Kay Bussey

After studying Developmental and Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland and the University of Oregon (USA) I received a PhD from the University of Queensland. I then undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship under the supervision of Professor Bandura at Stanford University, USA. On returning to Australia, I accepted an academic appointment at Macquarie University. I have continued my collaboration with Professor Bandura as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and on frequent informal visits.

My research covers applied and clinically relevant topics involving children and adolescents. The empirical research draws on a range of methodologies including questionnaires, experimental methods, and vignettes and is theoretically guided by Bandura’s social cognitive theory which considers both social and personal factors involved in human agency.

A sample of specific research topics:

• Sociocognitive factors (e.g. self-efficacy, moral disengagement, outcome expectations) involved in traditional and cyberbullying episodes

• Mental health outcomes (e.g. anxiety, depression, eating disorders) and coping strategies (coping self-efficacy) associated with victimization from traditional and cyberbullying episodes

• Factors associated with perpetration, victimization, and defending in traditional and cyberbullying

• The role of moral disengagement (individual, contextual, and collective) in traditional and cyberbullying

• The development of moral disengagement

• Gender development and gender identity development (including developmental and contextual factors and its relationship with bullying)

• Children’s lie- and truth-telling – developmental antecedents and social consequences

• The role of physical punishment in parenting practices

• Children’s participation in the legal system

• Positive and negative influences of social media on children and adolescents’ social development

PSY 105 Introduction to Psychology (Developmental lectures)

PSY 235 Developmental Psychology (Moral and Gender Development lectures)

PSY 339 Applied Child and Adolescent Psychology (Unit Convenor)

PSY 432/732 Advanced Issues in Developmental Psychology: Child Abuse and Neglect (Unit Convenor)

Kimberley Allison (PhD): Social media and cyberbullying

Madeleine Clark (M. Clin Psych): Cyberbullying and mental health outcomes

Jennifer Gardner M. Co-Supervisor Deborah Mitchison) (M.Clin Psych): Risk factors associated with eating disorders

Yee Wah Li (MRes): Sociocognitive factors associated with peer cybervictimization and peer defenders

Alexandra Lonegran (Co-Supervisor Deborah Mitchison) (PhD): Social media and eating disorders

Alison O’Neil (PhD): An evaluation of expert reports in child custody cases

Veronica Sheanoda (PhD): Adolescents’ responses to cyberbullying

Macquarie University Seeding Grant Committee; Psychology Department Research Committee; Member  of the Centre for Emotional Health; Member of the Centre for Children’s Learning in a Social World; Editorial Board of the British Journal of Developmental Psychology; Occasional Reviewer for the following journals among others: Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Aggressive Behavior,  Journal of School Violence, Pediatrics, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology;  Occasional consultant to the Australian Law Reform Commission; member of the Roundtable Advisory Group for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.