Resilience in Indigenous Australian families : how individual, family, and community‚ÄövÑv´level protective factors contribute to wellbeing

In sociological research, increasing attention has been afforded to the examination of protective factors that contribute to resilience, particularly of those experiencing disadvantage. Resilience is the process of maintaining positive functioning during times of adversity, through protective resources that buffer against the negative effects of stress (Masten, 2018). While individual capacity to access protective factors is important, the ability of surrounding social environments to provide and give meaning to these resources is also crucial (Ungar, 2012b). Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are inequitably exposed to an atypical level of stress throughout their lives, stemming from the devastating consequences of colonisation and continued marginalisation in Australia (Walter, Dodson, & Barnes, 2017a). Despite this disproportionate vulnerability to risk and adversity, resilience research in an Indigenous Australian context is limited. For Australian Indigenous people, unique aspects such as engagement with culture, support from extended family and kinship networks, and community connectedness contribute to their ability to overcome adversity (Dobia et al., 2014; McLennan, 2015). While qualitative findings support this (McLennan, 2015), limited quantitative evidence has been found. Further, no known prior research has examined resilience in both parents and children using a national sample of Indigenous Australians. This thesis explores the role of individual-, family-, and community-level protective factors and their contribution to resilience for Australian Indigenous families, and demonstrates how the findings have implications for social and health policy. It uses quantitative methods, drawing national data from Wave 10 of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) to explore the protective factors that contribute to resilience in Indigenous Australian children aged between 9 and 14 years (n=1,270) and their caregivers (n=1,218). Multiple logistic regression is used to model the protective factors that contribute to positive outcomes, compared to negative outcomes, in high-stress contexts. Findings reveal evidence of individual- (e.g., social skills) and community-level (e.g., engagement with school) resources having protective effects for Indigenous children, with family-level (e.g., extended family support) factors being the strongest predictors of resilient functioning in caregivers. Findings are used to make policy recommendations based on decolonising principles, responding to contemporary demands for evidence-based policy. Decolonising approaches to research and policy include: (i) self-determination; (ii) investment in community-controlled services and place-based strategies; (iii) the sharing of power; and (iv) prioritising data sovereignty.