Cohort profile: Understanding the influence of early life environments and health and social service system contacts over time and across generations through the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) Linked Data Study.

Purpose: Despite the volume of accumulating knowledge from prospective Aboriginal cohort studies, longitudinal data describing developmental trajectories in health and well-being is limited. The linkage of child and carer cohorts from a historical cross-sectional survey with longitudinal health-service and social-service administrative data has created a unique and powerful data resource that underpins the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) linked data study. This study aims to provide evidence-based information to Aboriginal communities across Western Australia, governments and non-government agencies on the heterogeneous life trajectories of Aboriginal children and families.

Connection to... Addressing Digital Inequities in Supporting the Well-Being of Young Indigenous Australians in the Wake of COVID-19.

(1) This article examines whether connection to digital technologies helps connect young Indigenous people in Australia to culture, community and country to support good mental health and well-being and protect against indirect and potentially long-term effects of COVID-19. (2) We reviewed literature published between February and November 2020 and policy responses related to digital strategies. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, government policy websites and key Indigenous literature sources, identifying 3460 articles.

Psychosocial resilience and vulnerability in Western Australian aboriginal youth.

Resilience is defined as a dynamic and contextually embedded process of positive development despite exposure to significant adversity. The Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population experience significant disadvantage and adversity relative to the non-Aboriginal population, with disproportionate and increasing rates of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care and substantiated child maltreatment seven times the rates for non-Aboriginal children. Despite decades of resilience research there remains a gap in our understanding of the extent to which specific mechanisms and processes support resilient outcomes.

The impact of racial discrimination on the health of Australian Indigenous children aged 5-10 years: analysis of national longitudinal data.

Background: A growing body of literature highlights that racial discrimination has negative impacts on child health, although most studies have been limited to an examination of direct forms of racism using cross-sectional data. We aim to provide further insights on the impact of early exposure to racism on child health using longitudinal data among Indigenous children in Australia and multiple indicators of racial discrimination.

Methods: We used data on 1239 Indigenous children aged 5-10 years from Waves 1-6 (2008-2013) of Footprints in Time, a longitudinal study of Indigenous children across Australia.

Relationships between Psychosocial Resilience and Physical Health Status of Western Australian Urban Aboriginal Youth.

Background: Psychosocial processes are implicated as mediators of racial/ethnic health disparities via dysregulation of physiological responses to stress. Our aim was to investigate the extent to which factors previously documented as buffering the impact of high-risk family environments on Aboriginal youths' psychosocial functioning were similarly beneficial for their physical health status.

Method And Results: We examined the relationship between psychosocial resilience and physical health of urban Aboriginal youth (12-17 years, n = 677) drawn from a representative survey of Western Australian Aboriginal children and their families.

Resilience amongst Australian aboriginal youth: an ecological analysis of factors associated with psychosocial functioning in high and low family risk contexts.

We investigate whether the profile of factors protecting psychosocial functioning of high risk exposed Australian Aboriginal youth are the same as those promoting psychosocial functioning in low risk exposed youth. Data on 1,021 youth aged 12-17 years were drawn from the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS 2000-2002), a population representative survey of the health and well-being of Aboriginal children, their families and community contexts. A person-centered approach was used to define four groups of youth cross-classified according to level of risk exposure (high/low) and psychosocial functioning (good/poor).

The differential influence of contextual risks on psychosocial functioning and participation of Australian aboriginal youth.

This study investigated the differential influence of contextual risks for positive psychosocial functioning and participation in education or employment in a representative sample of 12- to 17-year-old Aboriginal youth (N = 674) using data drawn from the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) 2000-2002. The authors modeled the influence of 3 empirical risk measures (risk factor, cumulative risk, and single risks) on positive psychosocial functioning and participation in education or employment. Results showed different risks for different developmental outcomes.