are eligible for participation in the trial. The Body Project program is comprised of four group-based 1.5 h sessions run over 4 consecutive weeks. Overall, a trial of the Body Project as an ED prevention program is warranted to investigate the outcomes of the intervention in this sample and will provide valuable information about the feasibility for widespread implementation of the treatment as part of a stepped-care approach to intervention for EDs at youth mental health service locations across Australia. ANZCTR Trial Registration Number: ACTRN12623000695606 (registered 29 June 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racialised and culturally distinct refugee groups increasingly face hostilities and negative representations in countries of resettlment. The experience of African refugee youth in Australia illustrates this general trend. This paper explores how racial Othering discourse seriously undermines the group's wellbeing. The article concentrates in particular on two aspects of relational wellbeing, the capacity to move in public without fear or shame and the ability to feel a sense of belonging to the place where one lives in. Theoretically, the paper draws together work on wellbeing from a capability approach and relational perspective with interdisciplinary literature on racial Othering. Empirically, the paper demonstrates the pervasive culture of racial Othering through media identifications of African youth with criminality and gang violence and illustrates impacts on young people's wellbeing through data from interviews with African refugee youth. The youth's accounts show how it feels to be a problem and what it means not to belong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research investigating how cognition influences youth intimate partner abuse (IPA) remains limited. Understanding cognitive risk markers is theoretically important and can inform intervention to maximize the chance of behavior change. The current article investigated cognition regarding general antisociality, relationships, and gender-role attitudes on youth IPA perpetration among 275 (123 female) 14- to 18-year-olds. Theoretically derived relationships (based on social information processing theory and the General Aggression Model) were hypothesized, which furthered understanding of how cognition contributes to relationship aggression in adolescents, while controlling for common behavioral correlates. Results showed that, overall, other experiences of aggressive behavior more strongly related to youth IPA perpetration than cognitive correlates. Among boys, general antisocial cognition was more strongly associated with youth IPA perpetration than relationship-specific cognition, with the reverse being true for girls. These findings suggest there is value in exploring theoretically indicated cognitive risk markers for youth IPA in a gender-sensitive and dynamic manner. Findings also provide direction for future studies considering cognition and youth IPA in a more predictive manner and areas for consideration in intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the past decade, there has been an increase in research focusing on young people who abuse their parents. However, most research has narrowly focused on adolescent children, neglecting to investigate the nature, pattern, and factors related to child-to-parent abuse perpetrated by young adults. This article integrated two complementary social-cognitive theories of aggression to explore factors associated with perpetration of child-to-parent abuse among university students (N = 435, aged 18–25 years). Participants completed the Abusive Behavior by Children–Indices, a self-report measure that was designed to differentiate abusive and normative child-to-parent behavior. The results highlight that abuse is not limited to adolescent children, as one in seven young adults were categorized as abusive toward a parent over the previous 12 months. Sons were more likely than daughters to report abusing their parents. Specifically, sons disclosed greater rates of father abuse than daughters, but similar rates of mother abuse. Hierarchical logistic regression found that exposure to marital violence, parent-to-child aggression, trait anger, and aggressive scripts were significant predictors of both mother and father abuse. However, other factors related to abuse differed according to which parent was the target of abuse. For instance, male sex was a significant predictor of father abuse, whereas rumination and impulsive emotional regulation were significant predictors of mother abuse. Overall, father abuse was better explained by the model than mother abuse. The results suggest that although factors related to general aggressive behavior may be good predictors for father abuse, additional factors may be needed to explain mother abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1980s, Australia has resettled thousands of African refugees. This paper focuses on the racialization of youth violence and the damage it sustains on refugee-background young Africans. The discussion proceeds in two interrelated stages. In the first stage, to understand the representation of African youth in the public sphere, the paper reviews the relevant literature, media headlines, and political commentaries. In so doing, it establishes that the continual framing of African youth as dangerous and violence-prone by conservative politicians and media outlets amounts to racial moral panic. In the second stage, guided by narrative research methodology, a