The interactive effects of Indigenous identity and lateral violence on youth adjustment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Lateral violence is the potential for members of a group to engage in practices that are harmful to other members of their own group. Evidence indicates that lateral violence can affect Aboriginal children’s social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB); however, little is known about the potential for ethnic-racial identity (ERI) to protect against harmful effects of lateral violence.

Methods

We investigated whether ERI affirmation moderated the relationship between exposure to lateral violence and Aboriginal children’s SEWB. Children (n = 360) from the K-Cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children were included in this analysis. Children’s ERI was dichotomised into high versus low affirmation, and General Linear Models were used to examine the effects of lateral violence on SEWB and the potentially moderating effect of ERI on that relationship.

Results

Increased exposure to lateral violence was associated with increased difficulties in all Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire domains. ERI was also shown to moderate the relationship between exposure to lateral violence and peer difficulties, with children in the high ERI affirmation group showing greater vulnerability than those in the low group.

Conclusions

The findings of this study are discussed in relation to their potential to inform policy and clinical practice.

Key Points

What is already known about this topic:

1. Lateral violence primarily occurs within groups who experience oppression.

2. Questions about a person’s Indigenous status may involve a critique of their authenticity and, therefore, representation of them as more or less Indigenous.

3. Current literature indicates that Ethnic racial identity (ERI) may have positive and negative implications for an individual’s social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) along several distinct dimensions.

What this topic adds:

1. In this study, lateral violence had a significant and negative effect on individual SEWB.

2. Increased exposure to lateral violence was associated with an increase in peer problems, particularly for Indigenous Adolescents who were highly affirming of their ERI.

3. The salience of ERI affirmation may be particularly important for Indigenous adolescents as they seek to establish a clear sense of their own, often unique, identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal
• Indigenous
• First Nations
• lateral violence
• social and emotional wellbeing
• ethnic-racial identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study pertain to the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children and are available from Australian Government’s Department of Social Services (DSS). Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for this study.

Public significance statement

Lateral violence is the potential for members of a marginalised group to engage in practices that are harmful to other members of that group. This study extended understanding of lateral violence in relationship to Indigenous identity by showing that these factors may be associated with poor outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. Further, findings suggested that children who have high Ethnic Racial Identity, and who may be challenged about their identity, are likely to respond more vigorously than children who are less attached to that identity.

Position statement

The researchers of this study recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities each have their own separate cultures, beliefs, histories and values. Thus, to reflect the complexity and importance of not combining all Indigenous people, the term Aboriginal will be used when referring generally to the Aboriginal population, and the term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or Indigenous Australians will be used when referring specifically to research involving both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In addition, when writing within Indigenous contexts, it is becoming increasingly important to note the cultural positioning of the researchers themselves, and to also identify Indigenous-led research (Phillips et al., 2007). Three of the authors within this paper identify as Aboriginal and bring cultural perspectives and lived experiences to the research topic (Mcalister–Wiradjuri, Brockman–Worimi and Bodkin–Andrews–D’harawal). Two of the authors, whilst non-Indigenous (Rogers and McAloon), bring considerable clinical and statistical experience to this research.