Australian Journal of Social Issues最新文献

Many policymakers assume that children's neighbourhoods shape their career trajectories, but the facts are otherwise. Challenges: (1) Because many children in poor postcodes have disadvantaged families, modelling the causal influence of neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) requires a comprehensive set of control variables measuring family background. (2) Adults can choose where to live, so dwelling in a high SES postcode is partially a consequence of occupational success, not a cause. Hence, we must focus on childhood postcode SES. (3) Random measurement error in postcode SES can bias estimates. Data: Large, representative national samples from the International Social Science Survey/Australia. OLS and structural equation models. Correlations between a person's childhood postcode SES and their education, adult occupational status (which robustly measures job quality, social status and permanent income) and family income are all modest, around r = .15. Net of family background (fathers' occupational status, fathers' class, mothers' employment, parents' culture, ethnicity, demographics and respondent's IQ) multivariate analyses show that growing up in a low SES postcode is only a slight disadvantage, which arises entirely because children there get about half a year less education than comparable children in high SES postcodes. Otherwise, there is no statistically significant childhood postcode disadvantage in career opportunities.

This paper reports on changes in the social-emotional well-being of 6- to 12-year-old children tested before the COVID-19 pandemic and during 2020 and 2021. Well-being was assessed using a video game that empowers children to report their own well-being, including school attachment, social and emotional well-being, behavioural conformity and family support. We compared well-being over time for two groups of children in government schools in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. The treatment group of 580 children were tested in 2019 (Time 1) and a second time in mid-late 2020 and early 2021 (Time 2). The comparison group of 841 children were tested twice before the pandemic. Results showed that children in the treatment group reported significantly lower family support at Time 2 than those in the comparison group. This reduction in perceived family support was stronger for girls. In addition, children in the treatment group who reported lower levels of family support at Time 1 reported a steeper decline in family support by Time 2. Finally, boys in the treatment group reported significantly better behavioural conformity and emotional well-being relative to girls over time. Results highlight the varied impacts of the pandemic lockdowns and the need to provide continued support to vulnerable families.

Contributing to a national policy reform intended to make meaningful advancements to the social and economic inclusion of disabled people, local government councils in NSW, Australia, have been required to have in place a Disability Inclusion Action Plan since 2017 under the Disability Inclusion Act of 2014. Five years on, this qualitative policy content analysis examined the key achievements promoted by 32 councils under the first generation of plans, and also identified where action has been limited. Councils were found to have invested significantly in making improvements to the built environment. Hosting accessible events and programs was also a commonly reported achievement, as was facilitating access to accessible information and technology. Councils took proactive roles in supporting and educating communities, business and their employees in inclusive practice. There were many achievements related to employment opportunities; however, these were generally narrow in expectation and impact, suggesting this was the area councils struggled with most. Councils also showed they were forecasting ahead, outlining consultative processes and policy changes, which would influence systemic improvements in accessibility and inclusion into the future. Councils have taken significant steps to advance the inclusion agenda; however, there remain areas where greater attention and support are required.

The arts remain largely absent from place-based policy, planning and programming in Australia, despite a long history of working in place-based ways to create positive social change in communities. This systematic review aimed to address this absence, by providing a synthesis of evidence about the role that place-based arts can play in advancing social equity and addressing social disadvantage. Findings reveal a potential for the arts to create change across individual, community and societal levels, yet empirical evidence to support this potential is weak. Stronger evaluation frameworks that can support capturing the impact of localised place-based arts initiatives for translation into policy and practice are discussed.

While Australian governments generally acknowledge that First Nations organisations (FNOs) have better reach into First Nations communities than mainstream not-for-profit (NFP) organisations and governments, as we document in this paper, a survey of community-controlled FNOs in significant urban areas in New South Wales (NSW) suggests that funding and administrative arrangements in the era of New Public Management (NPM) are at odds, and in some instances, actually undermine the effectiveness of FNOs. To explore and gain an explicit insight into the potential tensions in, contradictions with and constraints of NPM on governments supporting and realising the full potential of FNOs in achieving community outcomes, this paper turns its attention to the results of a survey designed by senior position holders from six community-controlled FNOs in the Greater Sydney region and three academics. The survey was designed to examine the relationship of the ability of FNOs to act in the interests of their community members with the normalisation of NPM as policy discourse and practice across all layers of government (Federal, State and Local). Urban areas within the state of NSW as its focus, the core findings from the survey suggest that in the NPM era, urban FNOs face numerous difficulties in realising their community mandates and simultaneously guaranteeing their sustainability for the future. The findings suggest that rather than extending the capacity of FNOs and their reach into their communities, NPM policy structures and mandates create increased administrative burdens, precarity and fragility, as well as decreased organisational autonomy and self-determination.

While “good refugee” stories have the potential to soften attitudes toward forcibly displaced people, there are hidden implications associated with this construct that must be considered. Based on 60 qualitative interviews with asylum seekers and refugees, this paper examines the ways forced migrants adopt and reproduce “good refugee” discourses that unintentionally position their belonging as contingent upon upholding narrowly defined, and arbitrary, ideals about deservingness. By critically analysing this discourse, we highlight the importance of reconsidering the construction of refugees' deservingness along moral and neoliberal lines and instead present a case for approaches that focus on rights-based, humanitarian grounds for refugee resettlement.

There is increasing evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial mental health impacts for adolescents. Yet, few definitive studies have investigated which adolescents were at higher risk of poor mental health and well-being during the pandemic. Data were drawn from the Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study, a prospective cohort study of students in Australia (N = 1211). Prevalence of mental health outcomes (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, self-harm and good subjective well-being) was estimated in school Years 5–12, where Years 11 (2020) and 12 (2021) coincided with the pandemic. The age- and sex-adjusted relative risk of each mental health outcome for each priority group during the pandemic were estimated. During the pandemic, over 50% of study participants reported depressive symptoms, and one quarter reported anxiety symptoms. There was a decrease in good subjective well-being compared with pre-pandemic years, while self-harm prevalence remained similar. History of mental health problems, school disengagement and frequent peer victimisation increased the risk of experiencing mental health problems during the pandemic. Schools play a central role in maintaining the mental health and good subjective well-being of students, and this is particularly important during periods of social disruption, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.