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Item Embargo Cultivation and commodification : Regulating gendered status and settler colonial title to land(Taylor & Francis, 2025-01-02)The processes by which settler colonial rights to manage land were assigned to legal persons were structured by the South Australia Act 1834 and the Real Property Act 1858. Colonial corporations – including the Crown – managed land and natural resources by regulating how rights were held by the family as a gendered, property-holding institution, and by individuals, including women. This article examines the legal processes by which the management of land and resources was directed towards goals of cultivation and commodification in colonial Australia to show how property rights shaped ideas of gendered and nongendered personhood. Changing priorities relating to land ownership led to new modes of transferring property and contributed to a reduction in the significance of gender as a marker of relative legal status between men and women in private law in colonial Australia.Item Open Access The prevalence and prevention of child sexual abuse and sexual harassment in faith-based settings(Australian Catholic University, 2025-12-11)Child sexual abuse and sexual harassment are widespread issues with profound and enduring impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Despite a growing research base, gaps remain in our understanding of the prevalence of these experiences in childhood, particularly in faith-based settings. This thesis investigated the prevalence, prevention, and safeguarding responses to child sexual abuse and sexual harassment, with a specific focus on faith-based settings in Australia. By employing a mixed-methods approach, I critically examined these complex issues through a lens that integrates victim-centred frameworks, intersectional feminism, and contextual safeguarding practices. This thesis is structured around five interconnected studies that collectively address critical gaps in knowledge and practice. The first study analysed data from the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) to provide the first nationally representative estimates of child sexual abuse in Australian religious organisations. This analysis revealed the disproportionate experiences of men during their childhood and the role men, particularly those in positions of power play in perpetrating child sexual abuse. While prevalence rates have declined, the findings underscore the necessary and ongoing role that faith-based settings play in protecting children and young people. However, the scope of the study was limited to adult perpetrators. There remains a critical gap in research on sexual harm inflicted by other children and young people – a significant concern identified during the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The second study of this thesis was a scoping review that explored how sexual harm or harmful sexual behaviour inflicted by children and young people is defined in the existing literature. This review identified significant inconsistencies and ambiguities in terminology and underscored the importance of adopting nuanced definitions that reflect the developmental needs of young people while maintaining a victim-centred perspective. This study informed subsequent research by establishing a framework for terminology, where I adopted the language of child sexual abuse and sexual harassment to reflect a victim-centred approach. Moreover, the findings highlighted the need to examine how these behaviours manifest, as understanding these dynamics is essential for designing effective early prevention strategies. The third and fourth studies focus on the prevalence and age of onset of peer sexual harassment in the general population, using data from the ACMS. While conceptually and behaviourally different from child sexual abuse, previous research has demonstrated that similar prevention approaches are effective at addressing both phenomena. These two papers drew attention to the gendered nature of peer sexual harassment. The data demonstrated that peer sexual harassment is a growing issue for Australian children, with girls and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual and/or aromantic (LGBTQIA+) youth disproportionately affected. Most cases were inflicted by known male peers, highlighting the social dynamics underpinning peer sexual harassment and the role schools can play in prevention and response. It often emerges before or around the time children are typically exposed to sex education in school. A review of the literature and these findings suggests that current educational interventions are implemented too late and are ill-equipped to address the needs of children and young people. The findings highlighted the urgent need for prevention strategies that address the structural and cultural factors perpetuating these harms. In particular, this study argued for the introduction of earlier, developmentally appropriate, and inclusive education that empowers children with the knowledge and skills to navigate relationships safely and respectfully. With schools being an important setting for prevention, this thesis also explored the current barriers to effective comprehensive sex education, including religious opposition to critical content and the subsequent implications for prevention efforts in Australian faith-based settings. The fifth study drew on semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 Australian religious leaders from a variety of Christian denominations. These interviews were aimed at identifying the perspectives of religious leaders on the current strengths and challenges of safeguarding practices in their settings. While improvements in safeguarding policies and leadership commitment were evident, significant barriers to meaningful change remain. These include, cultural resistance rooted in theological beliefs, gendered power dynamics, resource limitations, and a compliance-driven approach that overlooks organisational and systemic factors that contribute to harm. The findings demonstrated the importance of contextual and community-centred prevention strategies, collaboration across organisations, and amplifying the voices of children and