ArticleBMJ open2016
What are the factors associated with good mental health among Aboriginal children in urban New South Wales, Australia? Phase I findings from the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH).
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of Child Health, Developmental and Educational Outcomes Associated with High Mobility in Indigenous Children from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Measurement of social and emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes in first nations children: A systematic review.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- The relationship between justice system non-involvement and the social and emotional wellbeing of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.Psychiatry, psychology, and law : an interdisciplinary journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law · 2025Article
- Resilience and Positive Wellbeing Experienced by 5-12-Year-Old Children with Refugee Backgrounds in Australia: The Childhood Resilience Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Counting what counts: a systematic scoping review of instruments used in primary healthcare services to measure the wellbeing of Indigenous children and youth.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Aboriginal Young People's Experiences of Accessibility in Mental Health Services in Two Regions of New South Wales, Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Developmental risk among Aboriginal children living in urban areas in Australia: the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH).BMC pediatrics · 2020Article
- Social and emotional developmental vulnerability at age five in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in New South Wales: a population data linkage study.International journal for equity in health · 2019Article
- Exploring pathways to mental healthcare for urban Aboriginal young people: a qualitative interview study.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Article
- Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: internal validity and reliability for New Zealand preschoolers.BMJ open · 2018Observational
- What is known about pathways to mental health care for Australian Aboriginal young people?: a narrative review.International journal for equity in health · 2018Review
- Determinants of socioemotional and behavioral well-being among First Nations children living off-reserve in Canada: A cross-sectional study.Child developmentArticle
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo identify the factors associated with 'good' mental health among Aboriginal children living in urban communities in New South Wales, Australia.
designCross-sectional survey (phase I of a longitudinal study).
setting4 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services that deliver primary care. All services were located in urban communities in New South Wales, Australia.
participants1005 Aboriginal children aged 4-17 years who participated in phase I of the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Carer report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Scores <17 were considered to indicate 'good' mental health for the purposes of this article.
resultsThe majority (72%) of SEARCH participants were not at high risk for emotional or behavioural problems. After adjusting for the relative contributions of significant demographic, child and carer health factors, the factors associated with good mental health among SEARCH children were having a carer who was not highly psychologically distressed (OR=2.8, 95% CI 1.6 to 5.1); not suffering from frequent chest, gastrointestinal or skin infections (OR=2.8, 95% CI 1.8 to 4.3); and eating two or more servings of vegetables per day (OR=2.1, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.8). Being raised by a foster carer (OR=0.2, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.71) and having lived in 4 or more homes since birth (OR=0.62, 95% CI 0.39 to 1.0) were associated with significantly lower odds of good mental health. Slightly different patterns of results were noted for adolescents than younger children.
conclusionsMost children who participated in SEARCH were not at high risk for emotional or behavioural problems. Promising targets for efforts to promote mental health among urban Aboriginal children may include the timely provision of medical care for children and provision of additional support for parents and carers experiencing mental or physical health problems, for adolescent boys and for young people in the foster care system.
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