Relationships between the use of Indigenous languages and indicators of well-being Findings from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2014/15
Creators: name: Dinku, Yonatan
name: Markham, Francis
name: Venn, Danielle
name: Hunt, Janet
name: Dreise, Tony
Publisher: name: Canberra, ACT: Australian National University, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR)
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Well-being
subject: racism
subject: justice and safety
subject: mental health
subject: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

description: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have repeatedly asserted that individuals, families and communities can achieve better life outcomes if they maintain or develop knowledge and use of Indigenous languages. However, the evidence that rigorously quantifies the relationship between the use of Indigenous languages and well-being is limited. Applying cross-sectional regressions analysis to data from the 2014/15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS), this study examines the link between the use of Indigenous languages and a range of well-being indicators. Since Indigenous languages are spoken to different extents in different places and living in an area where one’s own language is widely spoken may have different effects on well-being from residing in a place where only a few people speak the language, the NATSISS sample is disaggregated into two language ecologies. The first comprise areas where new and/or traditional Indigenous languages are frequently spoken as a first language and the second consists of areas where most people speak English as a first language and Indigenous languages are spoken as a second or subsequent language. After controlling for English language proficiency and range of individual and family-level characteristics, we find that speaking an Indigenous language is significantly associated with greater cultural attachment, social connectedness and positive emotional well-being. Indigenous language speakers are also more likely than English-only speakers to report that they earn income from artworks and cultural activities. However, Indigenous language use is also associated with increased experiences of discrimination and difficulties accessing services. Our findings suggest that speaking Indigenous languages is strongly associated with indicators of well-being relating to actions over which Indigenous individuals, families and communities can exert agency and self-determination (for example, indicators relating to culture, identity, emotional and land-based well-being). In contrast, Indigenous language use is less consistently correlated with well-being outcomes in aspects of where well-being is most strongly determined by external structural forces. For example, employment, education and health outcomes are largely determined by access to labour market opportunities, education and healthcare services, respectively, factors which are largely beyond Indigenous control. While Indigenous language maintainence and rival are important in their own right, this study has shown that implementation of certain non-language policies may be improved by addressing the needs and aspirations of Indigenous people to speak their own languages.