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Converging studies in empathic listening (Ickes, 1997), emotional intelligence (Bar-On 2000,2001) and conflict resolution (Sanson & Bretherton, 2001; Alvy, 1994) point to the importance of parent training for bringing up socially competent children in a world so changed in western countries that traditional parenting practices are less than effective. Both behaviour and the ability to manage emotion can be affected by interactions with the parent in infancy (Fischer & Rose, 1994) childhood and adolescence (Gottman, 1 997). Appropriate assertiveness is an important component of communication skill (Wilson & Gallois, 1993). Conflict resolution skills require a combination of empathic listening, assertiveness and creative problem solving (Littlefield, Love, Peck & Wertheim, 1993). Parent Effectiveness Training (PET, Gordon, 1976) focuses attention on the developnlent of empathic family relationships leading to autonomy and self-responsibility in children through parent training in empathic listening, appropriate assertiveness and conflict resolution. PET reaches over 900 parents annually around Australia, using a newly developed workbook (Wood, 1997) simplified without loss of content as part of this study. The present investigation provides an extensive study of PET in Australia using a three-group comparison (70 standard US workbook, 8 1 Australian workbook and 8 1 controls with no PET) comparing parents' pretest and posttest results with outcome measures following a PET program. Verbal and cognitive skills acquisition was measured using the Parent-Child Response Sheet (PCRS, Wood & Davidson, 1987, 1994/95). Parents' family management concerns were collected through the parent-listed objectives for training and the Issues of Parental Concern (PC, Gordon, 1976; Wood, 1996) including ratings of the stress they felt about each issue on the SUDS scale (Wolpe, 1990) before and after PET. Both PET groups achieved substantially and significantly higher scores than controls on empathic listening, appropriate assertiveness and conflict resolution as measured by the PCRS. Compared with controls the PET parents showed a significantly greater reduction in levels of parental stress about their family concerns. Males scored significantly higher in listening skills using the vernacular version, although there were no statistically significant differences between the workbooks. Extensive qualitative reports indicated that parents had made satisfactory changes in I family management procedures, improved relationships with children and increased levels of family harmony. These findings confirm the conclusions of earlier research, including the meta-analysis of PET studles (Cedar & Levant, 1990), and provide the fnst extensive evaluation of PET implemented at a community level in the light of emerging awareness of emotional intelligence and the need for family development of interpersonal communication skills.

A theoretical eclectic model adopting a preventive approach to address adolescents at-risk of offending was created. Salient features were then utilised to assess a primary and secondary prevention program in practice. The sample (N = 62) consisted of 44 male and 18 female voluntary adolescents between 15 and 25 years of age, from all geographical areas within Tasmania, Australia. Conducted between September 1992 and October 1994, the study utilised a quasi-experimental recurrent institutional, non-parametric (prepost- follow-up) design as a control measure, to gauge maturational changes over a 12 month period of 11 groups of participants. Program effect was established through significant post minus pre participant general self-esteem and self-actualisation gain scores. Subsequent gender analysis found that female participants attained greater initial short-term gains in areas of social self-esteem (new peer relationships) and self-actualisation (personal insights). Conversely, longitudinal gains (pre to follow) were evidenced in the male sample in areas of general and personal self-esteem. Cross-sectional age-maturational analysis found significant personal self-esteem (happiness) gains achieved longitudinally by the early (i.e. 13-15) and in the short-term by the late (i.e. 19-21) adolescent groups of both genders. On the basis of these results, it is posited that the gender neutral physical demands of this wilderness-based program assisted female adolescent participants in gaining a more accurate and positive understanding of their social and personal attributes and abilities. Adolescent males appear to begin the program with an overestimation of their physical selves. Post activity loss of bravado occurs amongst male peers, potentially signalling a less competitive atmosphere and possible opportunity for development of self. The effect of this program as a catalyst preventing prima~yp articipants initial contact with court proceedings and reducing secondary prevention participants further involvement over a twelve month period was substantiated. The program provides the stimulus to assist with the actualisation of potential, manifesting most significantly within the community in educational and employment outcomes by 68% of the participants within this sample. It is surmised that this process works as an 'anti-depressant inoculation' particularly for the more mature, in that psychological strength is attained positively influencing post behavioural patterns. Perhaps an alternative perspective is that post course euphoria leaves a lingering positive effect. Recommendations for future research are included.

