Dr Ross WILKINSON

PhD

On this page...

Research and Supervision Interests
Current Teaching
Research Students
Qualifications
Selected Publications
Other Responsibilities

My main research interest is in the area of interpersonal functioning and psychological attachment in adolescents and adults. I currently have a research program focused on examining adolescent’s relationships with parents, peers, and friends from the point of view of attachment theory. I am particularly interested in the relationship between the quality of different types of interpersonal relationships and psychological well-being and adjustment (depression, anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction, self-efficacy etc.). I also have a range of other research interests including marital relationships, adjustment to new parenthood, postnatal depression, projective assessment techniques, and the relationship between psychology and art.

Undergraduate Program

• Coordinator (with Dr Phillipa Butcher) PSYC3026 (Personality & the Assessment of Individual Differences)
• Coordinator PSYC1005 (Life Issues: Applying Psychology)

Postgraduate Clinical Program

• Coordinator Clinical Psychological Assessment

Current Research Students

Jessica Wilson (PhD – Clinical Psychology) - Assessing adolescent attachment.

Angelique Jerga (PhD – Clinical Psychology) – Bereavement and attachment.

Daphne Goh (PhD) – Attachment functions and attachment transfer in adolescence.

Jodie Burchell (PhD – Clinical Psychology) – Attachment and hurt feelings in romantic relationships.

Elizabeth Layard (DPsych - Clinical) –  Childcare and parental attachments in working families.

Anna Stevens (MClinPsych) – Attachment, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating.

Selected Recent Research Students

M. Denman (MClinPsych) – Attachment and sexual risk behaviour in the prediction of psychological health in young women.

N. Clement (PhD - Clinical Psychology) – Parenting self-efficacy and psychological adjustment: Development and utility of the Infant Care-Giving Self-Efficacy Questionnaire.

R. Mulcahy (PhD – Clinical Psychology) – Attachment and interpersonal relationships in postpartum depression: A conceptual framework and treatment trial.

T. Coupe (DPsych - Clinical) – Attachment networks, attachment style, and psychological health in older adults.

D. Goh (MClinPsych) - Attachment functions and the importance of romantic partners in predicting adolescent psychological health.

A. Staniforth (MClinPsych) - Attachment, sense of coherence, and psychological health in adolescents and young adults: Test of a mediating model

T. Dinh (Honours) - An exploration of the interaction between attachment functioning and the grateful disposition in the context of positive psychology

E. McGuire (Honours) – Attachment transfer in adolescence: The role of friends and mothers.

C. Gray (Honours) – Attachment and need for certainty and discovery: The development of information orientations.

D. Clack (Honours) - Intimacy and adolescent attachment.

• BPsych (Hons) (James Cook)
• PhD (Clinical Psychology) (ANU)
• MAPS (Clinical College)
• Registered Psychologist ACT
  

Wilkinson, R. B. (in press). Best friend attachment versus peer attachment in the prediction of adolescent psychological adjustment. Journal of Adolescence

Wilkinson. R. B. & Denman, M. J. (in press). History of sexual risk behaviour and attachment in the psychological health of young women. Z. Pearce (Ed.) Proceedings of the 9th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society’s Psychology of Relationships Interest Group. Brisbane: The Australian Psychological Society.

Karantzas, G., Wilkinson, R. B. & Feeney, J. (in press). Does less mean more? A confirmatory factor analytic study of the Attachment Style Questionnaire and the Attachment Style Questionnaire – Short Form. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Mulcahy, R., Reahy, R., Wilkinson, R. B., & Owen, C. (in press). A randomised control trial for the effectiveness of group interpersonal psychotherapy for postnatal depression. Archives of Women's Mental Health.

Wilkinson, R. B. (2008). Development and properties of the Adolescent Friendship Attachment Scale. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 1270-1279.

Staniforth, A., & Wilkinson, R. B. (2007). Attachment, sense of coherence, and psychological health in Adolescents and young adults: Test of a mediating model. In K. Moore (Ed.), Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society (pp. 376-380). Melbourne: The Australian Psychological Society.

