Amy D Lykins

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of New England

Greater engagement with alternative food supply chains is considered a key factor in reducing a range of environmental and social harms associated with the global agri-food system. However, consumer engagement with these supply chains is low, and little research has investigated this issue in the Australian context. This study aimed to identify Aus...

This is the first book to analyze empirically supported treatments by using the newest criteria from the American Psychological Association's Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12. Clinicians, scholars, and students all need to stay updated on the treatment research, and this book goes beyond providing updated treatment information by pointin...

Background Climate change anxiety, that is worry and fear in relation to the awareness of the impacts of climate change, is widely observed around the world. Some evidence suggests that while climate change anxiety can, at times, be adaptive, a growing body of research has reported that climate change anxiety is also related to a range of negative...

Background and objectives The adverse impacts of climate change on mental health is a burgeoning area, although findings are inconsistent. The emerging concept of eco-anxiety represents distress in relation to climate change and may be related to mental health. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between eco-anxiety with validated...

BACKGROUND A traumatic childbirth experience, sometimes referred to as 'birth trauma,' is a woman's experience of interactions and/or events directly related to childbirth that caused overwhelming distressing emotions and reactions, leading to short- and/or long-term negative impacts on a woman's health and wellbeing. Traumatic childbirth experienc...

BACKGROUND The impacts of climate change on mental health are becoming widely recognised. Climate change can detrimentally impact mental health through direct and indirect exposure to natural hazards, as well as through the overarching awareness of climate change and the resultant environmental decline – the latter is termed eco-anxiety. Exposure t...

Simple Summary This article introduces an animal welfare monitoring app based on the 2020 Five Domains Model that considers how an animal’s nutrition, environment, health, and behavioural interactions, influence their mental state. Adapted for smartphone use, the Mellorater app allows animal guardians (carers, keepers, and owners) to record structu...

The way people create social connections and access information has been altered greatly by technology in recent decades. Online browsing of visual profiles has become a common means for seeking potential partners for both short- and long-term relationships. Little is known, however, about how people prioritize mate quality information while viewin...

Background Natural hazards are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Many of these natural disasters cannot be prevented; what may be reduced is the extent of the risk and negative impact on people and property. Research indicates that the 2019-2020 bushfires in Australia (also known as the “Black Summer Bushfires”) resulted...

Climate change has resulted in a worldwide increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events including bushfires. Previous research has shown that communities often do not engage in disaster preparedness, even when sufficient education and resources are provided. With the projected increase in natural disasters, preparedness is paramoun...

This second edition of Climate Change and Public Health provides a comprehensive review of the health consequences of climate change. It also covers what is being done and can be done to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, which cause climate change, and to adapt to the consequences of climate change. The first edition of this book, which was publis...

It has long been recognized that the Pacific Small Island Developing States are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, emphasizing the urgency with which adaptation planning and efforts need to be realized. History supports the resiliency of Pacific peoples, though a number of challenges to adaptive capacity have been noted in the prev...

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated mitigation measures have been associated with significant levels of psychological distress. Published research on Australian youth has highlighted poor mental health in this population during the pandemic; however, no studies have reported data using clinical self-report measures from the first pand...

Experts on palm oil production and utilization emphasize the role of consumer purchasing power in dealing with the environmental and social impacts of the palm oil crisis -that by increasing the demand for sustainable palm oil (SPO), greater supply will follow. However, research has identified a persistent intention-behavior gap. Even knowledgeable...

Background Australia's 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires affected billions of animals, many of which were rescued and cared for by veterinary and animal care workers (VACWs). Little is known about VACWs’ disaster‐related experiences and how these experiences may affect them. Methods We used a convergent mixed‐methods design to explore how a variety...

Simple Summary The 2019–2020 Black Summer bushfires had a devastating impact on Australian biodiversity. Many affected human communities felt compelled to intervene by organizing and providing food, water, and/or shelter to affected wildlife in situ (‘wildlife provisioning’). While well intentioned, due to the unprecedented scale and intensity of t...

The impacts of climate change are particularly strong in Pacific Small Island Developing States. However, empirical data on mental health and well-being in the context of climate change and climate anxiety in the region remains limited. The aim of this research was to understand the emotional experiences of climate change and its impact on well-bei...

BACKGROUND Natural hazards are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Many of these natural disasters cannot be prevented; what may be reduced is the extent of the risk and negative impact on people and property. Research indicates that the 2019-2020 bushfires in Australia (also known as the “Black Summer Bushfires”) resulted...