Psychological trauma results from exposure to an inescapable stressor that overwhelms a person's ability to cope. During the period of perceived threat a defensive process of denial and suppression frequently operates to control a person's emotional response to the situation. Emergency services personnel in particular, may actively employ a task- oriented approach to traumatic incidents: and suppress their anxiety and fear in order to maintain concentration and undertake their duties most effectively. In psychological terms, this behaviour may be seen as purposeful, adaptive dissociation. However, recent studies of emergency services personnel reveal that there are possible long-term risks associated with the experiencing dissociation during a traumatic situation. While the ability to control emotional response may be viewed as an effective way of coping during an intense or traumatic situation, there is an inherent danger that this inhibition of emotions may become the source of long term psychological and physiological disturbance. Psychological debriefing is a popular method of assistance for emergency services personnel following a traumatic incident. It is designed to promote the cognitive and emotional processing of a traumatic event. During a debrief, participants describe the traumatic experience (including their reactions and emotions) in order to begin to integrate and master key features of the experience. While there is abundant anecdotal evidence suggesting that psychological debriefings can be beneficial, there have also been conflicting reports as to their actual effectiveness. Investigators have indicated that rigorous investigation of the effectiveness of psychological debriefing and its role in post-trauma recovery is urgently required. In particular, such investigations need to provide a clear answer to the question 'Is psychological debriefing related to the prevention of PTSD symptoms and associated psychological sequelae?' In this study, an investigation was undertaken of 96 emergency services personnel involved in the response to the 'Port Arthur massacre', a critical incident in which a lone gunman randomly killed 32 visitors in a popular tourist venue in southern Tasmania. All participants were individually interviewed on two occasions: eight months after and twenty months after the incident. Two key findings from the research project we presented. Firstly, experiencing dissociative symptoms at the time of the incident was predictive of long-term psychological and physiological distress. Secondly, within the group of emergency services personnel who experienced dissociation at the event, those who disclosed their related thoughts and feelings at the subsequent group debriefings showed significantly less long-term psychological distress. The results of this study offer insight into how the impact of biological chances caused by a traumatic event can be modified by the psychological processing of that event. The results support the suggestion that following a traumatic situation, a person needs to process and integrate the memory of that event if he or she is to 'recover' from his or her reaction to the situation. Psychological debriefing appears to provide an opportunity for the necessary psychological processing to commence and assist emergency services personnel in managing what might otherwise develop into PTSD.

ERP evidence of affective picture processing generally agrees with one of two dominant theories. The first is that enhanced ERP responses to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli relative to neutral reflects the processing of stimulus motivational relevance, referred to as the quadratic effect, and the second is that enhanced ERP responses to unpleasant stimuli compared to pleasant and neutral stimuli reflects a negativity bias. The overarching aims of the current series of empirical studies were to identify which of the two aforementioned theories can most definitively account for affective picture processing (Phase 1); and to investigate how processes of attentional engagement and disengagement are influenced by the presence of motivationally relevant stimuli (Phase 2). Pictorial affective stimuli (high and low arousing pleasant, unpleasant, sexual, and neutral stimuli) were presented in a modified oddball paradigm to 38 participants (19 male, 19 female) in Experiment 1 and 34 participants (17 male, 17 female) in Experiment 2. A negativity bias was demonstrated for P3b amplitude in Experiment 1; however significantly enhanced P3b amplitudes evoked in response to sexually explicit stimuli in Experiment 2 was not consistent with either dominant theory, and raised questions as to the separable effects of motivational relevance and sexual arousal on cognitive processes. Experiment 3 was aimed at investigating whether ERP responses are differentially modulated by the social content of affective picture stimuli. The same participants from Experiment 2 participated in Experiment 3 and the oddball task involved the presentation of low arousing social and non-social pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral stimuli. No significant differences in ERP component measures were shown between social and nonsocial pleasant, or between social and non-social unpleasant stimuli, however both P2 and P3b component amplitudes were enhanced in response to neutral faces compared with neutral objects. Factors associated with facial recognition and difficulties extracting affective information from a somewhat ambiguous neutral expression were cited as possible explanations for the observed ERP component modulations. The principal aim of Phase 2 was to investigate whether the presentation of appetitive and aversive cues influences the engagement and disengagement components of covert visual attention as inferred by responses to validly and invalidly cued targets respectively. Participants in Experiment 4 @=I9 female) and Experiment 5 @=I8 female) were presented with a modified peripheral cueing paradigm, where pictorial stimuli (sexual, mutilation, threatening, and neutral) served as peripheral cues. Target processing as indexed by P1 and P3b amplitude showed significant facilitation in both Experiments 4 and 5 when targets were cued by sexual and mutilation stimuli, regardless of whether cueing was valid or invalid. It was therefore concluded that the engagement and disengagement components of covert visual attention are not differentially affected by motivationally relevant cues; rather, normal participants demonstrate a global response bias when respondmg to targets that are cued by motivationally relevant appetitive and aversive cues. The same participants from Experiment 5 were presented with a peripheral cueing paradigm in Experiment 6, which aimed to investigate the effect of phylogenetically (biological) and ontogenetically (cultural) fear-relevant stimuli on processes of covert visual attention. Pictorial stimuli depicting dangerous animals, human threat, and neutral objects served as peripheral cues. In line with preparedness theory (Seligman 1970, 1971), target processing was facilitated by the presence of animal threat stimuli compared to human threat and neutral stimuli, and also the early level of visual processing as indexed by cue-evoked P 1 amplitude was enhanced in response to phylogenetically, fear-relevant animal stimuli. A global response bias was again demonstrated in Experiment 6, and it was concluded that the attentional system of normal participants is sensitive to stimuli that have been evolutionarily associated with threat and/or fear. The current dissertation therefore has theoretical implications for the systematic study of affective picture processing. Furthermore, the introduction of a peripheral cueing paradigm to the study of affective picture processing provides a new insight into the effect that both appetitive and aversive stimuli have on processes of attentional orienting and target processing.

