Paul Delfabbro

The Predictors of Unsuccessful Transition to Foster Care

The placement movements of 235 children entering foster care over a 12-month period were followed up 4 months after referral into care. Baseline and follow-up measures of the 170 children who were still in care at follow-up were also compared. Results indicated that adolescents with mental health or behavioural problems were the least likely to achieve placement stability or to display improved psychological adjustment in care. In fact, unsatisfactory transition to foster care was found to be so prevalent among these children that conventional foster family care should be considered unsuitable for them. The paper concludes that there is an urgent need for a wider range of alternative care options for the adolescent population.

Peer and teacher bullying/victimization of South Australian secondary school students: Prevalence and psychosocial profiles

This study examined the nature and prevalence of bullying/victimization by peers and teachers reported by 1,284 students (mean age = 15.2 years) drawn from a representative sample of 25 South Australian government and private schools. Students completed a self-report survey containing questions relating to teacher and peer-related bullying, measures of psychosocial adjustment, and personality. The results showed that students could be clearly differentiated according to the type of victimization they had experienced. Students reporting peer victimization typically showed high levels of social alienation, poorer psychological functioning, and poorer self-esteem and self-image. By contrast, victims of teacher victimization were more likely to be rated as less able academically, had less intention to complete school and were more likely to be engaged in high-risk behaviours such as gambling, drug use and under-age drinking. Most bullying was found to occur at school rather than outside school and involved verbal aggression rather than physical harm. Boys were significantly more likely to be bullied than girls, with the highest rates being observed amongst boys attending single-sex government schools. Girls were more likely to be subject to bullying if they attended coeducational private schools. The implications of this work for enhancing school-retention rates and addressing psychological distress amongst adolescent students are discussed.

Video game structural characteristics: a new psychological taxonomy

Excessive video game playing behaviour may be influenced by a variety of factors including the structural characteristics of video games. Structural characteristics refer to those features inherent within the video game itself that may facilitate initiation, development and maintenance of video game playing over time. Numerous structural characteristics that influence gambling frequency and expenditure have been identified in the gambling literature, and some researchers have drawn comparisons between the rewarding elements in video gaming and those in slot machine gambling. However, there have been few rigorous attempts to classify and organise the psycho-structural elements of video games in a similar way to gambling. In order to aid current psychological understanding of problem video game playing and guide further research questions in this area, a new taxonomy of video game features is proposed, which includes: (a) social features, (b) manipulation and control features, (c) narrative and identity features, (d) reward and punishment features, and (e) presentation features. Each category is supported with relevant theory and research, where available, and the implications of these features for excessive video game playing are discussed.

An international perspective on youth gambling prevalence studies.

In the wake of rapid expansion of legal gambling internationally, studies of adolescent gambling involvement and problem gambling prevalence have been carried out in numerous jurisdictions. This paper reviews adolescent gambling prevalence studies that have been carried out in North America, Europe, and Oceania. Based on this review, work is clearly needed to assess the impact of survey methods on identified prevalence rates and to improve the measurement of problem gambling among adolescents. From a substantive perspective, several clear demographic and behavioral characteristics are associated with gambling involvement and problem gambling among youth. However, early assumptions about youth gambling and problem gambling must give way to more nuanced understandings of how these phenomena change in response to changes in the social and cultural environment. We may have traveled some distance down the road toward understanding the determinants as well as the distribution of youth gambling and problem gambling, but we still have a long way to go.

Motivators for Change and Barriers to Help-Seeking in Australian Problem Gamblers

Although prevalence studies consistently indicate that many thousands of Australians experience gambling-related problems, only a relatively small proportion of these people seek professional help. This study examines the principal motivations for, and impediments to, help-seeking in a sample of 77 problem gamblers recruited from agencies and the general community. The results indicated that profession help-seeking is predominantly crisis-driven rather than being motived by a gradual recognition of problematic behaviour. Shame, denial and social factors were identified as the most significant barriers to change rather than a lack of knowledge, or dislike of, treatment agencies. The value of early interventions including the screening of gamblers in routine medical consultations and partner support strategies is discussed.

