Introduction
The unemployment rate in Australia among the indigenous Australians is higher than the unemployment rate among the mainstream Australians. There are many reasons for this difference, and many of them have their source in the living conditions and lifestyle of the native Australians, which cannot be described as being anywhere near ideal. The difficult living conditions of native Australians promote socially detrimental behaviours such as alcoholism and child abuse. This paper explores the relationship between child abuse and the higher rates of unemployment among the native Australians. It seeks to identify whether the higher unemployment rates among the native Australians has its source from the abuses that employable native adult Australians may have experienced during their childhoods.
Results
The study carried out focused on making an objective comparison between the unemployment rate among mainstream Australians and native Australians, identifying and making comparison of the levels of child abuse among the two groups, exploring the emotional effects of child abuse on children when they grow into adults and the effects on ability to seek and retain employment and seeking if their is any correlation between this child abuse and the ability to seek and retain employment in adulthood. The results released by the Australian bureau of statistics (2010) indicates that the level of psychological distress suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people aged fifteen years and over is higher than those of other mainstream groups in the country. The report indicates that these high levels of psychological stress are as a result of trauma which was suffered by the target group during their childhood. This report is an indication that high levels of psychological distress do indeed exist among the native Australians than would be normal in other mainstream groups.
Moylan, Herrenkhol, Sousa, Tajima and Russo (2010) in their study of 457 youth to examine the effects of child abuse and exposure to domestic violence on adverse adolescent behaviours found that the risk of children who are exposed to child abuse and domestic violence internalizing and externalizing the outcomes are very high. Adolescent psychological depression symptoms such anxiety, depression, withdrawal and aggression were found to be attributable to childhood exposure to domestic violence or abuse during childhood or as a result of exposure to both. This study indicates that adolescent psychological problems are related to child abuse and domestic violence that adolescents may have been exposed to during their childhood.
Discussion
The native Australian community has had a long struggle in their fight against mistreatment. It is only in the recent past that some of the fundamental freedoms have been granted to the native Australian community. In his book ‘Aboriginal Australians: a history since 1788’ Richard Broome explores the struggles that the native Australian Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people have had to undergo in their fight against mistreatment and discrimination. The kind of atrocities suffered by the native communities in their struggle can be partly attributed to the complex social problems facing these communities. Though full freedoms and rights have been granted to the native Australians and their human rights are well observed currently, the scars of their struggle still permeates their current society and are a major source of trauma and psychological distress that is experienced by these communities. The complex emotional structure of the community has resulted in the development of complex social problems that currently exist in these communities. High levels of domestic violence, alcoholism and drug abuse that characterize these communities have their roots in the historical mistreatment that these native Australian communities suffered. All these socially destructive behaviours can be attributed to the trauma that is suffered by members of these communities.
In her book ‘Trauma trails recreating songlines’ Professor Judy Atkinson explores the impact of violence and trauma on individuals, families and communities. The process of healing the psychological effects of trauma and violence can be successful if well administered, and though complete healing is almost impossible, the healing process prevents the intergenerational transfer of this trauma. If, however, the healing process is not carried out or is carried out in a wrong manner, the effects of trauma and violence that is experienced by individuals may not be eradicated from their social lives, and it is highly likely that such individuals will exhibit socially harmful behaviour such as drug abuse, alcoholism and violence as a means of dealing with the psychological difficulties occasioned by their own trauma. The result is that in a community, there will be intergenerational transfer of trauma and violence since adults will use violence, drug abuse and alcoholism as ways of dealing with their traumatic experiences. The children in that community will suffer from psychological distress, and as a result, suffer the same trauma as adults. This process, referred as retraumatising by Atkinson, will lead to the development of a cyclical traumatisation in a community that has had trauma as a source of its social problems.
The Little Children are Sacred report was commissioned by the NT State Government and released in June 2007. The report identified the harrowing child abuse that occurs among the indigenous Australians in the Northern territory of Australia. The indigenous Australian community if faced by myriad complex social problems such as alcoholism, violence and drug abuse. These social problems have an adverse impact on the social structure of the community both in the long term and in the short term.