The majority of child sex offender (CSO) typologies lack a theoretical basis which limits their applications in treatment and risk assessment. In contrast, it has been argued that the Self-Regulation model of the sex offence process (Ward & Hudson, 1998a, 2000a) offers a typology that may have considerable practical benefits. The Self-Regulation model classifies CSOs based on offence goal (Approach/Avoidant) and strategy employed to achieve that goal (Active/Passive). Utilising an Australian sample of CSOs (N=12) and non-offending controls (N=12), the present studies assessed the accuracy of the Self-Regulation model with regard to descriptions of offence pathways and examined differences between pathway offenders in treatment needs and recidivism risk. However, given the small sample size, interpretations of findings were limited to describing the characteristics of the current sample. In the first series of studies, the assumptions underlying, and accuracy of, the Self- Regulation model were examined utilising a guided imagery methodology. The psychological and psychophysiological responses of CSOs and Controls to scripts depicting an emotionally neutral event (Neutral), adult consensual sex (Consensual), and child sexual assault (CSA) were compared. Although CSOs demonstrated a typical response to the personalised Consensual script, their response to the personalised CSA script was unique. Further investigation revealed some unexpected differences in responses between CSOs, classified as Approach- or Avoidant-goal and Active- or Passive-strategy, to the personalised Consensual and CSA scripts. It was proposed that these observed differences would likely have implications for the treatment and risk assessment of these of these offenders. In a second series of studies, the present sample of Avoidant-goal and Active- strategy offenders unexpectedly emerged as groups with higher treatment needs, as these groups demonstrated relatively higher psychological symptomatology on the Symptom Checklist-90-R (Derogatis, 1983) and higher scores on the Screening Scale for Paedophilic Interest (Seto & Lalumière, 2001). Although not statistically significant, these same offenders, when assessed using the Static-99, were also estimated to pose a higher risk for sexual recidivism than their counterparts. The final series of studies implemented the aetiological model of risk (Beech & Ward, 2004; Ward & Beech, 2004) as a guiding framework for exploring these unexpected results. A guided imagery examination demonstrated that offenders categorised as high or low in recidivism risk did not differ in peri-offence responses. Furthermore, offenders classified as relatively high or low in dispositions predictive of recidivism risk (i.e., paedophilic sexual interest/psychopathy) demonstrated relatively homogeneous peri-offence processes. However, given these null findings may have been an artifact of methodological issues (i.e., small sample size and low statistical power), the basis for the higher treatment need and recidivism risk of the present sample of Avoidant-goal and Active-strategy CSOs could not be determined. In the final chapter, the significance of these findings with regard to existing theory and practice was discussed. Although the present series of studies demonstrated some meaningful differences between the CSOs that were not predicted by the Self- Regulation model, interpretations of these results were limited due to methodological issues. Hence, it was proposed that further research, employing larger and more representative samples of CSOs, is needed to determine the efficacy of incorporating theory-driven offence process variables in treatment and risk assessment.