Coupe, T., & Wilkinson, R. B. (2007). Attachment functions and networks in older adults. In Z. Pearce (Ed.), Proceedings of The Combined 7th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology of Relationships Interest Group and International Association for Relationship Research Mini-Conference (pp. 34-40). Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Goh, D., & Wilkinson, R. B. (2007). Attachment transfer and the importance of romantic partners in predicting adolescent psychological health. In Z. Pearce (Ed.), Proceedings of The Combined 7th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology of Relationships Interest Group and International Association for Relationship Research Mini-Conference (pp. 50-55). Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Gray, D., & Wilkinson, R. B. (2007). Attachment and need for Certainty and Discovery: The development of information orientations. In Z. Pearce (Ed.), Proceedings of The Combined 7th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology of Relationships Interest Group and International Association for Relationship Research Mini-Conference (pp. 56-61). Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Jerga, A., & Wilkinson, R. B. (2007). Attachment dimensions and the identification of at-risk individuals following the loss of a loved one. In Z. Pearce (Ed.), Proceedings of The Combined 7th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology of Relationships Interest Group and International Association for Relationship Research Mini-Conference (pp. 68-74.). Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Wilkinson, R. B. (2006). Age and sex differences in the influence of attachment relationships on adolescent psychological health. The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 23, 87-104.

Wilkinson, R. B. (2006). The relationship of attachment working models to cognitive self-schema. Proceedings of the 2006 Joint Conference of the Australian Psychological Society and the New Zealand Psychological Society, 489-493. Auckland, New Zealand: The Australian Psychological Society.

Clack, D. & Wilkinson, R. B. (2006). Intimacy and Attachment in Adolescent Relationships. Proceedings from the 6th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society’s Psychology of Relationships Interest Group, 19-24. Melbourne: The Australian Psychological Society.

Wilkinson, R. B. & Scherl, F. B. (2006). Psychological health, maternal attachment, and attachment style in breast and formula feeding mothers: A preliminary study. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 24, 5-19.

McMahon, M. & Wilkinson, R. B. (2005). Attachment relationships and adolescent psychological health: The influence of romantic relationships. Proceedings from the 5th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology of Relationships Interest Group, 101-106. Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Wilkinson, R. B., & Parry, M. M. (2004). Attachment styles, quality of attachment relationships, and components of self-esteem in adolescence. Proceedings of the 39th Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference, 301-305. Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Wilkinson, R. B., & Kraljevic, M. (2004). Adolescent Psychological Health and School Attitudes: The Impact of Attachment Relationships. Proceedings of the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology of Relationships Interest Group 4th Annual Conference, 150-155. Melbourne, Australia: The Australian Psychological Society.

Wilkinson, R. B. (2004). The role of parental and peer attachment in the psychological health and self-esteem of adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 33, 479-493.

Ozgul, S., Heubeck, B., Ward, J., & Wilkinson, R.B. (2003). Self-discrepancies: Measurement and relation to various negative affective states. Australian Journal of Psychology, 55, 56-62.

Wilkinson, R. B. & Walford, W. A. (2001). Attachment and personality in the psychological health of adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 473-484.

Wilkinson, R. B., Walford, W. A., & Espnes, G. A. (2000). Coping styles and psychological health in adolescents and young adults: A comparison of moderator and main effects models. The Australian Journal of Psychology, 52, 155-162

Wilkinson, R.B. (1999). Mood changes in mothers and fathers through pregnancy: Are the blues so blue?. Psychology and Health, 14, 847-858.

Heubeck, B.G., Wilkinson, R.B., & Cologan, J. (1998). A second look at Carver and Whites (1994) BIS/BAS Scales. Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 785-800.

Wilkinson, R.B., & Walford, W. (1998). The measurement of adolescent psychological health: One or two dimensions?. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27, 443-455.

• Test Library Coordinator
• Chair of the National Committee of the Australian Psychological Society’s Psychology of Relationships Interest Group