Households are important health contexts, providing social, emotional, financial and material support, but little is known about the role of household composition in the social etiology of Indigenous health. Our research is framed by an Indigenous standpoint, using eight waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children. We investigated whether household composition and change in household composition were associated with the self-reported general health of Indigenous children ...

Objective: Sport may promote academic performance through physiological and psychosocial mechanisms. We aimed to examine the association between sports participation and academic performance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Methods: Participants were from four successive waves of Australia’s Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (n ¼ 303, baseline age 5–6 y). Cumulative sports participation was regressed against academic performance from two standardised tests. Res...

Indigenous fathers play a central role in the lives of Indigenous children growing up strong. For Australia’s Indigenous people, growing strong includes the possessing heightened levels of health, education and cultural knowledge. This article focuses on Indigenous fathers and how they understand the importance of sharing cultural activities with their children. We argue that the sharing of Indigenous cultural practices, and the subsequent telling of this narrative, are key enablers for ...

To explore sleep patterns in indigenous Australian children and assess the role of sleep timing in longitudinal changes in body mass index (BMI). Latent profile analysis was conducted with the Australian Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) cohort data (wave 5), to determine distinct patterns of bed and wake timing, taking account of weekday sleep duration, weekday and weekend bedtimes, and weekday wake times. Multilevel models with a random intercept were used to investigate the ...

The present thesis explores the effects of racism on Aboriginal children’s social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) and Aboriginal pregnant women’s mental health and wellbeing. Identification of protective factors against the effects of racism on child wellbeing was also contemplated. The thesis comprises seven chapters. Chapter 1 includes a review of the literature on characteristics of the Aboriginal Australian population and the effects of racism across the lifespan. This chapter also contemp...

This paper provides a brief summary of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, a nationally representative household panel survey. It describes the survey’s key design features, provides an overview of its content, and reports on response rates and sample sizes. It also highlights a few examples of research utilising the data, discusses two challenges currently facing the study, and provides details on how to access the data.

Participation in sport and physical activity can improve academic outcomes and has been identified as a potential mechanism for addressing educational disadvantage and 'closing the gap' in Australian Indigenous communities. To explore this possibility in relation to sport and lifestyle we performed a cluster analysis on data from the Footprints in Time study (also known as the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children), using data from Waves 3-6 (2010-2013, ages 5-9 years) of this cohort stud...

This critical systematic review of Australian research literature provides insights into the aspirations of Indigenous communities to collaborate with schools in establishing local Indigenous language and cultural programmes. This systematic review investigates the body of Australian research into the cultural, social and educational impacts on those Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students who have had opportunities to engage with these school-based Indigenous languages and/or cultu...

In Australia and internationally, there are increasing calls for the use of strengths-based methodologies, to counter the dominant deficit discourse that pervades research, policy, and media relating to Indigenous health and wellbeing. However, there is an absence of literature on the practical application of strengths-based approaches to quantitative research. This paper describes and empirically evaluates a set of strategies to support strengths-based quantitative analysis. A case study abo...

We study the effects of inherited socioeconomic characteristics on markers of unhealthy bodyweight. Taking Australian microdata from 2007 to 2013, we show that approximately 4% of the variation in outcomes is determined by factors beyond an individual's control, such as their race, gender, and social class. Paternal socioeconomic status is the primary explanatory factor, with those born to more affluent fathers slightly less likely to be overweight in adulthood. Decompositions reveal that onl...

We provide an overview of the integration of refugees into the labor markets of a number of high-income countries. Discussing the ways in which refugees and economic migrants are differently selected and so might be expected to perform differently in a host country's labor market, we examine employment and wages for these groups over time after arrival. There is significant heterogeneity between host countries, but in general, refugees experience persistently worse outcomes than other migrant...

The aim of this paper is to summarise existing evidence and new analyses that shed light on the role of reconciliation in schools and early learning services in particular, and in education more broadly. We present the first analysis in Australia of the relationship between racism/discrimination and cognitive development among the Indigenous Australian population, showing a negative and statistically significant longitudinal relationship. We discuss the policy implications of these findings...

The aim of this paper is to summarise existing evidence and new analyses that shed light on the role of reconciliation in schools and early learning services in particular, and in education more broadly. We present the first analysis in Australia of the relationship between racism/discrimination and cognitive development among the Indigenous Australian population, showing a negative and statistically significant longitudinal relationship. We discuss the policy implications of these findings...

This study empirically tests the time-displacement hypothesis, examining if early adolescents' mobile phone use displaces time spent on developmentally beneficial activities. Time displacement is often considered a key mechanism by which mobile phone use negatively impacts developmental outcomes in adolescence, but robust empirical evidence on this hypothesis is lacking. This study overcomes several methodological limitations of prior studies on time displacement through a specific research d...

Over 800,000 Australian homes are not fully insured, including many with mortgages. This poses serious risks to both homeowners and the broader economy. The increasing frequency and intensity of climate disasters, which are driving up the cost of insurance, are exacerbating the problem. Taxing fossil fuel companies and investing in a National Climate Disaster Fund would help keep Australians safe from physical risks and financial ruin.

The built and social aspects of housing influence a broad range of health and social outcomes and may be important enablers of barriers to occupants accessing sufficient and good-quality sleep. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between housing well-being (a conceptualization of housing-related [dis]advantage), with self-reported sleep outcomes in Australians. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of Wave 21 (2021) of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australi...

Australians gamble more than any another nation. Gambling starts well before the age of 18 – almost one in three (30%) 12-17-year-olds gamble. This increases to almost half (46%) of 18-19-year-olds, and these habits persist into adulthood. Without greater regulation the losses associated with gambling are likely to grow.

This study evaluated the prevalence and level of pain in Australian farmers and how these compare to the general working population. We also explored factors related to the interference of pain on farmers' work. Logistic regressions were used to examine the prevalence of chronic pain and pain interference with normal work among farmers compared to the general working population, and also to examine the factors associated with pain interference in farmers. A multinomial logistic regression mod...

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can affect childhood development, often leading to detrimental outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. This study examined the characteristics of young people who experience ACEs, and the association between ACEs in childhood and health service use, prescription claims, and educational achievement in adolescence. This study utilised the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) Kindergarten Cohort, with biennial surveys from age 4 regarding health, s...

Whether, and how, infant characteristics and parenting quality interact is one of developmental psychology's key questions. However, whether specific interaction patterns replicate across cohorts or developmental outcomes is largely unknown. This study investigates whether infant characteristics and parenting quality are independent predictors (additive effects) of child outcomes or interact such that certain infants particularly suffer from poor parenting (diathesis stress), particularly ben...

Growing wealth inequality is being driven by the rapid increase in investment properties over the last 20 years. Most of the benefit of this increase is going to the wealthiest 10% of Australians. The housing affordability crisis is transforming into a wealth inequality crisis.

This study examines the relationship between work-to-family conflict (WTFC) and family-to-work conflict (FTWC) and drinking frequency and quantity by gender. Using longitudinal data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey and analyzing around 40,000 observations of employed parents, we employ Tension Reduction Theory, Affect Regulation Theory, and Conservation of Resources Theory to propose an increase or decrease in alcohol consumption. Further, we expect ...

The research paper examines how First Nations children's use of digital technologies has changed over time, and how it differs by socioeconomic background.