Changes in exposure to ‘life stressors’ in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, 2002 to 2008

Abstract

BackgroundThe Negative Life Events Scale (NLES) has been included in nationally representative surveys of the Indigenous and Australian population since 2002 as a measure of exposure to a range of ‘life stressors’. There has been limited reporting or analysis of estimates of the NLES from these surveys. This paper reports changes in exposure to stressors from 2002 to 2008 for the Indigenous population, and examines inter-relationships between eleven NLES items. Data for the 2006 Australian population is also included for comparative purposes.MethodsData from the 2002 and 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Surveys (NATSISS) and the 2006 General Social Survey (GSS) were accessed from the Australia Bureau of Statistics in order to determine significant changes in exposure to stressors for the 2002 and 2008 Indigenous population by remoteness and to compare this with the 2006 Australian population. Factor analysis was used to assess the inter-relationships between stressors for the Indigenous and Australian population by remoteness.ResultsIn remote locations, between 2002 and 2008, exposure to life stressors decreased significantly for the Indigenous population across seven of the eleven stressors. In non-remote locations, exposure to four of the stressors increased significantly. Exposure to stressors in the 2002 and 2008 non-remote Indigenous population were significantly higher than those for the 2006 Australian population for all items, except ‘alcohol and/or drug problems’ and ‘trouble with the police’, which showed no evidence of a difference. The factor analysis of the NLES for the 2002 and 2008 remote and non-remote Indigenous populations and the 2006 Australian population showed a consistent clustering of items into three groups: social transgressions; grief and trauma; and labour market stressors.ConclusionsThe reduction in exposure to life stressors for the remote Indigenous population may be related to policy and practice changes (e.g. more police, income quarantining, housing construction). The differential change in exposure to life stressors between remote and non-remote locations highlights the importance of presenting data for these geographic locations separately.

Personal attitudes towards smoking in a national sample of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and recent quitters

“…While we were surprised to find that those who believe smoking reduces their stress were no less motivated to quit, our outcomes were limited to quit attempts and not the success of such attempts. Connections between smoking and stress, or psychological reactions to stress, would benefit from further study using measures shown to be sensitive to the multiple life stressors and high levels of psychological distress experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 32 , 33 . Exploration of supports and strategies that enable successful quitting in the presence of these stressors is also indicated.…”

“…9,10 While we were surprised to find that those who believe smoking reduces their stress were no less motivated to quit, our outcomes were limited to quit attempts and not the success of such attempts. Connections between smoking and stress, or psychological reactions to stress, would benefit from further 32,33 Exploration of supports and strategies that enable successful quitting in the presence of these stressors is also indicated. Research on resilience to stress describes the pride associated with mastering the transition to becoming a non-smoker.…”

Patterns of drug dependence in a Queensland (Australia) sample of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people who inject drugs

“…Contextual factors may help to explain these group differences. Although unemployment was common in both groups, Indigenous PWID may be more likely to experience systematic effects of labour market disadvantage, including family and community‐level impacts . In addition, while incarceration was common for both groups, Indigenous participants were more likely to have been incarcerated repeatedly, and approximately 40% of those who were had recently experienced dual drug dependence.…”

“…Psychological distress can be a consequence of social environmental stressors that are disruptive of self‐worth, efficacy and empowerment, and which may also lead to use of and dependence on injected drugs. Compared with non‐Indigenous Australians, Indigenous people have lower rates of educational attainment, higher unemployment, are overrepresented in juvenile detention and prison and are more likely to have experienced a range of traumatic events . Experiences of discrimination may be an additional source of social stress for Indigenous people .…”

A systematic review of the evidence that swimming pools improve health and wellbeing in remote Aboriginal communities in Australia

“…T he health and wellbeing disparities between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians are well documented 1–5 . Young Aboriginal people in particular suffer a disproportionately high burden of infectious diseases, 6 with respiratory, ear and skin infections being the most common reasons for children living in remote Aboriginal communities to present to clinics 7,8 …”