Tobacco use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students: Understanding 'the social' and the effects of indigeneity

Schofield, T; Sebastian, T; Donnelly, M; Anderson, C

Tobacco use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students: Understanding 'the social' and the effects of indigeneity

Schofield, T Sebastian, T

Donnelly, M Anderson, C

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2015, (2), pp. 46 - 57
Issue Date:: 2015

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	TobaccoPaper.pdf	Published Version	155.86 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Schofield, T	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Sebastian, T https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2172-6196	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Donnelly, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Anderson, C	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2015, (2), pp. 46 - 57	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0729-4352	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43533
dc.description.abstract	Australian tobacco use and its social acceptance have declined significantly (AIHW 2014). The rates of smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, however, disclose only a very small decrease, and mortality and morbidity rates attributed to tobacco use continue to be higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than they are for other Australians. The lack of any significant reduction in smoking among Indigenous Australians is especially marked among young people, who are reported to smoke daily at more than double the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts (AIHW 2014). This paper analyses prevailing approaches to 'the social' in causing smoking among Indigenous Australians and argues that such approaches provide a limited foundation for understanding tobacco use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in general, and among students of high school age in particular. The paper proposes a critical sociological approach that represents and understands tobacco use as an embodied, collective social practice that persists or ceases according to the opportunities arising in the lives of those engaged in the practice. Such opportunities, we propose, are not random but, rather, socially structured. In other words, they arise from the 'sediments of past collective practice' (Schofield 2015:31) and are identifiable as patterns over time. In the case of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including those of high-school age, we propose that the dominant social structure or dynamic is that of indigeneity (Schofield and Gilroy 2015). We argue that smoking cessation programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students need to have a coherent conceptual foundation that includes the adoption of Indigenous research to inform policy development and implementation	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Australian Aboriginal Studies	en_US
dc.title	Tobacco use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students: Understanding 'the social' and the effects of indigeneity	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.for	1699 Other Studies in Human Society	en_US
utslib.for	2101 Archaeology	en_US
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Students
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

Australian tobacco use and its social acceptance have declined significantly (AIHW 2014). The rates of smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, however, disclose only a very small decrease, and mortality and morbidity rates attributed to tobacco use continue to be higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than they are for other Australians. The lack of any significant reduction in smoking among Indigenous Australians is especially marked among young people, who are reported to smoke daily at more than double the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts (AIHW 2014). This paper analyses prevailing approaches to 'the social' in causing smoking among Indigenous Australians and argues that such approaches provide a limited foundation for understanding tobacco use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in general, and among students of high school age in particular. The paper proposes a critical sociological approach that represents and understands tobacco use as an embodied, collective social practice that persists or ceases according to the opportunities arising in the lives of those engaged in the practice. Such opportunities, we propose, are not random but, rather, socially structured. In other words, they arise from the 'sediments of past collective practice' (Schofield 2015:31) and are identifiable as patterns over time. In the case of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including those of high-school age, we propose that the dominant social structure or dynamic is that of indigeneity (Schofield and Gilroy 2015). We argue that smoking cessation programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students need to have a coherent conceptual foundation that includes the adoption of Indigenous research to inform policy development and implementation

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43533