As the preceding discussion illustrates, the native Australian communities are characterized by social problems such as alcoholism, violence and drug abuse. As indicated in the ‘The Little Children are Sacred’ report, these social problems occur in the presence of children. The report indicates that children are exposed to traumatic experiences such as domestic violence and pornography. Exposure to these kinds of traumatising events raises the risk of the development of psychological distressing behaviour in children. Children who have been subjected to domestic violence and alcoholism are highly likely to develop low self esteem and low confidence levels. The social interaction of these children will be hindered by the traumatic experiences, a factor that is highly likely to impact negatively on their academic performance. Children who are exposed to these traumatising social behaviours will therefore likely perform poorly in school, and the development in their education is hindered. The problem is further compounded when these children develop into adolescence and exhibit behaviours related to trauma such as aggression and violence. Such behaviours may not be tolerated in educational institutions, and it is more likely that adolescents exhibiting these kinds of behaviours will have their education terminated earlier than that of psychologically normal children. The result is low levels of education, and since the ability to obtain employment is highly dependent on the level of education, individuals suffering from trauma have a lower probability of obtaining gainful employment. This explains the low level of employment among the native Australians relative to the level of employment of the mainstream Australians.
Trauma has an effect of negatively affecting the levels of self confidence and self esteem. Individuals who suffer from trauma usually exhibit low levels of self confidence and self esteem. The recruitment process into employment usually involves the use of interviews where an individual’s abilities are evaluated. Individuals who exhibit low levels of self confidence and self esteem have very little chance of succeeding in such interviews. As the corporate world becomes more competitive, the screening process during recruitment has become very strict, and this has further lowered the chance of individuals suffering from low self esteem and low self confidence joining the work force of many companies. The result is that the levels of unemployment among native Australians continues to increase due to the long term effects of trauma suffered during childhood. This will happen despite any measures that may be in place to prevent discrimination.
Relationships in the work place are highly dependent on the social skills of the employees, and to a certain extent, the ability to retain employment is influenced by an individual’s social skills. Native Australians who have suffered trauma in their childhood may exhibit socially unacceptable behaviours such as alcoholism and violence. Such behaviours will not be tolerated in the work place, and as a result, individuals who have such behaviours are likely to be laid off. The ability to retain gainful employment is thus hindered by behaviours that occur as a result of traumatic childhoods. This is the case among native Australians who have suffered traumatic childhoods, and their high unemployment rate can be partly explained by their inability to retain employment due to socially unacceptable behaviours which have their source in traumatic childhoods.
Recommendations
The traumatic childhood experiences among the native Australians continue to be experienced by native Australian children, and due to the intergenerational transfer of trauma, the low levels of employment among native Australians may continue into the future. Action needs to be taken to reverse this trend by improving the social structure of the native Australian communities.
Both the federal and regional governments need to instate measures intended to start a healing process to the trauma that individuals may have suffered in their past. Centres to cater for the healing of trauma should be set up by the governments among the native Australian communities to cater for the healing process. This will be a step in the right direction in the journey towards the reversing of the high unemployment levels among native Australians.
The education authorities in Australia need to develop a system of dealing with traumatic behaviours exhibited by learners. Teachers and other stakeholders in the educational system need to develop a system of dealing with children who exhibit trauma related behaviours in an attempt to heal their psychological wounds. Restoration of self esteem and self confidence to these children should be a principal goal of such a system. This will ultimately lead to improved education levels among the native Australian population and the improvement in the level of employment among the same group in the long term.
References
Adermann, Jenny & Campbell, Marilyn, 2007, ‘Big Worry: Implications of Anxiety in Indigenous Youth’, Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, The, Vol. 36, Supplementary, pp 74-80
Atkinson, J 2002, Trauma trails recreating songlines, Spinifex Press, North Melbourne
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) October 2010, The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, cat. no. 4704.0, ABS, Canberra
Broome, R, 2010,Aboriginal Australians a history since 1788, Allen & Unwin, Sydney
Chief Minister's Department, Rex Wild QC & Patricia Anderson 2007, Report of the Northern Territory board of inquiry in to the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse 2007, ‘Little children are sacred’, Northern Territory Government, Darwin
Moylan, C & Herrenkhol, T & Sousa, C & Tajima, E & Herrenkol, R & Russo, M, 2010,’ The labour market dynamics of Indigenous Australians’, Journal of Family Violence, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 53-63, DOI: 10.1007/s10896-009-9269-9
