Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Theses
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ItemPrecursors and consequences of heavy alcohol use in adolescence( 2006)There is evidence of high and escalating rates of alcohol use in adolescents today and concern that high use is related to concurrent and later difficulties. Despite overlap with other substances, alcohol is by far the most commonly used substance during adolescence and is considered normative in some countries. Thus, it is important for research to focus on alcohol use in adolescence and early adulthood, to determine its patterns, developmental paths and outcomes. This study used extensive longitudinal data from a large community sample, followed from infancy to young adulthood (the Australian Temperament Project), and sought to examine the precursors and consequences of adolescent alcohol use. Firstly, it sought to identify clusters of adolescents with different alcohol usage patterns. Next, predictors of adolescent alcohol use were investigated to determine whether developmental paths differed for moderate and heavy adolescent alcohol users. Sex differences in the patterns and precursors of alcohol use were explored. In addition, a small sub-sample of participants was followed into young adulthood to examine the psychosocial outcomes of different patterns of adolescent alcohol use. Results confirmed high levels of alcohol use among Australian adolescents, and striking increases over time. Five alcohol-use clusters emerged representing trajectories from 13 to 18 years, with somewhat different developmental pathways. As hypothesised, individual risk factors, identifiable in childhood, were predictive of heavy alcohol use, although effects were small, while social risk factors were predictive of both heavy and moderate alcohol use. This finding has implications for intervention, supporting both early intervention for behaviour problems and social skill deficits, as well as multi-modal prevention efforts during adolescence incorporating a range of social domains. Importantly, there were no sex differences in patterns of adolescent alcohol use. Regarding predictors, some minor sex differences emerged in the link between childhood behaviour problems and heavy alcohol use, but not in the manner expected, suggesting that more research is required to determine the presence or absence of sex-specific pathways. Finally, alcohol-use patterns changed between late adolescence and young adulthood, revealing significant increases for most groups. While most adolescent abstainers were drinking in early adulthood, their earlier abstinence appeared to protect them against harmful levels of use. Moderate users experienced the most marked increases, reaching levels similar to heavy users in young adulthood. Unexpectedly however, adolescent alcohol-use patterns did not predict young-adult psychosocial adjustment, suggesting that alcohol use is more closely related to concurrent than future adjustluent, and indicating a need for further longitudinal research in this area.
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ItemExperiences of racism by Aboriginal Australians and Vietnamese immigrants: a comparative study( 1998)In their analysis of racism and related theorizing, social scientists have largely ignored the victims' experiences and responses. Because of this, knowledge of racism as a social process is incomplete. There are several reasons for this, among which are an apparent lack of interest by majority group social scientists in the experiences of minority groups, difficulties in using the methods of the positivist scientific paradigm to investigate these experiences and responses to them, and a lack of trust in other means of conducting such investigations. In order to begin to re-dress this situation, this study was based on the naturalistic paradigm, and used qualitative methods with checks for the trustworthiness of the data and findings. Fifty Vietnamese and thirty-four Aborigines participated in in-depth interviews about their experiences of racism and their responses to those experiences. In accepting these narratives as having both veracity and worth, the study provides an understanding of the range of racist experiences, the impact of those experiences, and the coping responses invoked. Although both groups reported a similar range of racism across the verbal and behavioural domains, in discriminatory experiences and in racism at the general community level, there were quantitative and qualitative difference between them. The data suggest that while Vietnamese are generally accepted into the mainstream, conditional upon their assimilation and occupation of lower status positions, Aborigines are expected to stay in their place in a lower echelon outside the mainstream. The emotional and coping responses identified within the groups were also similar, although again there was some variation in the way the groups responded to their experiences. In general though, coping can be considered to be defensive, controlled or confronting. In reporting the findings, a series of assertions are made. Firstly, theories about racism need to recognize that there may be variability in the way it is perpetrated against, and is experienced by different groups. It may also serve varying purposes. Secondly, to argue that contemporary racism is predominantly subtle, symbolic and modern racism may be misleading. It ignores the fact that blatant overt racism is still a major problem for minority group members. Thirdly, the role of emotion in the experience and response to racism needs to be explored further and incorporated into theorizing about the processes of racism. Fourthly, the conceptualization of response to racism according to the dimensions identified in these data may contribute to a more cohesive and inclusive theory of coping with racism. Fifthly, social scientists should be self-reflective in relation to their work on racism, or face the risk that their theorizing may bolster racist political arrangements within society. Finally, qualitative methods are recommended for similar studies of the phenomena under investigation. Just as the victim's perspective complements the perpetrator's perspective, qualitative methods may complement the use of quantitative methods in the search for a more complete understanding of the phenomenon of racism.