Objectives To establish the relation between recurrent peer victimisation and onset of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the early teen years. Design Cohort study over two years. Setting Secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. Participants 2680 students surveyed twice in year 8 (aged 13 years) and once in year 9. Main outcome measures Self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression were assessed by using the computerised version of the revised clinical interview schedule. Incident cases were students scoring >12 in year 9 but not previously. Prior victimisation was defined as having been bullied at either or both survey times in year 8. Results Prevalence of victimisation at the second survey point in year 8 was 51% (95% confidence interval 49% to 54%), and prevalence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression was 18% (16% to 20%). The incidence of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in year 9 (7%) was significantly associated with victimisation reported either once (odds ratio 1.94, 1.1 to 3.3) or twice (2.30, 1.2 to 4.3) in year 8. After adjustment for availability of social relations and for sociodemographic factors, recurrent victimisation remained predictive of self reported symptoms of anxiety or depression for girls (2.60, 1.2 to 5.5) but not for boys (1.36, 0.6 to 3.0). Newly reported victimisation in year 9 was not significantly associated with prior self report of symptoms of anxiety or depression (1.48, 0.4 to 6.0). Conclusion A history of victimisation and poor social relationships predicts the onset of emotional problems in adolescents. Previous recurrent emotional problems are not significantly related to future victimisation. These findings have implications for how seriously the occurrence of victimisation is treated and for the focus of interventions aimed at addressing mental health issues in adolescents.

This study examines the relationship between adolescent depressive symptoms and risk and protective factors identified for substance use. A questionnaire, developed to measure these factors in a young person's community, family, school, peer group, and individual characteristics for substance use, was used to assess associations with self-reported depressive symptoms. Data were provided by a representative sample of 8984 secondary school students in Victoria, Australia. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 10.5% (95% CI 9.2,12.0) for males and 21.7% (95% CI 20.3,23.7) for females. Depressive symptoms were associated with factors in all domains, with the strongest associations in the family domain. Strong relationships were found between the number of elevated risk and protective factors and depressive symptoms, maintained after adjusting for substance use. Patterns of associations were similar for users and nonsubstance users. The findings indicate that prevention programs targeting factors for substance use have the potential to impact on depression.

No abstract

This study examined the impact of a school-based preventive intervention on cannabis use in adolescence, using a cluster-randomized trial of a multilevel intervention aimed at improving social relationships within schools by promoting change in school environment. Four waves of data were collected at baseline (1997, Year 8: mean age 13 years) and six, 18, and 30 months later (1999, Year 10: mean age 16 years). Self-reported substance use, school engagement, and sociodemographic data were collected using computer-administered questionnaires. Some 2.678(74%) Year 8 students participated (wave 1) with minimal attrition (10% by wave 4). Adjusting for baseline use, weak evidence existed for an intervention effect on the prevalence of any use at Year 10 (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.54, 1.05) and incident weekly use (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.39, 1.33). These effects were reduced after adjusting for confounders. Moderate evidence suggested an interaction effect between intervention group and tobacco use (p = 0.04), suggesting the intervention was more effective for non-smokers at baseline (Adj. OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.26, 0.98). This study indicates that a multi-level school-based program may provide an innovative direction for sustainable school interventions with the potential to reduce substance use.

Objective: The present study examined the association between area socioeconomic status (SES) and food purchasing behaviour. Design: Data were collected by mail survey (64?2 % response rate). Area SES was indicated by the proportion of households in each area earning less than $AUS 400 per week, and individual-level socio-economic position was measured using education, occupation and household income. Food purchasing was measured on the basis of compliance with dietary guideline recommendations (for grocery foods) and variety of fruit and vegetable purchase. Multilevel regression analysis examined the association between area SES and food purchase after adjustment for individual-level demographic (age, sex, household composition) and socioeconomic factors. Setting: Melbourne city, Australia, 2003. Subjects: Residents of 2564 households located in fifty small areas. Results: Residents of low-SES areas were significantly less likely than their counterparts in advantaged areas to purchase grocery foods that were high in fibre and low in fat, salt and sugar; and they purchased a smaller variety of fruits. There was no evidence of an association between area SES and vegetable variety. Conclusions: In Melbourne, area SES was associated with some food purchasing behaviours independent of individual-level factors, suggesting that areas in this city may be differentiated on the basis of food availability, accessibility and affordability, making the purchase of some types of foods more difficult in disadvantaged areas.

Creating supportive environments with respect to safety and aesthetic area characteristics may decrease between-area differences and area deprivation inequalities in recreational cycling, respectively.

Lateral view x rays of a flautist in performance show that there is no variation in vocal tract shape with pitch, and that the larynx is lowered from the rest position when notes are played.