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Prescriptions and use of medications to treat mental health conditions in young autistic populations are inconsistent worldwide. This makes it hard to compare findings from international studies to the Australian autistic population, where there are limited relevant studies. Apart from risperidone, there are no other medications specified for direct use in autistic persons. This study aims to gain initial broad understanding of the use of medications, commonly prescribed for mental health conditions, specifically by autistics under the age of 21 years.

There is mounting concern over the potential harms associated with ultra-processed foods, including poor mental health and antisocial behavior. Cutting-edge research provides an enhanced understanding of biophysiological mechanisms, including microbiome pathways, and invites a historical reexamination of earlier work that investigated the relationship between nutrition and criminal behavior. Here, in this perspective article, we explore how this emergent research casts new light and greater significance on previous key observations.

Family-based lifestyle interventions (FBLIs) are an important method for treating childhood weight problems. Despite being recognized as an effective intervention method, the optimal structure of these interventions for children’s overweight and obesity has yet to be determined.

After a first alcohol-related hospitalisation in youth, subsequent hospitalisations may demonstrate an increased risk of further alcohol-related hospitalisations, but there is no existing data on this.

Substance use is a public health issue with a greater burden in rural areas. Barriers to accessing services are exacerbated for rural substance users, with confidentiality concerns, longer travel distances, workforce issues and limited availability of services. This paper presents results from a study exploring substance users' experiences of accessing services in Western Australia's South West.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been vast and are not limited to physical health. Many adolescents have experienced disruptions to daily life, including changes in their school routine and family’s financial or emotional security, potentially impacting their emotional wellbeing.

Living with a long-term medical condition is associated with heightened risk for mental health and psychosocial difficulties, but further research is required on this risk for children and adolescents with a rare disease in the educational setting. The aim of this study is to describe parents’ perceptions of the psychosocial impact of rare diseases on their school-aged children in Western Australia.

Australia’s history of negative child protection outcomes for children in state care highlights the sustained, systemic nature of serious harm. Situated in emerging conversations on structural challenges and state violence for parents involved in child protection systems, we trace the resources and barriers to responsive and ‘just’ child protection practice, highlighting how institutions can serve to compound disadvantage and injustice. We argue that addressing challenges such as access to advocacy at the level of the individual is to miss the underlying politics of oppression that serves to keep families marginalised.

Unmet language and literacy needs are common among young people who are involved with youth justice systems. However, there is limited research regarding the functional text-level language skills of this population with regard to narrative macrostructure (story grammar) and microstructure (semantics and syntax) elements. In this study, we examined macrostructure and microstructure elements in the oral and written narrative texts of 24 adolescent students of a youth detention centre. The students, who were aged 14- to 17- years, were all speakers of Standard Australian English, and 11 (46%) students met criteria for language disorder (LD).

"Psychotic-Like Experiences" (PLEs) are common in the general population. While they are usually transient and resolve spontaneously, they can be distressing and signify increased risk for later psychosis or other psychopathology. It is important to investigate factors associated with PLEs which could be targeted to reduce their prevalence and impact. Males and females are known to experience PLEs differently, but any gender differences in the relationships between PLEs and other, potentially targetable, factors are currently unknown.