Children in Foster Care

Section One: An introduction to Foster Care 1. Assessment, Planning and Intake 2. In-Care Standards Secton Two: Backgrouund to the Study 3. From Parent to Purchaser: The new Policy Context 4. Methodology Section Three: Results 5. The Views of Workers and Carers on Outsourced Care 6. Background Characteristics of Children Entering Care 7. The Progress and Satisfaction of Children in Care 8. How Important is Family Contact? 9. The Predictions of Family Reunification 10. The Psychosocial Consequences of Placement Instability 11. The Serial Eviction of Disruptive Children 12. The Views of Disruptive Children and their Carers 13. Myths and Legends in Foster Care

The convergence of gambling and digital media: Implications for gambling in young people

Adolescents’ use of the Internet and other digital media for the purpose of gambling represents a serious concern in modern society. This paper overviews some of the available monetary and non-monetary forms of gambling within new digital and online media and monetary forms of games with gambling-like experiences. With reference to current psychological knowledge on the risk factors that promote adolescent gambling, it is suggested that new gambling technologies may: (a) make gambling more accessible and attractive to young people, (b) may promote factually incorrect information about gambling, (c) provide an easy escape from real world problems such as depression and social isolation, (d) create a gambling environment that easily facilitates peer pressures to gamble, (e) ease parental transmission of gambling attitudes and beliefs, and (f) make gambling more ubiquitous and socially acceptable. The unique risks of Internet gambling for young people are critically discussed, as well as the lack of restricted classification for video games and other media that feature interactive, non-monetary forms of gambling.

The stubborn logic of regular gamblers: Obstacles and dilemmas in cognitive gambling research

Cognitive studies into gambling behaviour have shown that many gamblers misinterpret the odds of gambling activities, hold false beliefs about skill and luck, and over-estimate their subjective chances of success. Accordingly, providing accurate information about gambling in venues, or on slot-machines, would appear to be a sensible way to enhance the ‘safety’ of gambling products. Unfortunately, such ideas for educating gamblers may be difficult to implement in practice because of limitations and conceptual dilemmas in the cognitive literature. Irrational beliefs about gambling may be difficult to falsify, are often highly idiosyncratic and context-bound, and may stem more from the selective misuse of information than from a lack of knowledge about gambling activities. Drawing evidence from recent research into gambling-related cognitions, this paper examines the key elements of irrational-belief systems, and how this work might usefully inform the design of future consumer information initiatives.

Psychological resilience in disadvantaged youth: A critical overview

This paper provides a critical review of research into the notion of psychological resilience and its implications for studies of disadvantaged young people. A number of significant conceptual and methodological challenges are examined, the most important of these being the difficulties associated with the operationalisation of resilience, the development of culturally relevant thresholds and the circularity inherent in commonly used definitions. The limitations and potential value of integrated theoretical models, such as Brofenbrenners ecological model and Banduras self-efficacy theory are considered, along with suggestions for methodological strategies to enhance the validity and comprehensiveness of resilience research.

Predictors of Irrational Thinking in Regular Slot Machine Gamblers

Abstract Previous research has suggested that irrational thinking may play a central role in the maintenance of behavior in slot machine gambling (M. B. Walker, 1992b). The present study is an evaluation of the validity and predictors of irrational thinking in a sample of regular gamblers (N = 20) drawn from the general community. The results were generally consistent with earlier findings; 75% of gambling-related cognitions were found to be irrational. Irrationality was unrelated to the amount of money lost or won during sessions but was positively related to risk taking. The most common irrational cognitions included false beliefs concerning the extent to which outcomes could be controlled or predicted and the attribution of human qualities (personification) to gambling devices. Gender comparisons showed that women were more likely than men to personify the machines. The validity of the speaking-aloud approach and suggestions for future research are discussed.