Racism as a determinant of social and emotional wellbeing for Aboriginal Australian youth

Racism is acknowledged as a determinant of health for indigenous populations and other minority groups throughout the world.1 In Australia, racism undermines the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and redressing racism has been identified as a national priority.2 Racism is conceptualised as comprising avoidable and unfair phenomena that lead to inequalities in power, resources and opportunities across racial or ethnic groups. It can be expressed through beliefs and stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination, and occurs at many social levels, including interpersonally and systemically, and as internalised racism.3

Internationally, an increasing body of epidemiological evidence shows strong associations between self-reported racism and poor adult health outcomes across diverse minority groups in developed countries.1,4,5 These associations remained after findings were adjusted for confounders, and have been reported in longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, suggesting that racism precedes poor health outcomes.1,4,5 Systematic reviews report links between self-reported racism and poor mental health (including depression, anxiety and psychological distress); poor physical health (including hypertension, cardiovascular reactivity and chronic health conditions); and increased substance use.1,4,5

However, across the world there is little research specifically investigating the impact of racism on the health and wellbeing of children and young people.1,4 The little research that exists in this area focuses predominantly on African American adolescents in the United States.6 Similar to studies of adult populations, studies with children and young people have reported strong associations between self-reported racism and poor health outcomes (including poor mental health and behavioural difficulties), indicators of metabolic and cardiovascular disease, and health-harming behaviour such as substance use.6,7 Racism can affect health through many pathways, including reduced access to positive health determinants such as education and employment; reduced self-efficacy and self-esteem; increased stress, substance use and self-harm; reduced social support; and detrimental effects on cultural identity.7,8

Aboriginal Australians experience substantial disadvantage compared with the rest of the Australian population.9 This disadvantage is associated with both historical and contemporary racism, colonisation and oppression.10 Recent national data indicated 27% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over reported experiencing racism in the previous 12 months.11 The few studies exploring the effects of racism on the health of adult Aboriginal Australians identified associations between self-reported racism and poor health, including self-assessed poor health status,12 and physical13 and mental health outcomes,10,12-14 as well as substance use.10 These findings were consistent across a range of geographical settings and persisted after being controlled for various confounders. Similarly, self-reported racism has been associated with substance use, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and suicide risk for young Aboriginal people aged 12–17 years.15

The term “social and emotional wellbeing” has emerged recently in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health literature as a more culturally appropriate description of what is often referred to as “mental health” in other contexts.16 Despite widespread recognition of the poor social and emotional wellbeing outcomes experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians compared with the rest of the population, research in this area remains limited,16 particularly for children and young people.17

In this study, we aimed to explore associations between self-reported racism and social and emotional wellbeing outcomes for young Aboriginal people living in the Top End of the Northern Territory. We also explored associations between self-reported racism and anthropometric measures.

The mean age of our study’s 345 participants was 18.27 years (SD, 1.06; range, 16–20.5 years). There were no significant differences between the birth data of our study’s participants and the birth data of the original cohort. Compared with the total national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, more ABC Study Wave-3 participants lived in remote areas (74% v 25%) and more lived in households without a car (50% v 23%).11 Racism was reported by 32% of participants in our study (Box 1). Strong Souls factors showed non-normality and thus were dichotomised for analysis (anxiety: mean, 2.06 [SD, 2.70]; depression: mean, 4.08 [SD, 3.25]; suicide risk: mean, 0.53 [SD, 1.20]; resilience: mean, 21.61 [SD, 4.25]).

Bivariate analysis revealed a strong association between self-reported racism and anxiety (P = 0.001), depression (P = 0.001), suicide risk (P = 0.001), and overall mental health (P < 0.001), but not resilience (P = 0.32) (Box 1). Boarding school attendance was the only sociodemographic variable strongly associated with self-reported racism, with participants who had attended boarding school less likely to report racism (P = 0.03). Those reporting some grog use were less likely to report racism at the bivariate level (P = 0.05). Other sociodemographic and substance-use items were only weakly associated (P < 0.10) with self-reported racism (Box 1).

