Authors: Adrian J Tomyn Robert A Cummins Jacolyn M Norrish
Publish Date: 2014/06/03
Volume: 16, Issue: 4, Pages: 813-837
Abstract
Quantitative comparisons of subjective wellbeing SWB between samples of Indigenous and nonIndigenous Australian adolescents are scarce This paper contributes to this literature by studying adolescents ‘atrisk’ of disengaging or who have already disengaged from school their families or society A threegroup crosssectional comparative design was employed comparing Indigenous N = 3187 and nonIndigenous N = 14522 ‘atrisk’ adolescents with a mainstream sample of Victorian highschool students N = 1105 Age and gender differences in SWB within the three groups were also explored All participants completed the Personal Wellbeing Index—School Children PWISC which measures SWB Mean SWB was significantly higher in the mainstream sample than in both the Indigenous and nonIndigenous ‘atrisk’ groups However within the atrisk adolescents the Indigenous sample scored higher than the nonIndigenous In the mainstream sample male and female SWB did not significantly differ whereas males scored higher than females in both atrisk groups—with males scoring higher on all seven PWISC domains Finally in all three samples a decline in SWB from early to midadolescence was observed This suggests that midadolescence is a challenging time for all young people as they approach adulthood The implications of this research for educational and government policy concerning youths in Australia is discussed For example the importance of obtaining normative data that will assist in the identification of young people who are most atrisk for experiencing low personal wellbeing and who are in the greatest need of support
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