victim-survivors in the design and implementation of safeguarding practices in faith-based settings. Together, these five studies provide critical insights into the prevalence, dynamics, and prevention of child sexual abuse and sexual harassment, particularly within faith-based settings. The research highlighted the role of cultural and institutional factors in shaping risk and response, and emphasised the importance of early intervention, inclusive policies, and context-specific prevention approaches. By situating these issues within the broader contexts of gender, power, and theology, this thesis offers practical insights for policymakers, educators, religious leaders, and faith-based settings.Item Restricted Slavery between the Indian Ocean world and the Spanish Pacific(Palgrave Macmillan, 2025-3-23)Human trafficking forged connections across the Indo-Pacific world. This chapter discusses Consulta 44 that weighs in on the legality of the trafficking of an enslaved man named “Matheo Cafre” in Manila. The case illuminates the seventeenth-century slave trade between the Philippines and South Asia, the trans-Oceanic networks of enslaved people, and the strategies that they used to resist slavery and its specific conditions in global Iberian empires. Matheo, an enslaved man with African ancestry, was married to a woman who lived in what is today the state of Tamil Nadu. He rejected his Indian-born Portuguese enslavers’ attempt to sell him to Manila. Like his counterparts in Asia and Latin America, Matheo understood the importance of his marital status for Catholic authorities, which also resonated with Juan de Paz. This case allows the reader to consider Matheo’s implied or explicit strategies to take control of the conditions of his enslavement vis-à-vis his Iberian enslavers.Item Open Access Locomotor-cognitive dual-tasking in younger and older adults(Australian Catholic University, 2025-12-08)In day-to-day life, humans are constantly faced with multi-task (or dual-task) situations. These situations often involve a locomotor task performed concurrently with a cognitive task, for example walking while having a conversation with a friend. To effectively engage in dual-tasking, individuals must allocate cognitive resources efficiently to manage both tasks simultaneously. Consequently, dual-tasking relies heavily on cognitive control (i.e., executive functions) and motor control to be performed successfully. However, both processes are considered susceptible to the process of ageing. Specifically, it has been proposed that older adults progressively rely more on cortical processes for movement and become increasingly dependent on slower feedback-based motor control due to deficits in predictive motor control. These changes are likely to increase the cognitive demand of motor tasks and, consequently, the level of cognitive resources required to perform them successfully. Theoretically, older adults are therefore expected to exhibit greater locomotor and cognitive interference in a dual-task situation. However, an inconsistent pattern of age effects is reported in the literature, and this is likely attributable to the lack of standardisation across studies, particularly in the selection of cognitive tasks. This thesis aimed to assess adult age differences in locomotor-cognitive dual-tasking by comparing proportional dual-task costs between younger and older adults. The methodologies of the systematic review and two empirical studies were informed and guided by the ecological framework, which suggests that motor performance is the outcome of individual, task, and environmental factors. Although individual and task-related factors were examined, environmental conditions were kept constant to isolate the effects of varying task demands. Study 1, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the empirical studies assessing adult age differences in locomotor-cognitive dual-task performance, showed that older adults experienced greater motor and cognitive pDTCs than younger adults. Further, velocity variability measures produced the largest group difference on motor pDTCs, as did cognitive tasks that targeted arithmetic and texting skills. When tasks were categorised according to their level of representativeness to real-world activities, cognitive tasks that were ‘most representative’ resulted in the largest age difference on motor pDTCs. The systematic review and meta-analysis therefore highlighted the importance of task representativeness when assessing for adult age differences in dual-task performance and the need for future studies to incorporate more representative task demands in study designs. Currently, representative dual-task protocols are limited, which is problematic given that these studies have important clinical implications for dual-task training programs. Study 2 and 3 both used cross-sectional experimental design to assess dual-task performance in younger and older adults while completing a locomotor task (Study 2) or locomotor obstacle negotiation task (Study 3) concurrently with a visual detection task. In both studies, an augmented reality headset (i.e., HoloLens2TM) was used to present the cognitive task, which was highlighted as a novel contribution. Study 2 assessed differences in locomotor-cognitive dual-task performance between younger and older adults when walking along a 12m walkway and completing a visual detection task. This study revealed no age group differences in gait and cognitive pDTCs, however, both age groups spent less time in the double support phase and had more variable double support times under dual-task conditions compared to single-task conditions. The findings of this study were attributed to the low cognitive load of both tasks, as well as the sample’s baseline motor and cognitive functioning, which allowed the older age group to use compensatory mechanisms to maintain performance. This study provided valuable insights into how older adults respond to a discrete cognitive task using a method (augmented reality) that addressed some methodological limitations of previous research. Study 3 extended on Study 2 by investigating dual-task performance differences between both age groups using a complex motor task. Participants were required to walk along the same