This study investigates whether dimensions of sense of place can discriminate those residents who identify with their rural town, and prefer to stay, from those who do not, and whether patterns of association between these dimensions differ between adolescent and adult residents. Participants were 246 adults and 365 adolescents in two remote rural towns in Australia. Place identity was determined from residents' responses on a single item, "I would really rather live in a different town. This one is not the place for me". Three groups were classified, those agreeing, undecided and disagreeing with the statement. Discriminating variables were place attachment (emotional bonding and behavioural commitment), sense of community (affiliation and belonging) and place dependence (available activities, quality and quality comparison with alternative communities). A direct discriminant function analysis showed 76.4 % of adults were correctly classified from one discriminant function accounting for 92 % of the variance. Indicators of dependence, belonging, behavioural commitment and emotional bonding, loaded above .45. Sixty-two percent of adolescents were correctly classified from one discriminant function accounting for 93.6 % of the variance. Indicators of dependence and belonging loaded .45 and above.Discussion considers distinguishing dimensions of sense of place and identifying associations amongst them as ways to explore the experience of community in everyday life.

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) is used to assess the severity of symptoms in child and adolescent samples although its validity in these populations has not been demonstrated. The authors assessed the latent structure of the 21‐item version of the scale in samples of 425 and 285 children and adolescents on two occasions, one year apart. On each occasion, parallel analyses suggested that only one component should be extracted, indicating that the test does not differentiate depression, anxiety, and stress in children and adolescents. The results provide additional evidence that adult models of depression do not describe the experience of depression in children and adolescents. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: 66:1–12, 2010.

There has been little research on stress as perceived by people with an intellectual disability. This is somewhat surprising considering the changes in phi\osophy and service delivery models across the western world that have resulted in people with an intellectual disability being at the forefront of massive attitudinal shifts within society. In this study, administration of the Lifestress Inventory to 459 people with a mild or moderate intellectual disability revealed that people with a disability reported experiencing an average of 8.57 stressors from a list of 31 stressors. When the stress intensity ratings for the individual stressors were examined it was clear that most stressors bothered the participants ' a fair bit'. People with an intellectual disability reported a lot of stress from negative interpersonal relationships with peers and others.

Environmental stewardship networks flourish across Australia. While the environment benefits, this paper looks to identify what volunteers draw from their stewardship. We adapted 16 questions that purportedly tap environmental stewardship motivation and administered them to a convenience sample of 318 university students,

Background: Quality of life is a popular measure of outcomes and its widespread use has led to recent calls for a better understanding of the construct, emphasising the need to build a substantial body of knowledge around what determines perceptions of life quality. Some conceptual principles are examined in this study.Method: Self-ratings of life quality and three likely determinants at an individual level (stress), an interactional level (social support) and a community level (neighbourhood belonging) were used. Two groups of young adults from an urban community participated, one identified as having an intellectual disability.Results: Young adults with intellectual disability rated their satisfaction with health significantly higher and intimacy and community involvement lower than the comparison group. Social support emerged as the strongest predictor of life satisfaction across both groups.Conclusion: The conceptual principles of subjective quality of life provide a useful framework to discuss findings and to stimulate further research.