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This study, developed within a feminist social constructionist framework, examines the discourses which construct women's roles as mother and worker. It argues that government policy influences women's lives, not just materially through legislation, but ideologically through the promotion of certain discourses, which enable and constrain women's choices. In order to explore the interface between policy and experience, critical discourse analysis was used to examine two texts: the Action Plan for New Zealand Women (Ministry of Women's Affairs, 2004a), a government policy document, and the talk of two groups of first time mothers. This methodology focuses on the power of language to constitute reality and examines which institutions and ideologies are supported by discursive constructions.Although freedom to choose a life path is part of the policy's vision for New Zealand women, paid work is consistently privileged over caring roles. Motherhood is all but invisible and is constructed as an inevitable and undesirable demand, while paid work is constructed as essential to individual well-being and a duty of citizenship. An economic rationalist discourse positions women as workers first and foremost with a responsibility to financially provide for themselves and their children. Despite drawing on feminist discourses to warrant its vision, the policy is driven by capitalist goals of increased productivity and economic growth rather than the needs of women.The women deployed an intensive mother discourse which privileged their maternal role and positioned babies as needing parental care, and mothers as the natural providers of that care. However, they also felt the pressure of the successful woman and economic rationalist discourses in which paid work is essential and motherhood is devalued. The tension between these discourses manifested as guilt and conflict, managed in part through the emergence of newer constructions of independent mother and child. In making their decision about re-entering the paid workforce, in most instances the traditional paternal role as primary breadwinner was unchallenged, while the maternal role was expanded to incorporate not just primary caregiver, but also worker. The thesis finishes by considering the social consequences of these discursive constructions and argues that current discourses do not serve women, children, or men well. What is needed is a more complete breakdown of the public/private divide: a society which values care and work, both as responsibilities and rewards of citizenship, and which will therefore allow both women and men to construct more balanced lives and identities.

Rapid technological change and increasing traffic volumes worldwide are adding to the safety challenges for air traffic control. The night shift has traditionally been a period of low workload and work practices have evolved to reflect this. Thus, despite the exemplary safety record, there is a need to consider further systemic defences for maintaining performance and safety on the night shift. One possible strategy is the provision of a scheduled nap at work. In order to investigate the consequences of a scheduled nap on the night shift, 28 operational air traffic controllers were monitored across four roster cycles. Each roster cycle included one of two night shifts. Air traffic controllers were given a nap opportunity on one night shift of each type, and did not nap on the other. Information on the timing, quantity, and quality of sleep during the work week and days off was collected using actigraphy, and supported with logbook data. Sleep during the nap was measured using polysomnography, and the EEG and EOG were further utilised to determine neurophysiological alertness over the latter part of the night shift. Reaction time performance was measured three times across the night shift (beginning, middle, and end) with the psychomotor vigilance test.Actigraphy data indicated that the backward, rapidly-rotating work schedule of air traffic controllers resulted in a progressive loss of sleep across the work week. The reduction in sleep lead to an increasing cumulative sleep debt that was at a maximum prior to the night shift. This sleep debt was not related to reaction time performance at the end of the night shift, but was found to influence neurophysiological alertness.It was determined that the large majority of air traffic controllers were able to sleep during the scheduled 40 minute nap opportunity. However, the latency to sleep onset was long, the sleep short, and of relatively poor quality. Circadian and homeostatic factors increased the likelihood of entry into, and waking from, slow wave sleep (SWS). They were also found to influence reaction time performance and neurophysiological alertness. More variable performance and lowered alertness were seen at the end of the later starting (and finishing) night shift, possibly due to the combined influence of circadian and time-on-task factors. Homeostatic variables had less influence on performance at the end of the night shift, but greater acute sleep loss and higher cumulative sleep debts were related to increased neurophysiological sleepiness.performance and greater neurophysiological alertness in a dose-dependent manner, with even small amounts of stage 1 sleep effecting a performance improvement. Performance improvement was consistent across a range of reaction time measures and consistent improvements were also evident in the neurophysiological data, with the occurrence of SEMs declining, and lower spectral power evident in all frequency bands and single frequencies.These findings clearly demonstrate that a minimal quantity of sleep benefits the performance and alertness of air traffic controllers despite the "noise" of a field setting, thus providing a link between laboratory studies of napping and the actual work environment. The findings also fully support management endorsing a 40 minute napping opportunity for air traffic controllers working the night shift.The short nap sleep had no measurable effect on sleep subsequent to the night shift. However, the amount of sleep obtained in the nap was related to improved reaction time.

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