PhD project areas

Gender role stereotypes play an important role in all areas of human development. They affect our emotions, choices, and behaviours in multiple contexts, and set the stage for prejudice and discrimination. While adult gender roles may have changed over the last few decades, most children are exposed to a continuing barrage of stereotyped gender roles from birth: from parents, the media, and peers, and these stereotypes have not changed significantly over time. Many parents express an interest in raising their children in a way that deemphasizes gender, yet there no existing evidence-based approaches focused on minimising the effects of gender role stereotypes in early childhood. This research aims to: 

• Provide a longitudinal description of the early home environment and its influence on infants’ gendered development, with a particular emphasis on the role of parents and specific parenting strategies.
• Assess the efficacy and mechanisms of change of a brief parenting program delivered prenatally in promoting an early learning environment that deemphasises the role of gender via a randomised controlled trial evaluating proximal program outcomes in the first year of life.

Project Supervisor: Alina Morawska

Parents’ ability to guide their children in developing ‘healthy habits’ is key to supporting children’s short- and long-term health and wellbeing. Establishing healthy behaviours in early childhood can lay the foundation for a lifetime of healthy habits and may have greater impact on long-term health than attempting to change entrenched adult behaviour. This program of research aims to establish the key facilitators and barriers to for children and their parents to engaging in healthy habits, and evaluate interventions to promote the development of early health behaviours in young children.

Project Supervisor: Alina Morawska

This project will evaluate Family Life Skills Triple P (FLSTP). FLSTP is a variant of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program focusing on assisting vulnerable parents with trauma history including family of origin adverse childhood events. The project will used mixed methods including a randomised trial methodology and qualitative methods to explore the effects of a 10 module program on child, parent and family level outcomes.

Project Supervisor: Karen Turner

Continuing education and training for professionals working with parents and families are critical to ensuring evidence-based practices are effectively used and disseminated. Typically, such training is offered in single or multi-day face-to-face workshops or training courses. Following the pandemic, and with ongoing technological advancements there has been increasing recognition of the value of online learning environments and opportunities. This series of projects will investigate how elements of professional training courses can be most effectively delivered online. The research will involve reviewing existing online professional training courses as well as designing and testing elements of online training, within the context of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program. A series of experiments will test the effectiveness of the developed online training elements in terms of practitioner consultation skills and self-efficacy.

Project Supervisor: Dr. April Hoang, Dr. Cassandra Tellegen

The Children and Sustainable Living Project is centred on examining protective factors that enhance children's readiness for the future, addressing critical issues like climate change, mental health, inequity, and discrimination. This multifaceted project encompasses two research streams. Stream 1 looks into individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors contributing to children's thriving. Stream 2 explores innovative methodological approaches for societal change, aiming to mobilize collective efforts toward creating a nurturing and supportive environment for children. This involves the application of implementation and prevention sciences. PhD candidates will engage with one of these two Streams, where their research will contribute to shape the literature in child development and sustainability.

Project Supervisor: Dr. April Hoang