Publications by authors named "Toumbourou J"

The aim of this study was to pilot an adapted version of an online relationships program with residents in treatment for alcohol and other drugs (AOD). The OurRelationship (OR) Program, which is based on Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy, was piloted in a group-based format to determine whether residents' participation in the program would result in decreases in residents' destructive responses and increases in constructive responses to relationship conflict scenarios as well as reductions in negative affect experienced during these conflict scenarios. Residents ( = 104) across six residential facilities participated in the pilot over 4 weeks.

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  • The rising global impact of substance use, including various drugs, is a significant concern, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, where these substances are among the top causes of disease burden.
  • The Monitoring Illicit Substance Use (MISUse) Consortium was created to study these substances more effectively by combining data from four established cohort studies across the two countries, which will allow for larger and more comprehensive research.
  • The goal of the MISUse Consortium is to better understand the patterns and long-term effects of illicit substance use, with an emphasis on finding modifiable factors that can inform public health policies and interventions.
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Background: Internationally, adolescent alcohol consumption has been a major community concern for decades. Globally, there is a growing array of interventions aimed at preventing youth alcohol-related problems. Notably, the Communities that Care (CTC) process in the USA has proven to be a cost-effective intervention, leading to a reduction in adolescent alcohol-related problems.

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Objective: To examine how alcohol availability, overserving, and enforcement in recreational and social settings are related to alcohol misuse and alcohol-impaired driving among young adults in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States.

Method: Longitudinal data came from 1,430 participants in Victoria (n = 757; 52% female) and Washington (n = 673; 53% female), surveyed in 2014 (age 25) and 2018 (age 29) from the International Youth Development Study, a population-based, cross-national study to examine factors influencing substance use. Path modeling tested associations between age 25 perceptions of the alcohol environment, age 25 social alcohol consumption, and age 31 alcohol-related harms.

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Background: Group differences in longitudinal patterns of child and adolescent depressive symptoms are commonly observed. However, the implications for adult mental health are unclear. This study presents a systematic review of child and adolescent depressive symptom trajectory research and meta-analysis of their longitudinal effects on adult depressive symptoms and disorders.

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Objective: With same-day online alcohol sales increasing, there is a need to study their regulation. Test purchasing of alcohol home delivery was conducted to measure compliance with regulations for identification checks and unattended deliveries in two Australian jurisdictions (Perth, Western Australia, and Geelong, Victoria), which have differing regulations.

Method: Alcohol orders for same-day or rapid (<2 hours) delivery on Friday and Saturday nights were made by research assistants ages 18-24 years in Perth ( = 34) and Geelong ( = 29).

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Background: This article describes the Steps to Confident Parenting (SCP) program, developed by an Australian family service consortium. The SCP integrates home-based and case-management services to enhance the skills of parents with a diagnosed or suspected intellectual disability/cognitive impairment and to prevent child protection interventions.

Method: 'Program explication' methodology documented the components/activities, and underpinning evidence for this practitioner designed service through interviews with nine agency staff.

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  • Completing high school helps people have better job chances and live healthier, happier lives.
  • This study looked at how feeling included in social activities affects students who might struggle in school.
  • The results showed that feeling socially included helps students who aren't as vulnerable, but doesn't really help those who are at a higher risk of dropping out.
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Prior studies suggest that adult supervised drinking in adolescence predicts greater adolescent alcohol misuse. Long-term follow up data examining how adult supervised drinking during adolescence relates to alcohol misuse in adulthood are lacking. Longitudinal data from the International Youth Development Study tested associations between adult supervised drinking during adolescence (ages 13-16; 2002-2004) and adult alcohol misuse (ages 25-31; 2014, 2018, 2020).

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Background: This study evaluated a research project that provided employment in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-based setting and supported participants to identify and achieve their goals and aspirations. The evaluation examined changes in personal, relationship, community and cultural strengths and resources and explored empowerment and resilience, in terms of promoting wellbeing.

Methods: Ten Aboriginal people employed as life coaches and peer researchers participated in semi-structured interviews and also completed the Aboriginal Resilience and Recovery Questionnaire at the beginning of their employment and 6-months after employment.

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For decades, human ecosystem disruptions (HEDs), including pandemics, natural disasters, and socio-economic crises, have shaped national and international responses affecting everyday life. These disruptions present challenges and opportunities for prevention science to address emerging behavioral and mental health research questions, intervention strategies, methodologies, analyses, and research collaboration. This paper introduces a special issue that aims to document examples of how prevention science research teams had (1) globally improved health and well-being through swift, scientifically based responses during HED events and (2) advanced our understanding of the conduct and outcomes of prevention intervention research during crises such as pandemics, natural disasters, and socio-economic crises.

