Toorak College

Schools are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of mental health promotion and the early identification of mental illness. The literature clearly indicates that good mental health has a positive outcome on school belonging as well as academic outcomes. In this chapter, we investigate both positive and negative personal characteristics—emotional instability and positive personal characteristics such as self-esteem, character strengths, mindset, social and emotional competence, and positive emotionality. We consider strategies for minimising emotional instability and promoting positive personal characteristics, as important pathways for fostering a sense of school belonging.

This article presents an overview of the literature on mental health in the adolescent population in Australia and includes the prevalence and epidemiology of mental health issues and an analysis of a range of school-based interventions. The presence of mental illness in young people has become a major health problem globally, and increasing interest has been toward showing how Australian youths in the general population are specifically affected. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the implications for mental illness in adolescents, and particularly in minority populations. Particularly troubling are reported suicide rates in this age group over the last decade. This article argues that the average age of onset for mental illness is falling, signifying that schools are fast becoming important environments for early identification and intervention programs. In recent years, a rapid increase in research has investigated the relationship between school connectedness and psychopathology. Empirical studies on school belonging and loneliness reveal considerable evidence that social connections play an essential role in the prevention of mental health issues and in the fostering of wellbeing. This article explores Australian studies on mental illness and its prevention and intervention in secondary schools. The article contributes to existing literature of mental illness in adolescents and has important practical implications for future intervention.

Until the late 1960's the most popular advice literature for expectant mothers did not concern itself with advice on smoking. However, since the turn of the decade there have been increasing exhortations against smoking during pregnancy. For example, the Health Education Council (U.K.) has produced a pamphlet which commences: “When a pregnant woman smokes she puts her unborn baby's life at risk. Every time she inhales, she poisons her baby's bloodstream with nicotine and carbon monoxide.” Why have there been these increasing exhortations, and what is the evidence?