The death of a companion animal can cause severe grief, yet previous research investigating factors predicting grief has been hampered by limitations. We explored how attachment styles, continuing bonds, and time since loss interacted to predict grief severity in a large sample of individuals grieving the loss of a variety of companion animals. Par...

Climate change and its effects present notable challenges for mental health, particularly for vulnerable populations, including young people. Immediately following the unprecedented Black Summer bushfire season of 2019/2020, 746 Australians (aged 16-25 years) completed measures of mental health and perceptions of climate change. Results indicated g...

Mental ill-health associated with animal care work, coupled with a current shortage of animal care workers (ACWs), highlights the need to support this population’s wellbeing. Guided by the Job Demands-Resources model of burnout and the principles of positive occupational health psychology, we aimed to explore mental ill-health in ACWs and identify...

As anthropogenic climate change progresses, there is an increasing need for individuals to make appropriate decisions regarding their approach to extreme weather events. Natural hazards are involuntary risk environments (e.g., flooded roads); interaction with them cannot be avoided (i.e., a decision must be made about how to engage). While the psyc...

Widespread tropical deforestation and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia due to the oil palm industry can be addressed by encouraging consumers to purchase sustainable palm oil (SPO). An online experiment was conducted to assess whether addressing barriers relating to education, motivation and product availability would increase purchasing of SPO....

Livestock production systems are associated with climate change, land degradation, and animal welfare concerns, while overconsumption of animal-sourced foods is a major driver of human disease. Thus, shifting towards plant-rich diets is expected to deliver benefits for human health, the environment, and animal welfare. Nevertheless, diets high in a...

The cultural theory of risk proposes that risk perception is biased by sociality and the maintenance of four ways or life, or cultural worldviews: hierarchism, egalitarianism, individualism or communitarianism. This study examined whether cultural worldviews influenced the perception of the risk of bushfire, flood, storm and earthquake in Australia...

There is limited empirical evidence on how LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer/Questioning) people cope with stigma-related stress associated with marriage amendment processes. The current study explored coping during the 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey during which stigma-related stress was significantly asso...

Objective This study examined the extent to which telehealth placements are feasible for developing perceived competence as a psychologist and are an acceptable training modality for provisional psychologists. Method Fifteen provisional psychologists who undertook a postgraduate placement using telehealth completed an online survey. Acceptability...

Palm oil is relatively inexpensive, versatile, and popular, generating great economic value for Southeast Asian countries. However, the growing demand for palm oil is leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss. The current study is the first to employ a capability-opportunity-motivation (COM-B) framework in green consumerism, to determine which...

Green consumption refers to consumer decision-making that prioritizes the environmental impacts of purchases. The aim of the current research was to identify factors that influence consumers to purchase sustainable palm oil (SPO) products. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 adult residents of Australia, transcribed, and subjected to...

Limited knowledge exists on participant outcomes relating to citizen science programs. Using the ClimateWatch: Scientist for a Day program as a case study, we sought to understand participant behaviors and attitudes post-program, and evaluated the program’s post-engagement initiatives. Phone interviews were conducted with 15 former participants. Wh...

Intervention in issues related to climate change is becoming a defined area of practice for clinical psychologists, with general competencies and a potential for specialization. Our chapter is a collaboration among several psychologists engaged in climate and environment-related research and practice. We synthesize findings and practices from clima...

Objectives: Australian aged care policy is wholly focused on individual “consumers” and consequently neglects the needs of dyadic partners. This paper highlights partnered baby boomers’ attitudes to maintaining sexual and intimate relationships in residential care. Methods: In 2016, cross‐sectional data were collected using an online survey of par...

Objective: Relationship‐enhancing behaviours that contribute to older adults’ well‐being are scarcely considered in “active ageing” discourses despite relationship quality having been repeatedly linked to health outcomes. This paper explores such behaviours in older adults. Methods: Cross‐sectional data were collected in 2016 from 168 partnered ba...

Background: This pilot study investigated vaccine decision making, i.e., the relationships between knowledge and attitudes towards autism spectrum disorders (ASD), scientific literacy, attitudes toward the (MMR) vaccine, and children's MMR vaccination status. Methods: A sample of 132 parents and expectant parents (mean age 38.40 years; >60% with...

Past visual attention research appears to show that bisexual men and women view erotic images differently compared to heterosexual and gay/lesbian men and women. However, none of these studies have employed analytic approaches required to determine whether these apparent bisexual viewing patterns are due to averaging together heterosexual and gay/l...

