Young Adult Development Indicators for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People: A Cross-National Longitudinal Study

Elizabeth Doery (), Lata Satyen, Yin Paradies, Bosco Rowland, Jennifer A. Bailey, Jessica A. Heerde, Heidi Renner, Rachel Smith and John W. Toumbourou
Additional contact information
Elizabeth Doery: School of Psychology, Burwood Campus, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood 3125, Australia
Lata Satyen: School of Psychology, Burwood Campus, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood 3125, Australia
Yin Paradies: School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Burwood Campus, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood 3125, Australia
Bosco Rowland: Monash Addiction Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia
Jennifer A. Bailey: Social Development Research Group, University of Washington, 9725 3rd Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98115, USA
Jessica A. Heerde: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Level 2 West, Royal Children’s Hospital, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville 3052, Australia
Heidi Renner: School of Psychology, Burwood Campus, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood 3125, Australia
Rachel Smith: Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital, 50 Flemington Rd, Parkville 3052, Australia
John W. Toumbourou: School of Psychology, Burwood Campus, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood 3125, Australia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-23

Abstract: Worldwide, Indigenous youth face ongoing challenges and inequalities. Increasing our understanding of life course patterns in Indigenous youth will assist the design of strategies and interventions that encourage positive development. This study aimed to increase understanding of resilience and positive development in Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth across Australia and the United States of America. The Australian sample comprised 9680 non-Indigenous and 176 Pacific Islander and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The USA sample comprised 2258 non-Indigenous and 220 Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian and Native American/American Indian peoples. Data were used to examine how Indigenous background, volunteering, and community involvement at average age 15 years (Grade 9) predicted five young adult positive development indicators: Year 12 (Grade 12) school completion, tertiary education participation, independent income, paid employment, and intimate relationship formation from age 18 to 28 years. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that while Indigenous youth showed slower increases in positive young adult development over time, when adjusting for socioeconomic disadvantage, there was a reduction in this difference. Moreover, we found that Grade 9 community involvement and volunteering were positively associated with young adult development for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth. Findings indicate the importance of addressing structural inequalities and increasing adolescent opportunities as feasible strategies to improve positive outcomes for young Indigenous adults.

Keywords: Indigenous; development; volunteering; community involvement; longitudinal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/17084/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/17084/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:17084-:d:1008270

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().