No abstract

Parents of children with defiant behaviour are frequently encouraged to establish clear behavioural expectations and consistency. Yet parental exhaustion, the constancy of the child's demands, and the child's push for control may compromise the success of the behavioural approach, leaving the family and therapist to search for other methods. This paper introduces parenting strategies developed as part of the 'C Plus C -K Program' for parents of primary school aged children (age range 5-12 years) with major behavioural problems. The program encourages parents to utilise relationship-building parenting strategies. It is anticipated that over time, the child will develop self-regulatory ability in situations of stress, leading to a reduction in problem behaviour. Preliminary data suggests that the program may be effective in achieving this aim. C Plus C strategies are illustrated with a fictional vignette based on common parenting situations. JoshuaTuesday morning, Alexandra can hear the screaming coming from the children's bedroom. She thinks, not one of THOSE days again! Where is Mark? He hasn't already left for work. No, she can still hear him. Why isn't he telling the children to be quiet? Alexandra gets up reluctantly and prepares a cup of tea. Mark comes into the kitchen, packs his lunch and leaves home. Alexandra sips her tea, jumps into the shower, and then gets dressed. At 7.25 she asks the children to get ready for school. They have made a total mess of their room. Josh (eight years) ignores the request, while Anita (ten) complies. For the rest of the hour, Josh continues to battle with his mother. He complains about the ANZJFT Volume 25 Number 2 2004 pp. 84-93 Ingeborg Stiefel and Philomena Renner Ingeborg Stiefel (left) is a senior clinical psychologist at Central Coast Health and an honorary associate at the Royal

Objective: To investigate the associations between demographic factors, binge drinking, psychological distress, psychological flexibility, and self-reported Days Out of Role (DOR) among students attending a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia. This study aimed to determine whether psychological flexibility moderated the association between psychological distress and DOR. Method: All enrolled students were invited to participate in an online survey titled 'The Mental Health Census' which contained standardised measures of binge drinking, psychological distress, and psychological flexibility. Students received an email, which outlined the purpose of the study, including the link to the anonymous survey. Results: A total of 3950 students participated in the survey. A higher number of DOR was significantly associated with a Non-English Speaking Language (NESL) background, binge drinking and economic hardship. Greater DOR was also associated with increased psychological distress and lower levels of psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility was found to moderate the association between psychological distress and DOR: students experiencing high distress were less likely to report greater DOR if they possessed higher levels of psychological flexibility. Conclusions: Overall, this study confirmed that university students experiencing psychological distress are at a greater risk of experiencing DOR, which may be counteracted by improving psychological flexibility.