small group of young Africans were invited to reflect on their everyday life under racialized frames. Accounts of the youth are presented under four themes: the presumption of guilt, emotional ill-being, opportunity hoarding, and the permanence of otherness. It is argued that, if left unaddressed, the racialization of youth violence can diminish the integration outcomes of African youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International research has shown that intimate partner abuse affects many young people throughout adolescence. Despite a recent focus on family and intimate partner violence in Australia, there is almost no Australian data on the frequency or nature of youth intimate partner abuse (YIPA). The current study sought to better understand the frequency and nature of YIPA in Australian adolescents. To this end, 423 participants aged between 14 and 18 from Victorian (Australian) high schools completed an anonymous questionnaire regarding experiences of perpetration and victimization in their most difficult intimate relationship. Results showed high rates of both YIPA victimization and perpetration among boys and girls who had been in intimate relationships. As was expected, verbally and psychologically aggressive behaviors were reported more frequently than physically or sexually aggressive actions. Mutual YIPA was detected more frequently than unidirectional YIPA, and most commonly involved high severity reciprocal aggression. The current study further confirmed that YIPA is a complex and heterogeneous issue, involving a range of behaviors, patterns of use, and severities. A gender-sensitive approach to the current study allowed for consideration of the similarities and differences between male and female experiences of YIPA. The current study provides a novel method of ascertaining both the frequency and severity of YIPA experiences in a sample of young people, expands on both Australian and international literature, and identifies important gender considerations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, carried out in the high school context, is the first direct test of Berdahl's status theory of sex-based harassment. The theory covers not just male harassment of females, but female harassment of males and same-sex harassment. Participants were 771 males and 679 females, from Years 8 to 10, in five co-educational lower socioeconomic status (SES) Australian city schools, participating in a wider study of peer victimization. They indicated on a 5-point scale (from never to almost every day) how frequently they had experienced each of six sex-based harassment behaviors over the previous year, from same-sex and from opposite-sex peers, and responded to a question about sense of safety at school. Nonparametric analyses supported five of seven hypotheses derived from the theory: boys harassed others most often, girls were harassed most often, boy-to-girl harassment was the most frequent, girls harassed girls more than they did boys, and girl-to-boy harassment was the least frequent. However, contrary to the theory, boys' same-sex harassment was no more frequent than that between girls, and girl-to-girl harassment was just as threatening to victims' sense of safety as boy-to-boy harassment. The study largely supports Berdahl's theory. The unexpected results can be understood in terms of the intimate nature of adolescent girls' groups in high schools and their centrality for identity formation. In this context, girls are highly motivated to defend their status in terms of stereotypically feminine standards regarding appearance, sexual activity, and access to high-status boys. The theory implies that structural changes to reduce the salience of sex differences and sex stereotyping will be crucial to efforts to address sex-based harassment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article was to examine how media attention affects the social exclusion of young refugees negotiating their way towards settlement in Australia. Emerging stereotypes and prejudices against young male refugees require new ways of understanding the impact of global, national and local issues on their social exclusion. The article brings together the impact of (a) the global politicisation and backlash against refugees, (b) Australians negative perception of refugees and (c) the increased reporting of young African-Australian and Pasifika-Australians as the perpetrators of youth violence. The article recognises the overlapping dimensions of social exclusion for young refugees and considers their ‘spatial’, ‘relational’ and ‘socio-political’ exclusion. The examination of media reporting of a landmark legal case of discrimination and racial profiling reveals a discourse of media attention that has perpetuated the social exclusion of a group of young African-Australian refugees living on a Melbourne public housing estate. The sensationalist and prejudicial media connection of the landmark legal case, youth violence and young African-Australians living on the Flemington Estate demonstrates the challenges young male refugees face in negotiating their settlement in Australia. This article makes a contribution to understanding the multi-dimensional nature of youth exclusion in contemporary times. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study used recent advances in attitude and self-perception research to develop an Attitude to Non-Violence Scale (ANVS). Participants were students from six high schools in Australia (N = 727). Confirmatory factor analysis using within-construct and between-construct validation approaches found two positive attitude sub-scales: Cognitive (proactive understanding) and Affective (do not endorse violence), both showing convergent and discriminant validity. Scale equivalence tests found that the sub-scales were applicable to boys and girls and to junior and senior grades. Structural equation modeling found that boys had less supportive attitudes to non-violence cognitively, whereas female students in senior secondary classes had less positive attitudes to non-violence affectively. The ANVS can be easily administered to assess youth’s non-violence attitudes, which may direct interventions focusing on boys’ cognitive aspects while maintaining girls’ positive affective attitudes toward non-violence as they mature. The positively framed instrument is suitable for education settings especially in high-risk locations where violence is prevalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known outside of the United States about the risk of violence-related death among young people who have had contact with the youth justice system (justice-involved young people). We examined violence-related deaths among justice-involved young people in Queensland, Australia. In this study, youth justice records for 48,647 young people (10-18 years at baseline) who were charged, or experienced a community-based order or youth detention in Queensland, Australia (1993-2014) were probabilistically linked with death, coroner, and adult correctional records (1993-2016). We calculated violence-related crude mortality rates (CMRs) and age- and sex-standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). We constructed a cause-specific Cox regression model to identify predictors of violence-related deaths. Of 1,328 deaths in the cohort, 57 (4%) were from violence. The violence-related CMR was 9.5 per 100,000 person-years (95% confidence interval [95% CI] [7.4, 12.4]) and the SMR was 6.8 [5.3, 8.9]. Young Indigenous people had a greater risk of violence-related death than non-Indigenous people (cause-specific hazard ratio [csHR] 2.5; [1.5, 4.4]). Young people who experienced detention had more than twice the risk of violence-related death than those who were charged only (csHR 2.5; [1.2, 5.3]). We found that justice-involved young people have a risk of dying from violence that far exceeds that of the general population. The rate of violence-related death found in this study is lower than that in U.S.-based studies, which most likely reflects lower population level firearm violence in Australia. In Australia, young Indigenous people and those released from detention appear key groups to target for violence prevention efforts.

Background: Widespread public concern about youth violence persists, particularly the so-called acts of appetitive violence characterised by positive affect and exemplified in modern trends such as 'happy slapping'. Empirical research into this phenomenon is scant.Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether perpetration of appetitive violence signals a specific offending trajectory.Method: We reviewed reports and related material from 105 violent young offenders referred to court mental health services in the state of Victoria, Australia. Index violent offences were categorised as appetitive or not. Official police records were used to determine rearrest during the 12 months following mental health assessment.Results: The nine young people whose offence was classified as appetitive were male and did not reoffend, generally or violently, at different rates than the other youths.Conclusion: The offending trajectories of young people with appetitively violent index offences were indistinguishable from other violent youths. There is thus insufficient information here to recommend distinctive intervention for this subgroup, but their high reoffending rate (7/9) suggests that they are worthy of more research attention. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the convergent validity of 2 youth psychopathy instruments, the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) and the Youth Psychopathic Trait Inventory (YPI) and their relationship with problem behaviors and recidivism in an Australian sample of young offenders in custody. The PCL: YV demonstrated a capacity to identify severely antisocial youth; however, the tool was unable to differentiate between potentially psychopathic and nonpsychopathic antisocial youth. The YPI was receptive to a wide variety of problem behaviors which precluded the unique identification of core psychopathic traits in the sample. Both instruments were unable to meaningfully distinguish between recidivists and nonrecidivists. As such, the PCL: YV and the YPI demonstrate limited utility for antisocial young offenders in custody. Further research on the durability and developmental manifestation of psychopathy in adolescents is necessary before these instruments are employed in similar contexts. Implications for the clinical use of psychopathy measures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Validation literature on the predictive ability of North American youth violence risk assessment inventories is developing across international settings. Yet no information exists on the utility of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV),]and little research has been conducted on the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) across Australian young offender populations. The current study investigated the validity of the risk