TY - JOUR
T1 - The prevalence and protective factors for resilience in adolescent Aboriginal Australians living in urban areas
T2 - a cross-sectional study
AU - Young, Christian
AU - Craig, Jonathan C.
AU - Clapham, Kathleen
AU - Banks, Sandra
AU - Williamson, Anna
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and determine protective factors for resilience in urban Aboriginal adolescents. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data was collected from 119 Aboriginal adolescents participating in the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). Resilience was defined as having ‘low-risk’ Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores on the total difficulties (range: 0–40) or the prosocial scale (range: 0–10). Results: Most adolescents scored in the low-risk range of the total difficulties (n=85, 73%) and prosocial scales (101, 86%). Family encouragement to attend school was associated with a 4.3-point reduction in total difficulties scores (95%CI, 0.22–8.3). Having someone to talk to if there was a problem and regular strenuous exercise were associated with higher scores on the prosocial behaviour scale, increasing scores by 1.2 (95%CI, 0.45–2.0) and 1.3 (95%CI, 0.26–2.3) points, respectively. Conclusions: Most adolescents in SEARCH displayed resilience. Resilience was associated with nurturing family environments, social support and regular exercise. Implications for public health: Our data accords with previous research that demonstrates resilience, but also a higher prevalence of emotional and behaviour problems among Aboriginal youth. Supporting Aboriginal young people to build resilience may promote better mental health outcomes leading to important public health benefits.
AB - Objectives: To estimate the prevalence and determine protective factors for resilience in urban Aboriginal adolescents. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data was collected from 119 Aboriginal adolescents participating in the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). Resilience was defined as having ‘low-risk’ Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores on the total difficulties (range: 0–40) or the prosocial scale (range: 0–10). Results: Most adolescents scored in the low-risk range of the total difficulties (n=85, 73%) and prosocial scales (101, 86%). Family encouragement to attend school was associated with a 4.3-point reduction in total difficulties scores (95%CI, 0.22–8.3). Having someone to talk to if there was a problem and regular strenuous exercise were associated with higher scores on the prosocial behaviour scale, increasing scores by 1.2 (95%CI, 0.45–2.0) and 1.3 (95%CI, 0.26–2.3) points, respectively. Conclusions: Most adolescents in SEARCH displayed resilience. Resilience was associated with nurturing family environments, social support and regular exercise. Implications for public health: Our data accords with previous research that demonstrates resilience, but also a higher prevalence of emotional and behaviour problems among Aboriginal youth. Supporting Aboriginal young people to build resilience may promote better mental health outcomes leading to important public health benefits.
KW - Aboriginal
KW - adolescents
KW - mental health
KW - resilience
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058002326&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1753-6405.12853
DO - 10.1111/1753-6405.12853
M3 - Article
C2 - 30516305
AN - SCOPUS:85058002326
VL - 43
SP - 8
EP - 14
JO - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
JF - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
SN - 1326-0200
IS - 1
ER -