Palm oil is an edible oil with a high yield, various economic benefits, and many diverse uses. However, its production has led to increased deforestation, the endangerment of several species, and toxic greenhouse gas emissions. The current study had two aims: (1) to generate a list of palm oil-related pro-environmental behaviours (PEB) that general...

Individuals who report mostly heterosexual orientations (i.e., mostly sexually attracted to the opposite sex, but occasionally attracted to the same sex) outnumber all other non-heterosexual individuals combined. The present study examined whether mostly heterosexual men and women view same- and other-sex sexual stimuli differently than exclusively...

Influences from human-horse interactions form the basis of the emerging field of equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP). However, the psychophysiological effects of horses on humans in the EAP context have been under-investigated. This multiple single case design study examined the effects of short-term human-horse interactions on human heart rate var...

Bent Street is an annual publication that gathers essays, fiction, poetry, artwork, reflections, letters, blog posts, interviews, and rants, to bring you 'The Year in Queer'. Bent Street 2 covers aspects of 2018, including the afterglow of the passing into law of same-sex marriage; the ongoing struggle for rights and recognition; reflections on th...

Research on body appreciation is limited, especially when examining its relationship to sexual functioning. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between body appreciation and sexual functioning, while measuring perceived partner’s body appreciation and general relationship quality. A sample of 244 women aged 18 to 30 completed meas...

Currently, a third of Australian aged care residents are partnered, with many experiencing institutional interference in their relationships. Staff duty of care usually takes precedence over privacy. Some institutions separate couples, residents’ doors may be kept open, staff enter without knocking, ignore ‘do not disturb’ signs, or gossip about re...

An empirical review of hypersexuality is timely as “compulsive sexual behavior” is being considered as an impulse control disorder for inclusion in the forthcoming International Classification of Diseases, 11th ed. Specifically, hypersexuality has been conceptualized in the literature as the inability to regulate one’s sexual behavior that is a sou...

"Hypersexual" behavior represents a perceived inability to control one's sexual behavior. To investigate hypersexual behavior, an international sample of 510 self-identified heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual men and women completed an anonymous online self-report questionnaire battery. In addition to age and sex (male), hypersexual behavior wa...

Background: Of all the childhood vaccines, the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination has a uniquely controversial history. The present study aimed to investigate whether attitudes to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the ability to appropriately interpret scientific information impacts parental decisions regarding vaccination. Method: A sample...

Despite legal protections, couples in Australian residential aged care facilities experience institutional interference in their intimate and sexual relationships. Panoptic surveillance remains widespread in aged care. Little attention is given to privacy. Some residents’ doors are kept open at all times. Couples may be separated or provided with s...

Despite legal protections, couples in Australian residential aged care facilities experience institutional interference in their intimate and sexual relationships. Panoptic surveillance remains widespread in aged care. Little attention is given to privacy. Some residents’ doors are kept open at all times. Couples may be separated or provided with s...

Background: Of all the childhood vaccines, the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination has a uniquely controversial history. The present study aimed to investigate whether attitudes to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and the ability to appropriately interpret scientific information impacts parental decisions regarding vaccination. Method: A sample...

Identifying the pathways that can contribute to offending behaviour can be useful to reduce offending and inform treatment development and improve therapeutic targeting for those who have offended. There are also some grounds for thinking that Aboriginal pathways might be different to those of non-Aboriginal offenders. This is because Australian Ab...

Introduction: According to neurohormonal theory, prenatal androgens are key determinants of sexual orientation. As a reputed marker for prenatal androgens, the 2D:4D finger length ratio has been used in more than a dozen studies to test the hypothesis that prenatal androgens influence sexual orientation. Findings have been very inconsistent. Aim:...

With Consumer Directed Care (CDC) on the horizon and a wave of baby boomers who are ageing, aged care providers need to be aware of and respect the desires and requirements of future ‘consumers’. In contrast with current provider arrangements, funding is linked to the individual rather than the institution in a CDC model, with the likelihood that t...

Adult men's height results from an interaction among positive and negative influences, including genetic predisposition, conditions in utero, and influences during early development such as nutritional quality, pathogen exposure, and socioeconomic status. Decreased height, reflected specifically as a decreased leg length, is strongly associated wit...

