Stolen Generations descendants hold culture closer and carry more distress
- An estimated 200,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 18 and over (95% CI 182,000–218,000), almost half (45%) of that age group, had a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, aunt or uncle removed from their family; an alternative estimate that allows for non-response is around 284,000.
- Compared with other Indigenous adults, after adjusting for age, sex and remoteness, descendants were 1.3 times as likely to report high psychological distress and 1.3 times as likely to have ever been diagnosed with a mental health condition; 29 of 38 outcomes pointed towards greater disadvantage.
- Compared with non-Indigenous Australians aged 18–74, descendants were 2.5 times as likely to report high psychological distress (36.2% compared with 14.7%) and 2.1 times as likely to have a mental health diagnosis (50.0% compared with 24.1%).
- Descendants were 1.3 times as likely as other Indigenous adults to identify with a clan, tribal or language group and 1.2 times as likely to recognise an area as homeland or traditional country.
The Stolen Generations are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were removed from their families as children under government policies during the 20th century. A new web report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, commissioned by The Healing Foundation, looks at the adults one generation or more further down the family line.
Two comparisons, 38 outcomes
The analysis draws on the 2022–23 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey. Some 27% of adults in scope did not answer the questions about removal, so the headline figure of 200,000 descendants is likely an underestimate. Descendants were compared on 38 outcomes with other Indigenous adults and, separately, with the non-Indigenous population. Against other Indigenous adults, high distress on the Kessler-5 was 1.3 times as likely, mental health service use 1.2 times and substance use 1.4 times. Against non-Indigenous Australians, the distress figures were 36.2% and 14.7%. In the same survey, descendants were more likely to name a clan, tribal or language group as their own and to recognise a homeland or traditional country.
Identity that carries the story
My reading is that both findings come out of one family history. Removal was meant to cut the tie to culture. A person who names a clan or a country today usually knows why that tie was in question and which relative lost it, so the identity holds a resource and the memory of the removal at once.
For a clinician this shifts the intake. An early, unhurried question about which relatives were taken points to a likely source of distress and to support the client already has. Cultural connection is then something to work with alongside the symptoms, without being treated as their cure. The report asks for culturally safe, trauma-informed services, and its authors say the data describe differences between populations, not the effect of removal itself.
Descendants of the Stolen Generations were more likely than other Indigenous adults to identify with a clan or language group, and also 1.3 times as likely to report high psychological distress.
The report is descriptive and cannot separate the effect of being a descendant from other factors that differ between groups. About 27% of Indigenous adults did not answer the questions on removal, and people in hostels, prisons and residential aged care were outside the survey.
- Stolen Generations
- intergenerational trauma
- First Nations mental health
- cultural identity
- trauma-informed care