Papers 

Sexting and young people
Young people’s ‘sexting’ – defined by the Macquarie Dictionary Online (2010) as the sending and receiving of sexually explicit images via mobile phones – has become a focus of much media reporting; however, research regarding the phenomenon is in its infancy. This paper reports on the first phase of a study to understand this activity more comprehensively. Interviews were conducted with notable key informants (including teen culture authors and professionals from the academic, education and health sectors) to create a context for a second phase involving interviews with young people. Insights were offered into reasons for young people’s participation, potential consequences and solutions. Highlighted was a gap in reliable data from the perspective of young people themselves, and the importance of their voice in understanding and developing effective strategies to prevent and deal with this phenomenon.

Sociality online
In response to polarising and emotive debates around young people using the internet, this paper presents recent research findings and offers insight into the issue from the perspective of young people. In early 2010, young people in two rural Victorian towns were asked to complete surveys answering questions about their online habits. Their responses revealed social interaction as a major motivator for going online. These results are analysed in the paper and contextualised within an increasing trend of using the internet to maintain real-world contacts in lieu of more virtually based relationships. The intersection between real-world sociality and online interaction is complex, and a more thorough understanding of this is able to inform debate on the issue of young people negotiating the dangers and opportunities of internet use.

‘2 am on a grassy knoll’
Youth workers often feel underrated and poorly understood in multidisciplinary conversations. While it may make us feel better to complain about our relatively marginalised youth worker status, it would be better for us to be proactive about explaining what it is that we actually do in language that makes sense to others. This article articulates two attributes of good youth work with a view to offering an example of what this might look like. The author argues that telling the story and theory behind distinctive aspects of youth work practice enhances the professional identity of the youth worker at the same time as equipping them to contribute meaningfully to multidisciplinary conversations about young people.

Re-engaging young people with education and training

Alternative education programs are one way of responding to the disengagement of young people from mainstream schools. While there are a great variety of programs, those where young people experience success have incorporated a number of elements of best practice (Mills & McGregor 2010). This article reviews the attributes of effective alternative programs, with a particular focus on programs situated in Queensland, Australia. Establishing what constitutes a successful alternative program becomes increasingly important in an education climate that includes rapid movement toward a standardised educational experience with the attendant potential to further alienate those young people already existing on the margins of mainstream schooling.  

Construction industry apprentices’ substance use

Prevalence rates and reasons for substance use were studied in a sample of 172 male construction industry apprentices who had a mean age of 20 years. Results were compared with those of men in similar age groups in Victoria, and regional and age differences were explored. Findings indicate that more metropolitan apprentices had experimented with cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine than their rural/regional counterparts. However, more rural apprentices indicated consuming alcohol than their metropolitan counterparts. Apart from alcohol use, older apprentices (aged 20 years and over) were also more likely to have used cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine than younger apprentices (aged 15–19 years). The majority of apprentices used substances for enjoyment (“It is fun/I like it”) or social reasons (“Friends use it”). The findings are discussed in the context of the literature, and suggestions for future research are made.

Reducing alcohol and other drug-related harm in young people

Deakin University’s RuralLife alcohol and other drug (AOD) research initiative was commissioned by St John of God Hospital and Barwon Youth to evaluate their Youth Engagement Program (YEP), which is an AOD harm-reduction program intended to engage young people with AOD problems in a region that has a higher-than-stateaverage proportion of young residents. YEP harm-reduction strategies include assertive and flexible outreach and education programs including alcohol awareness days conducted at local high schools. The YEP evaluation was based on two major components: collection and analysis of routinely collected YEP monitoring data, and interviews with key stakeholders in the program. The paper describes the YEP program, the aims and methods of the evaluation, the quantitative and qualitative findings, and recommendations as to how this and similar programs could be improved.