instruments on 213 young people in detention in Victoria, Australia. Findings indicated moderate to strong predictive accuracy for re-offence outcomes across the three inventories for the total sample and for males. The SAVRY was also able to identify the strength of protective factors for young female offenders. The inventories appear to be suitable prediction aides in the Australian youth justice context although further research is required to ascertain their applicability to Australian young female offenders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Youth violence is a global problem. Few studies have examined whrther the prevalence or predictors of youth violence are similar in comparable Western countries like Australia and the United States (US). In the current article, analyses are conducted using two waves of data collected as part of a longitudinal study of adolescent development in approximately 4,000 students aged 12 to 16 years in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, US. Students completed a self-report survey of problem behaviours including violent behaviour, as well as risk and protective factors across five domains (individual, family, peer, school, community). Compared to Washington State, rates of attacking or beating another over the past 12 months were lower in Victoria for females in the first survey and higher for Victorian males in the follow-up survey. Preliminary analyses did not show state-specific predictors of violent behaviour. In the final multivariate analyses of the combined Washington State and Victorian samples, protective factors were being female and student emotion control. Risk factors were prior violent behaviour, family conflict, association with violent peers, community disorganisation, community norms favourable to drug use, school suspensions and arrests. Given the similarity of influential factors in North America and Australia, application of US early intervention and prevention programs may be warranted, with some tailoring to the Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study in Australia's race relations, focusing on tensions between urban Aborigines and recently resettled African refugees, particularly among young people. Both of these groups are of low socio-economic status and are highly visible in the context of a predominantly white Australia. The relationship between them, it is argued, reflects the history of strained race relations in modern Australia and a growing antipathy to multiculturalism. Specific reasons for the tensions between the two populations are suggested, in particular, perceptions of competition for material (housing, welfare, education) and symbolic (position in a racial hierarchy) resources. Finally, it is argued that the phenomenon is deeply embedded in class and race issues, rather than simply in youth violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I draw on ethnography I undertook amongst locals in the Cronulla area after the riot of December 2005. A number of the young beach goers I came across had been on a P&O 'schoolies cruise' at the time of the riot. For two weeks the students depended on the media for information about what was going on in their suburbs. Sailing back, I was told, a pumped-up chorus of 'Shi-ire!' and 'White Pride!' rang out over Sydney Heads, as expectations climbed high of the ship being met by gangs of Middle Eastern youths, ready for the fight. Back on the beach, months later, bodies baking in the sun try to reconcile the thought of riot with what they know about Australia, and Cronulla, as a place of laid back, leisurely, lazily tolerant people. How can the two scenes of bodily excess be brought together? What are the limits of the 'moral panic' idea, in relation to the Cronulla riot? How do the competing truths of major discourses on Cronulla misrepresent the community in question? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs on youth-related issues in Australia. According to a report released by the Australian Childhood Foundation, Australian children and young people share many of the same concerns as adults. A Youth Violence Taskforce was formed to address the recent youth violence issues in Queensland. Methamphetamines have been found the second-most frequently used illicit drug class by young Australians.

The article presents a report published by the Australian Institute of Criminology concerning the impact of encounters with a white-dominated criminal justice system to Aboriginals' adulthood experiences with imprisonment in Australia. It discusses the structure of Aboriginal families and communities devastated by violence involving alcohol with mistrust and hostility towards white justice redressing for injuries that result from violence and sought through vengeance. It suggests that improvement of the quality of Aboriginal life is a significant prerequisite for changing the situation. Moreover, efforts in supporting economic, social, and legal advancement for Aboriginal people such as re-empowering them in numerous areas of crime prevention and justice administration are also noted.

The article offers news briefs related to the youth in Australia. To many in the youth sector, the lack of a youth policy in Western Australia is of tremendous concern. The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria is focusing on advocacy around public space, young people, violence and bullying. The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition employs its first permanent Executive Director Andrew Cummings.