In the multivariable model, strong associations remained between racism and increased anxiety (odds ratio [OR], 2.18 [95% CI, 1.37–3.46]; P = 0.001), depression (OR, 2.16 [95% CI, 1.33–3.53]; P = 0.002), suicide risk (OR, 2.32 [95% CI, 1.25–4.00]; P = 0.01) and poor overall mental health (OR, 3.35 [95% CI, 2.04–5.51]); P < 0.001); findings were adjusted for relevant sociodemographic and substance-use confounders, which were different for each of the Strong Souls factors (Box 2). All interaction terms and mediators examined for any of the Strong Souls factors were not significant at the P < 0.05 level.

No significant associations between racism and WHR (β1 = − 0.009 [95% CI, − 0.03 to 0.01]; P = 0.31) or between racism and BMI z score (β1 = − 0.22 [95% CI, 0.61 to 0.17]; P = 0.26) were found and, as such, these variables were not examined in multivariable models.

We found that, among young Aboriginal people aged 16–20 years living in the Top End of the Northern Territory, the experience of racism was associated with anxiety, depression, suicide risk and overall poor mental health after adjusting for confounders. To our knowledge, this is the first published Australian study to consider racism and health outcomes specifically for young Aboriginal people living in remote localities using an outcome measure developed and validated specifically for the young Aboriginal people within the study.20 Findings are consistent with those from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with other population groups internationally1,4 and with cross-sectional studies in Australia with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.10,12-15

Late adolescence and early adulthood has been identified as a time of heightened vulnerability to psychological distress resulting from experiences of racism.7 By adolescence, young people have abstract thinking abilities that enable them to consider and fear racism as an impediment to achieving life goals.7 For Aboriginal Australians, it is also the time when parenthood is likely to occur, heightening the detrimental effects of racism through increased awareness of the need to protect children from negative life experiences.7

Evidence also indicates that the mental health difficulties that develop at this stage of life are likely to persist and adversely effect educational, social and health outcomes in subsequent years.25 In addition, there is substantial evidence that poor parental mental health (particularly maternal mental health) is associated with poor developmental, health and wellbeing outcomes for children.26 Our study provides empirical support for the need to overcome racism as a contributor to existing disparities in social and emotional wellbeing outcomes experienced by young Aboriginal people.9 In this study, socioeconomic status measures were not related to self-reported racism. In a recent nationally representative sample, self-reported racism among Aboriginal people aged 15 years and over was significantly associated with employment status but not with income or education level.11 Investigation of these associations is warranted.

We found no significant associations between self-reported racism and anthropometric measurements. The one other study that has considered this association in children and young people found positive correlations between internalised racism and both BMI and waist circumference for African–Caribbean adolescent girls (but not boys).27 Two studies with adults, one with Asian Americans28 and the other with black African women,29 found positive associations between self-reported racism and anthropometric measurements, including BMI and waist circumference, after controlling for confounders, while a third found no effect on BMI for Hispanic and black Americans living in low-income housing.29 Further exploration of potential associations between racism and physical health among young Aboriginal Australian people is required.

Our findings should be considered in the context of several study limitations. The study sample is not representative of Australian Aboriginal youth in remote areas or nationally. The population-specific nature of the outcome tool may also limit generalisability of findings. The cross-sectional design also limits definitive conclusions about causal directions. Although 32 longitudinal studies suggest that the primary direction of causation is from the experience of racism to ill health, the converse scenario cannot be ruled out in this study.1,4,5 In addition, we measured only a subset of potential confounders of the relationship between racism and ill health.

A single item rather than a multi-item measure is unlikely to comprehensively assess racism as a phenomenon.3 Thus, the health effects of racism may be underestimated in this study.4,30 Associations between self-reported racism and anthropometric measures have been found in international studies.28,29 As such, further research is required before the lack of association found in this study can be confirmed. To our knowledge, no other studies have investigated the association between racism and resilience; further investigation of this topic is warranted. Also, the use of racism as a single item includes no timeframe. Studies using multi-item measures that assess frequency, duration, setting, form, perpetrators, reactions and coping strategies, and perceived severity and impact of racism are required. Ideally, studies would also be longitudinal and include broader measures of socioeconomic status, life circumstances and other stressors, as well as a range of potential confounders.

Redressing inequalities in social and emotional wellbeing outcomes for young Australian Aboriginal people is an important national priority. Combating racism as a determinant of health is a critical aspect of such an endeavour. Further research is needed to explore causal pathways between experiences of racism and a range of health and wellbeing outcomes for young Aboriginal people, including identification of both risk and protective factors. Such knowledge is required to develop appropriate and effective interventions to combat racism as a means of improving Aboriginal health outcomes.