Previous studies have often revealed differences between the acknowledgment of same-sex attraction and rates of bisexual or homosexual identification. This study contends that social influences (including the perception that same-sex sexual attraction is not gender normative) as well as prejudice toward bisexual persons (biphobia), may help explain...

Self-report measures of empathy and emotional intelligence have frequently revealed significant gender differences, with females typically scoring higher than males on these dimensions. In this study, we investigated whether, in line with a social identity approach, manipulating the gender normativity of empathy and emotional intelligence would ame...

Evidence is steadily accumulating to support a neurodevelopmental basis for pedophilia. This includes increased incidence of non-right-handedness, which is a result primarily of prenatal neural development and solidified very early in life. Minor physical anomalies (MPAs; superficial deviations from typical morphological development, such as un-det...

This chapter describes data on mental health generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Whilst most participants were satisfied with their lives in general, a high proportion (69 %) had received a diagnosis of depression and anxiety within the previous 12 months. Over 80 % of the participants had thought about self-...

This chapter explores data on gender identity generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Most participants (51 %) identified simply as “male”. This group tended to have known their identity from a young age, and had struggled with the development of secondary sex characteristics during puberty. However, some were un...

This chapter examines data on employment generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. The majority of participants (58 %) were working (full-time, part-time or in an apprenticeship). However, 15 % were unemployed—a higher portion than in previous studies on broader populations. The qualitative data revealed there were...

This chapter explores the data on parenting from the 2013 E-Males study of 273 FtM transgender Australians. Some participants were parents or knew of other FtM transgender people who were. They expressed frustration that their ability to parent was widely overlooked, as it was an important element in their identity. FtM transgender people had becom...

In total, 273 FtM transgender people participated in the E-males project in 2013; the largest number of FtM transgender people in an Australian study. This chapter provides some basic demographic information about these diverse respondents. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 64, with the average age 30.5. The participants came from all states of...

In 2013, the E-males study was launched to increase the visibility of (and meet the research gaps on) FtM transgender Australians and their needs, with a view to informing policy. This chapter describes the study’s two design components: an anonymous online survey which gathered basic data through quantitative and qualitative questions, and an anon...

Transgender people enliven sexualities research and can challenge traditional ideas about gender-based orientations or the mechanics of pleasure. This chapter examines data on sexuality, romance and relationships generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Over half of the participants were in a romantic/sexual relat...

This chapter discusses data on health generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. Participants mainly considered their physical health in the past year to have been good or very good. Unfortunately, they reported that many of the health service-providers they had used, such as doctors, had a lack of knowledge about t...

Schools can reproduce, or challenge, the restrictive gender norms of society in various ways. This chapter discusses data on education generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. A large portion (69 %) of participants had a post-secondary qualification compared to the general Australian population. Conversely, 4 % ha...

In concluding our discussion of the 2013 E-Males study of 273 FtM transgender Australians, this chapter outlines the key findings of the data. We urge all Australian government offices and other places where documentation (featuring name and sex) is required to familiarise staff with new national guidelines on the recognition of gender. We call for...

Transgender people may engage in transition (or self-affirmation) processes with any or all of personal, internal, social, legal and physical elements. This chapter discusses data on transitioning generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males study. In terms of physical transitions, non-surgical measures were the most common,...

Discrimination against transgender people on the basis of their gender identity or expression is illegal in Australia, however it is not always easy for Australian transgender people to find adequate social support. This chapter examines data on discrimination and social support generated by the 273 FtM transgender Australians in the 2013 E-Males s...

This is the first national study on female-to-male (FtM) transgender people’s experiences in Australia. It describes an extensive study that fills the current gap in Australian research on the specific experiences and beliefs about transition for contemporary Australian FtM transgender people. Following an overview of current literature on the vari...

This chapter introduces the first national study on Australian FtM transgender peoples’ experiences. It argues that whilst FtM transgender people have been less “visible” in Australian culture and media in the past, this is changing with the advent of recent reality shows and websites. It discusses how increased advocacy in the last decade has secu...

The aim of the study reported in this article was to gain an understanding of the experiences, developmental trajectories, and mental health status of Australian trans men. Participants were 279 trans men. The majority preferred to identify as “male”; from an early age, they had experienced their gender identity as different from that normatively e...

Objectives: Women delay gynecological care for various reasons, including practical difficulties and self-consciousness about having health professionals view their genitals. Methods: Experiences of and intentions to have pelvic examinations, attitudes toward female genitals, and genital self-image were investigated in young Asian and non-Asian wom...

