Predicting health, well-being, and educational success in emerging adults: An 8 year longitudinal study. This project will inform the community about factors that affect the psychological, physical, academic, and employment outcomes of emerging adults. It will improve our knowledge of why some young people do not reach their full potential. The project will provide a comprehensive assessment of factors associated with well-being across several domains. It will better equip and assist professiona ....Predicting health, well-being, and educational success in emerging adults: An 8 year longitudinal study. This project will inform the community about factors that affect the psychological, physical, academic, and employment outcomes of emerging adults. It will improve our knowledge of why some young people do not reach their full potential. The project will provide a comprehensive assessment of factors associated with well-being across several domains. It will better equip and assist professionals to identify early those youth at risk of having poor psychological, health, and employment prospects post-school. The project will inform the development of intervention programs for young people and maximise their overall adjustment and well-being several years later.Read moreRead less
Ambivalent Adolescents in Indonesia. Indonesia's stability and prosperity are matters of great significance for Australia. Adolescents have spearheaded political and social transformations in Indonesia, but face continuing economic and social difficulties. Our project will provide Australia with knowledge about Indonesian youth culture, Islam among youth and adolescent reproductive health, enhancing understanding of social change in Indonesia and thereby contributing to Australian security in th ....Ambivalent Adolescents in Indonesia. Indonesia's stability and prosperity are matters of great significance for Australia. Adolescents have spearheaded political and social transformations in Indonesia, but face continuing economic and social difficulties. Our project will provide Australia with knowledge about Indonesian youth culture, Islam among youth and adolescent reproductive health, enhancing understanding of social change in Indonesia and thereby contributing to Australian security in the region. Australia has been a world leader in expertise on Indonesia, but this expertise is dwindling. Our project puts together junior and established scholars, contributing to the sustainability of Australia's pre-eminent research position in Indonesian studies.Read moreRead less
Communicative human musicality: A cross-cultural comparative study of dance, singing and musical instrument skills in 12-15 year olds. The project aims to investigate musicality as a positive bodily, mental, social educational experience, and so fits with National Research Priority 2. It will develop international links and offer potential for understanding ethnic groups, and contribute also to areas of social policy by suggesting recommendations specific to children. By stimulating a theorisati ....Communicative human musicality: A cross-cultural comparative study of dance, singing and musical instrument skills in 12-15 year olds. The project aims to investigate musicality as a positive bodily, mental, social educational experience, and so fits with National Research Priority 2. It will develop international links and offer potential for understanding ethnic groups, and contribute also to areas of social policy by suggesting recommendations specific to children. By stimulating a theorisation of music as a social science, it will generate new research, and bring important unpublished materials to the academic community. Forging international collaborations and stimulating postgraduate study, the project will place UWA at the cutting edge of international scholarship.
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Using advertising to negatively reconstruct memories of risky and high-risk drinking amongst Australia's youth : a new intervention strategy. The NHMRC recognises alcohol-related problems as one of Australia's most serious health problems. Binge-drinking in particular is endemic amongst the population, especially youth, with such behaviour resulting in enormous economic, social and emotional costs to our nation. This study works towards reducing binge drinking amongst youth by assisting the de ....Using advertising to negatively reconstruct memories of risky and high-risk drinking amongst Australia's youth : a new intervention strategy. The NHMRC recognises alcohol-related problems as one of Australia's most serious health problems. Binge-drinking in particular is endemic amongst the population, especially youth, with such behaviour resulting in enormous economic, social and emotional costs to our nation. This study works towards reducing binge drinking amongst youth by assisting the development of more effective counter-advertising campaigns that make young people's memories of binge-drinking less enjoyable & more unpleasant. It also assists relevant advertising regulators & key decision-makers to take action to ensure that alcohol ads do not spawn primarily attractive memories of binge-drinking experiences.Read moreRead less
Social practices of oral health in Australian preschool children. The aim of the study is to explore "social practices" of oral health in Australian (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) preschool children. We use this emerging theory to move away from focusing on individuals and individual behaviour (and blame) to identify and map social practices: actions, materials and meanings families attribute to
child’s oral health. Expected project outcomes include identifying practices promoting or underminin ....Social practices of oral health in Australian preschool children. The aim of the study is to explore "social practices" of oral health in Australian (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) preschool children. We use this emerging theory to move away from focusing on individuals and individual behaviour (and blame) to identify and map social practices: actions, materials and meanings families attribute to
child’s oral health. Expected project outcomes include identifying practices promoting or undermining children’s oral health that can inform upstream and downstream policy directions and practices to improve health outcomes. This offers a new approach to "wicked" problems such as oral health where extensive
