Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Australia.
Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Australia.
Child Abuse Negl. 2018 Apr;78:85-95. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.11.014. Epub 2017 Dec 15.
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. This discussion paper synthesizes findings from our four previously published studies which together illustrate the application of a person-based resilience framework of analysis in the context of Western Australian Aboriginal youth. We discuss the implications of this approach for better understanding processes differentially impacting psychosocial functioning of youth depending on level of family-risk exposure. Data for these studies were available for 1021 Aboriginal youth, 12-17 years, drawn from the 2000-2002 Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS), a population representative survey of 5289 Aboriginal children (0-17 years) living in 1999 families. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to model the differential influence of individual, family, cultural and community factors on psychosocial outcomes depending on family-risk context. Key findings revealed 56% of high-risk youth as psychosocially resilient; prosocial friendship and living in low SES neighborhoods uniquely protected psychosocial functioning; and exposure to racism was an additional risk factor for low-risk exposed youth. We conclude that a resilience perspective holds potential for exploring diversity within disadvantaged populations, identifying processes uniquely beneficial for those at greatest risk, and provides crucial insights for communities, practitioners and policy-makers.
韧性被定义为一种积极发展的动态和情境嵌入过程，尽管面临重大逆境。澳大利亚原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民人口与非原住民人口相比，面临着巨大的劣势和逆境，原住民儿童被安置在家庭之外的比例和经证实的虐待儿童率是非原住民儿童的七倍。尽管韧性研究已经进行了几十年，但我们对特定机制和过程在多大程度上支持韧性结果的理解仍存在差距。本讨论文件综合了我们之前发表的四项研究的结果，这些研究共同说明了在西澳大利亚原住民青年背景下应用基于个体的韧性分析框架的情况。我们讨论了这种方法对更好地理解根据家庭风险暴露程度对青年心理社会功能产生不同影响的过程的影响。这些研究的数据可用于 1021 名 12-17 岁的原住民青年，这些青年来自 2000-2002 年西澳大利亚原住民儿童健康调查（WAACHS），这是一项针对居住在 1999 个家庭中的 5289 名（0-17 岁）原住民儿童的代表性人口调查。多变量逻辑回归分析用于根据家庭风险背景，对个体、家庭、文化和社区因素对心理社会结果的不同影响进行建模。主要发现表明，56%的高风险青年具有心理社会韧性；亲社会的友谊和生活在低社会经济地位的社区中，对心理社会功能具有独特的保护作用；而遭遇种族主义是低风险暴露青年的另一个风险因素。我们得出结论，韧性视角有可能探索弱势人群中的多样性，确定对风险最大的人群有益的独特过程，并为社区、从业者和政策制定者提供重要的见解。