Journal of Sexual Aggression: An international, interdisciplinary forum for research, theory and practice Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in the publications on our platform. Taylor & Francis, our agents,...

This study investigated whether working memory capacity (WMC) moderated the relationship between physiological arousal and sexual decision making. A total of 59 men viewed 20 consensual and 20 non-consensual images of heterosexual interaction while their physiological arousal levels were recorded using skin conductance response. Participants also c...

Multiple factors determine handedness including genetics, prenatal stress and post-natal environmental conditions. Atypical handedness, whether manifest as increased sinistrality or decreased strength of lateral preference, has been noted in a wide variety of populations with neuropathology. Those with atypical sexual preferences, specifically paed...

Male sexual dysfunction is a prevalent and distressing condition, which may be exacerbated by the sufferer's perceptions of masculinity and normative sexual behavior. This study sought to investigate the effect of social context on males' beliefs regarding sexual behavior. The research examined the effect of male role modeling and masculine cues on...

Vorarephilia ("vore") is an infrequently presenting paraphilia, characterized by the erotic desire to consume or be consumed by another person or creature. Few data exist on vore though several cases have been reported which appear to be consistent with basic vorarephilic interests. Because this sexual interest cannot be enacted in real life due to...

Observational stance refers to the perspective a person takes while viewing a sexual stimulus, either as a passive observer (observer stance) or an active participant (participant stance). The objective of the current study was to examine the relationship between observational stance and sexual arousal (subjective and genital) across a range of sex...

Men and women have been seeking professional assistance to help control hypersexual urges and behaviors since the nineteenth century. Despite that the literature emphasizes that cases of hypersexuality are highly diverse with regard to clinical presentation and comorbid features, the major models for understanding and treating hypersexuality employ...

Evidence has been inconsistent regarding any links between the 2D:4D ratio and sexual orientation. The present study was undertaken to (a) further test the hypothesis that the 2D:4D ratio is associated with sexual orientation and (b) explore the possible confounding influence of ethnicity in these relationships. Samples of college students in Malay...

Despite the importance of sexuality for romantic relationships, there has been little research attention to individual differences and dyadic variables, including couple similarity, and their association with sexual problems and satisfaction. The current study examined the effects of the propensity for sexual inhibition and sexual excitation scales...

Background / Purpose: Recent advances in cognitive science have provided the impetus to introduce novel methodologies to the study of sexuality. A series of studies utilizing eye-tracking methodology have provided a more precise understanding of how visual attention contributes to factors such as sexual desire, sexual dysfunction and sexual infor...

The coupling of sex and pain creates an interesting theoretical conundrum of clinical significance: Are women with dyspareunia distracted from sexual stimuli, or are they hypervigilant to sexual stimuli because these stimuli elicit thoughts and expectations of pain? This study measured attention to sexual stimuli in women reporting persistent pain...

Phallometric assessments of single-victim sexual offenders against children have suggested that only about 50% of these men are more attracted to children than they are to adults. This has raised the question of what motivates the other 50% of men to approach young girls for sex. Freund et al. showed that gynephilic men (i.e., men preferentially at...

Phallometric testing is widely considered the best psychophysiological procedure for assessing erotic preferences in men. Researchers have differed, however, on the necessity of setting some minimum criterion of penile response for ascertaining the interpretability of a phallometric test result. Proponents of a minimum criterion have generally base...

After a long history of privileging psychosexual etiological factors over pain and physiological processes, dyspareunia has enjoyed 1 decade of pointed research focused on the presenting problem of pain. Although it is generally acknowledged that certain affective and cognitive styles may play a role in an individual's experience of pain in general...

The term pedophilia denotes the erotic preference for prepubescent children. The term hebephilia has been proposed to denote the erotic preference for pubescent children (roughly, ages 11 or 12-14), but it has not become widely used. The present study sought to validate the concept of hebephilia by examining the agreement between self-reported sexu...

It has been suggested that sex differences in the processing of erotic material (e.g., memory, genital arousal, brain activation patterns) may also be reflected by differential attention to visual cues in erotic material. To test this hypothesis, we presented 20 heterosexual men and 20 heterosexual women with erotic and non-erotic images of heteros...

As a first step in the investigation of the role of visual attention in the processing of erotic stimuli, eye-tracking methodology was employed to measure eye movements during erotic scene presentation. Because eye-tracking is a novel methodology in sexuality research, we attempted to determine whether the eye-tracker could detect differences (shou...