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  • The study highlights the critical link between stable housing and health equity, especially during young adulthood, as instability can lead to long-term negative impacts on health and wellbeing.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing vulnerabilities for young adults experiencing homelessness, revealing significant financial and mental health challenges.
  • Findings emphasize the need for targeted research and policy actions to prevent homelessness and housing instability in the wake of the pandemic, focusing on early intervention and emergency preparedness for at-risk populations.
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  • Variation in alcohol availability, especially through online home delivery, significantly influences consumption habits and associated harms, but research is lacking on its impact and user characteristics.
  • A survey of 465 adults in Western Australia who used alcohol home delivery revealed that high-risk drinkers purchase more frequently and in larger quantities compared to low-risk drinkers, with a higher likelihood of ordering while intoxicated.
  • The study suggests that high-risk drinkers are major users of these delivery services, indicating a need for stricter regulations and monitoring to mitigate potential negative effects on public health.
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Background: Job stressors can be particularly harmful to the mental health of disadvantaged groups through differential exposure, differential sensitivity to the effects of exposure, or both. In this paper, we assess the extent to which emergent adult workers with an adolescent history of high depression symptoms may be differentially sensitive to the effect of job stressors on mental health.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of three waves of the Australian arm of the International Youth Development Study (n = 1262).

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Persistent pain is a major public health issue-estimated to affect a quarter of the world's population. Public understanding of persistent pain is based on outdated biomedical models, laden with misconceptions that are contrary to best evidence. This understanding is a barrier to effective pain management.

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The workplace has been understudied as a setting for the prevention of young adult alcohol misuse. This study examined if alcohol-tolerant workplace environments are associated with greater risk for alcohol use and misuse on and off the job among young adults. Data were collected in 2014 from state-representative, sex-balanced samples (51% female) of 25-year-olds in Washington, U.

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Effective implementation strategies are important for take-up of programs in schools. However, to date, few implementation strategies have been co-designed with teachers and support staff (including principals) in Australia. The aim of this study was to iteratively co-design multiple implementation strategies to enhance the delivery of mental health prevention program, PAX Good Behaviour Game, in New South Wales primary schools.

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Objectives: The use of nicotine vaping products (NVPs) has increased in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region; however, it is uncertain what implications the presence and use of NVPs have for tobacco control.

Design: In-depth interviews were conducted to explore ASEAN tobacco control experts' (n=11) views on the rise of NVP use in ASEAN LMICs, current NVP policies, the potential harm reduction and smoking cessation utilities of these devices, and what implications they may have for tobacco control. Data were analysed using inductive, reflexive thematic analysis.

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  • Researchers are studying how effective Relationship Education (RE) programs are at reducing relationship problems and aggression.
  • A review of 31 studies showed that RE programs helped reduce aggressive behavior, especially in people who initially had worse relationship issues.
  • The research found that people with moderate to severe aggression before the program saw big improvements in both physical and emotional aggression, as well as in controlling and conflict behaviors.
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Although consensual sending of sexts between adolescents is considered developmentally appropriate, it may also entail a range of negative consequences. Current sexting research lacks a comprehensive theoretical framework identifying a range of risk and protective factors underpinning adolescent consensual sending of sexts across individual, interpersonal, and distal levels. Further, there is a lack of systematic evaluation of how the importance of these factors may vary across adolescent age.

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Enhancing social inclusion in young people could increase engagement in education, yet few longitudinal studies have examined this relationship. This study aimed to identify whether social inclusion in an Australian adolescent sample predicted high school completion three years later. Using state-representative data from the International Youth Development Study, two waves of the youngest cohort (51.

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For victim-survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), receiving help from formal services such as specialist family violence, health, or criminal justice services can be critical for their safety and well-being. Previous research has found cross-cultural differences in the rates of help-seeking behavior, with women from non-Anglo-Saxon communities less likely to seek formal help than Anglo-Saxon populations. This qualitative meta-synthesis has integrated qualitative evidence to examine the relationship between specific cultural norms and formal service engagement for female victim-survivors of IPV from non-Anglo-Saxon communities.

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Sext dissemination (i.e., the online sharing of sexually explicit images) has the potential to result in legal, social, and psychological harms.

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Strict lockdowns have been employed by many of the world's nations as a public health response to COVID-19. However, concerns have been expressed as to how such public health responses disturb the human ecosystem. In this paper, we report on findings from a longitudinal study of Australian parents in which we investigated how state differences in government-mandated lockdowns affect the relationship well-being (i.

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