walkway, but this time, stepping over a physical obstacle that was positioned just before the midpoint. The obstacle was presented at two different heights: one adjusted to a proportion of the participants leg length (i.e., adjusted condition) and the other set to a standard height of 16.5cm (standard condition). A significant difference in foot clearance variability (trailing leg) was observed between the two age groups in the adjusted height condition. Obstacle height also had a significant main effect on certain gait pDTCs, specifically double support time, step length, double support time variability, and step velocity variability. The findings from this study highlighted important considerations when using pDTCs to compare performance outcomes across groups, emphasising the need to account for baseline (single-task) differences. For example, unlike older adults, younger adults showed greater foot clearance in both leading and trailing legs from the single-task to the dual-task condition when stepping over the standard height obstacle. However, upon examining single-task performance differences, it was evident that older adults started with higher foot clearance, and the additional cognitive demands did not result in as pronounced a change as they did for younger adults, who started with lower foot clearance. Overall, all three studies addressed the aims of this thesis and confirmed the variability in dual-task findings that are reported across studies of adult ageing. While our review highlighted age differences in gait and cognitive performance, this finding did not extend to our experimental studies. A representative approach to dual-task demands was adopted across the experimental studies to enhance the ecological validity of the findings through key methodological decisions (i.e., discrete task type, standard obstacle height condition). The studies have advanced the field by introducing the novel use of augmented reality technology to present the cognitive task. Future research is recommended to continue exploring this research area with greater consideration of task representativeness to better inform theory and clinical interventions. This program of work also highlights important considerations when interpreting group findings, particularly regarding the use of pDTCs and gait variability outcomes.Item Open Access Experienced weight stigma and its biopsychosocial correlates : The role of internalised weight stigma(Australian Catholic University, 2025-11-20)Weight stigma is defined as social devaluation directed toward individuals because of their body-weight. Existing theoretical models have suggested that internalised weight stigma (i.e., the application of negative stereotypes about weight to the self) explains the well-established relationship between weight stigma experiences and adverse psychosocial health correlates. The first aim of this thesis was to review, test, and replicate the proposed effects of internalised weight stigma in the literature (Studies 1-3). The second aim of this thesis was to move beyond cross- sectional research to understand the temporal relationship between weight stigma and biopsychosocial health correlates (Studies 4 and 5). The first study in this thesis was a systematic review (n = 17), which found that internalised weight stigma mediated the relationship between experienced weight stigma and several biopsychosocial correlates, including disordered eating, body image disturbances, self-esteem, and psychological distress. Studies 2 and 3 replicated these observed effects in bariatric surgery candidates (n = 217; Study 2) and in a community-based sample (n = 418; Study 3). In both samples, I found that internalised weight stigma mediated the relationship between experienced weight stigma and several psychosocial (but not physical) health correlates, including disordered eating, symptoms of depression and anxiety, self-esteem, and body image disturbances. Study 3’s second aim after replication was to characterise the protective nature of awareness, engagement, and endorsement (AEE) of non-diet approaches to health. Hypotheses were partially supported, such that non-diet AEE was related to external measures of weight stigma, but not internal measures. There were few consistent relationships between non-diet AEE and psychosocial health correlates. Though mixed, our findings suggest non-diet approaches remain an important factor to consider in future research. To address the second aim of this thesis, I also reviewed the literature that used real-time data collection methods (i.e., Ecological Momentary Assessment [EMA] methods) to analyse temporal relationships between weight stigma and health outcomes (Study 4). The findings from this review (n = 12) indicated that EMA results corroborate those in cross-sectional studies, and that weight stigma precedes negative health outcomes – including negative affect, body image disturbances, psychological distress, exercise avoidance, and disordered eating. This review also found several limitations in existing literature, including a lack of consistency in methods used and research questions posed. Study 5 aimed to address this by creating a coherent research agenda through establishing a data-sharing consortium. Specifically, in Study 5, I used survey methods and conference workshops to collect quantitative and qualitative data about clinical, lived experience, and research experts’ views of the direction of future EMA weight stigma research and research priorities. Healthcare avoidance, disordered eating, body image disturbances, and psychological distress, respectively, were rated as the most important outcomes of weight stigma that research should prioritise. Taken together, the findings from the studies in this thesis emphasise that internalised weight stigma is an important construct for understanding the relationship between experiences of weight stigma and adverse health correlates. This research also suggests that EMA methods provide a unique opportunity to address the limitations of existing research. The proposed data-sharing consortium may be an important component of future research for understanding and effectively addressing weight stigma’s consequences.
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