In 1998, 12 elementary school students aged 11–12 years, who were living in a disadvantaged suburb in a New Zealand city, were comprehensively assessed and determinations were made regarding their risk statuses. Ten years later, nine of the participants were located and interviewed and the data were examined using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2008). Three resilience themes were discerned at Time 2: relationships, contexts of development, and personhood and identity. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies at the two assessment points promoted the derivation of a resilience model that connects relational contexts to executive functioning and purposeful action. The investigation also prompted observations about the contribution of qualitative research to the study of resilience.

This cross-sectional study explored the moderating influence of friendship quality and gender in the relationship between psychopathology and different types of victimisation experienced by primary school children. Five hundred and sixty-six children (n = 264 males; n = 302 females) with a mean age of 11.61 years (SD = 1.10) in Adelaide, South Australia completed the Peer Relations Questionnaire, the Relational Aggression Scale, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Friendship Quality Questionnaire. Neither overall friendship quality nor gender moderated the relationship between either direct or relational victimisation and psychopathology. However, ‘conflict and betrayal’ moderated the relationship between relational victimisation and psychopathology. For high levels of conflict and betrayal the relationship between relational victimisation and psychopathology was stronger for boys than girls. Possibly, a particular aspect of friendship quality may be more protective in the relationship between different types of victimisation and psychopathology. Implications of these results and suggestions for future research are considered.

This study investigates the main English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning difficulties Jordanian English-major undergraduates encounter from their perspective. For this purpose a questionnaire was developed and administered to 270 (50 male and 220 female) participants. The study addressed the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). The independent variables included gender, grade point average (GPA), and academic major. Ordered according to their difficulty, the skills were speaking, reading, writing and listening respectively. Some specific language learning problems are also discussed. Appropriate conclusions and recommendations are provided accordingly.

This study investigated family functioning, family stage and eating disorder risk. A sample of 140 females (aged 18–59) completed a family functioning questionnaire (ICPS) and the Eating Disorder Risk scale (EDI-3). Consistent with previous research, cluster analysis identified two profiles of family functioning: an authoritative style (high intimacy and high democratic parenting, with low conflict) and an authoritarian cluster (elevated conflict scores and significantly lower intimacy and democratic parenting). The second independent variable of family stage comprised two groups: females living in their family of origin and those living in their family of choice. The ANOVA showed no interaction involving family functioning cluster and family stage. A main effect showed that participants in the authoritarian cluster experienced significantly more drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms, body dissatisfaction and eating disorder risk. There was no difference in eating disorder risk between females living at home or those in the family of choice. The findings have implications for therapists in demonstrating that independence from the family of origin does not prompt natural recovery from eating disorder tendencies. The findings provide some further evidence of the association between specific elements of family functioning (intimacy, conflict and democratic parenting) with eating disorder risk.

Introduced initially in relation to drug policy, ‘zero tolerance’ has become a catchphrase to describe attitudes and policies relating to drug use, violence and a range of antisocial behaviours. It has been used particularly within schools in the United States as a disciplinary policy since the 1980s. While broadly ascribed, zero tolerance is designed to send a message that targeted behaviours are not tolerated and will be punished. Zero tolerance assumes that swift and uncompromising action aimed at punishing the offender will result in ‘sending a strong message’ to other would-be offenders and deter others from similar antisocial behaviours. However, thirty years of research has shown zero tolerance policies to have failed the individual and the community, resulting instead in increased rates of misbehaviour and early referral to the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This has the potential to negatively impact on the person's mental health and future outcomes.