The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief screening instrument for assessing emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents. This study examined the factor structure and validity of the self-report original English version of the SDQ and four of its many translations (German, Cypriot Greek, Swedish, and Italian). A total of 2418 adolescents from five European countries (Germany, Cyprus, England, Sweden, Italy), ages 12 to 17 years, participated. The sample was drawn from general (school) populations. In addition to the SDQ, all participants completed the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS), a measure of anxiety symptoms. The internal consistency and validity of the SDQ total difficulties were good for most countries. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that both five- and three-factor models provided good fit for the whole sample; however, the three-factor model fit somewhat better than the five-factor model. The factor structure differed across countries, with the three-factor model showing better fit indices in Cyprus, whereas the five-factor model fitted better in Germany. Fit indices for the UK, Sweden, and Italy were poor for both models. When the reversed items were removed, the goodness-of-fit improved significantly for the total sample and in each country. It is therefore recommended that the reversed items be removed or re-worded in future studies.

Establishments of Higher Education (HE) are generally recruiting a more diverse student population. This research has speci cally examined differences in the undergraduate student experience of direct and re-entry students. One hundred and twelve undergraduate direct and re-entry students took part in the study. A six-part questionnaire was used to investigate the impact of age, gender, past experiences of school and motivations for participating in HE on current global self-esteem, academic self-concept and academic stress. Re-entry students reported the most negative experiences of school overall and there was also evidence to suggest that females experienced more negative academic self-concept overall than males. If the reason to participate in HE was for career goals, academic stress levels were the highest. When the reason to participate was for cognitive interest, academic self-concept was positive and these individuals reported the most satisfaction with HE overall. Multiple regression analysis revealed a complex interrelationship of variables relating to academic self-concept, self-esteem and academic stress. These ndings suggest that the different experiences of students in HE cannot be simply explained by age strati cation.

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Effective Opportunistic Citizen Science 'managed crowd-sourcing' of an Australia-wide network of scientists with taxonomic expertise is used to verify every photographic observation. This unique system is supported by efficient workflows that ensures the rigor of data submitted. Moreover, ease of involvement for participants and prompt personal feedback has contributed to generating and maintaining ongoing interest. The design of Redmap Australia allows co-creation of knowledge with the community-without participants requiring formal training-providing an opportunity to engage sectors of the community that may not necessarily be willing to undergo training or otherwise be formally involved or engaged in citizen science. Given that capturing changes in our natural environment requires many observations spread over time and space, identifying factors and processes that support large-scale citizen science monitoring projects is increasingly critical.

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