The Western Australian aboriginal child health survey: findings to date on adolescents.

E.M. Blair, S.R. Zubrick & A.H. Cox, Medical Journal of Australia, v.183, n.8, 2005, pp.433-35.

This descriptive survey of 1480 Aboriginals aged 12 to 17 years in Western Australia was part of a broader survey of 5289 Aboriginals aged under 18 in the state. The survey aimed to identify key developmental and environmental factors that promote positive health outcomes in young Aboriginals. Conducted between 2000 and 2002, researchers gathered personal, family and community data surveying issues such as physical health, health risk factors, sexual knowledge and experience and emotional wellbeing. Researchers found that the physical health and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal adolescents was generally poorer than the health and wellbeing of non-Aboriginal adolescents. Increased health risk behaviours of those surveyed (such as alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use and sexual activity) were found to be more likely to be related to family and community problems than being the main causes of physical and/or mental health problems. Researchers suggest that a coordinated approach based on the development of human capabilities is ultimately required to generate positive factors that promote the health and wellbeing of young Aboriginals, such as low major life stress levels and care by original parents.