effort has not reduced morbidity and cost despite rhetoric that oral health is preventable.Read moreRead less
The weighty issue of childhood obesity: an investigation of the role of junk food advertising. Australian children have been getting continuously fatter since the 1970s. The direct health cost implications amount to $830 million annually. Most fat kids also become fat adults, suggesting a future health crisis in Australia. Junk food advertising is extremely heavy during children's television and is thought to contribute greatly to childhood obesity because children are highly susceptible to t ....The weighty issue of childhood obesity: an investigation of the role of junk food advertising. Australian children have been getting continuously fatter since the 1970s. The direct health cost implications amount to $830 million annually. Most fat kids also become fat adults, suggesting a future health crisis in Australia. Junk food advertising is extremely heavy during children's television and is thought to contribute greatly to childhood obesity because children are highly susceptible to the suggestions of ads. The present research will help policy makers decide the most appropriate regulation of food advertising to children, and has the potential to reduce the proportion of Australian kids who are fat, thereby saving billions of dollars in health costs.Read moreRead less
Motor coordination in infancy and its relationship to motor and psychosocial development in childhood. Few studies have examined the impact of early motor development on later development, even though there is evidence to show that these early movements influence later motor ability. Motor development can also impact on cognitive, emotional and social development. The current study has data on early motor ability in over 90 infants which includes children at risk of developmental disorders. We ....Motor coordination in infancy and its relationship to motor and psychosocial development in childhood. Few studies have examined the impact of early motor development on later development, even though there is evidence to show that these early movements influence later motor ability. Motor development can also impact on cognitive, emotional and social development. The current study has data on early motor ability in over 90 infants which includes children at risk of developmental disorders. We will carry out a longitudinal investigation of the relationship between early motor development in infancy on motor and psychosocial development in childhood. The results will provide information on early markers for developmental disorders and appropriate intervention techniques than can be initiated in infancy. Read moreRead less
Roads to the Future: Infrastructure and the New Development in Africa. This project aims to conduct a comparative analysis of new road schemes in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean (a region which sits at the intersection of several major global transport and development corridors), in order to understand their economic, socio-political, cultural and public health effects. As global road-building accelerates at an unprecedented rate, especially in the developing world, there is an urgent n ....Roads to the Future: Infrastructure and the New Development in Africa. This project aims to conduct a comparative analysis of new road schemes in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean (a region which sits at the intersection of several major global transport and development corridors), in order to understand their economic, socio-political, cultural and public health effects. As global road-building accelerates at an unprecedented rate, especially in the developing world, there is an urgent need for new models for understanding roads' potential economic benefits, as well as their risks, including their environmental risks. This project is benefitting citizens, NGOs, donors and governments, by generating new knowledge about how we have in the past, do at present, and should in the future, engage with roads.Read moreRead less
Marsupial germ cells and genes. Germ cells are the most fascinating cells in the body, since theirs is the unique responsibility for transmitting life from generation to generation. Studies in mice have suggested that position in the embryo determines their origin, but the early embryology of the mouse is so different from that of other mammals that the events need confirming and extending in another species. The simplified embryology of the tammar wallaby makes it ideal for studying one of the ....Marsupial germ cells and genes. Germ cells are the most fascinating cells in the body, since theirs is the unique responsibility for transmitting life from generation to generation. Studies in mice have suggested that position in the embryo determines their origin, but the early embryology of the mouse is so different from that of other mammals that the events need confirming and extending in another species. The simplified embryology of the tammar wallaby makes it ideal for studying one of the most fundamental questions in the whole of biology: what is the basis for the primal distinction between sex and soma?Read moreRead less
Measuring and modelling the childhood determinants of human capital formation and human capability expansion. This project aims to address significant gaps in the data infrastructure needed to advance Australian's current human capital reform agenda. It will draw on existing population and longitudinal datasets and collect specific community and family data to analyse how the social, economic and ecological contexts of child development enable life-course outcomes in health and human capability ....Measuring and modelling the childhood determinants of human capital formation and human capability expansion. This project aims to address significant gaps in the data infrastructure needed to advance Australian's current human capital reform agenda. It will draw on existing population and longitudinal datasets and collect specific community and family data to analyse how the social, economic and ecological contexts of child development enable life-course outcomes in health and human capability. Existing human capital measures will be refined to develop data standards to support the monitoring of the reform agenda. New modelling techniques to predict patterns of economic, civic and social participation in individuals and populations will also be developed and tested.Read moreRead less