Resilience (positive adaptation despite exposure to risk or adversity) is a widely researched construct, yet it has not been examined systematically with Australian Indigenous adolescents despite their high level of risk. Indigenous adolescents experience disproportionate disadvantage and associated poorer health and well-being compared with their non-Indigenous peers. Thus the protective factors or predictors of resilience that ameliorate the negative effects of risk in this subgroup are important to explore. Adolescence is a critical period for examining resilience given the increased vulnerability to mental health problems during this time. Of interest to this thesis are the psychosocial predictors of resilience (protective factors), which act to ameliorate the negative effects of stress. Three widely established protective factors were examined: Coping skills, social support, and multidimensional self-concept. These protective factors were compared in a sample of 304 Australian non-Indigenous (n = 245) and Indigenous (n = 59) adolescents, aged 12-18 years. Using a methodological framework developed for this study resilience was assessed by examining stress (negative stressful life events and daily hassles) and adaptation (internalising, externalising and other mental health symptoms). Participants were classified into four resilience groups based on their stress (high or low) and adaptation (positive or negative): resilient (high stress, positive adaptation), negative expected (high stress, negative adaptation), positive expected (low stress, positive adaptation), or poor copers (low stress, negative adaptation). Results were examined separately for non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants. The two cultural groups were then compared. Results revealed that higher stress was strongly associated with more internalising, externalising and other mental health problems. The impact of daily hassles was a strong predictor of adaptation, particularly for Indigenous participants. Indigenous participants reported higher levels of stress and more negative adaptation than non-Indigenous participants. Three coping methods were examined: Solving the Problem, Reference to Others and Non-Productive coping. Solving the Problem coping was a strong predictor of positive adaptation and resilience for non-Indigenous adolescents but not for Indigenous adolescents. No cultural differences in Solving the Problem coping were revealed. Reference to Others was found to be a maladaptive coping method in relation to resilience. Non-Productive coping (e.g., avoidance and substance use) was also found to be maladaptive, and used more by Indigenous than non-Indigenous participants. Social support only predicted resilience for non-Indigenous participants in conditions of very high stress. Contrary to expectations, social support did not discriminate among the Indigenous resilience groups and no significant cultural differences were revealed. Self-concept was strongly related to resilience and positive adaptation for non-Indigenous participants, although not for Indigenous participants. Cultural comparisons, however, revealed that positive self-concept was associated with positive adaptation for both groups. While differences between non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants on several self-concept domains were revealed, the total self-concept of non-Indigenous and Indigenous participants did not differ. The results of this study revealed both similarities and differences in the relationships between the three predictors investigated and the resilience of non-Indigenous and Indigenous adolescents. The findings make some progress toward informing culturally appropriate interventions to promote and strengthen the resilience of Indigenous young people.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/210319 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Thomas, Helen, thomash27@hotmail.com |
| Publisher | RMIT University. Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.rmit.edu.au/help/disclaimer, Copyright Helen Thomas |
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