The Social Distribution of Distress and Well-Being in the Canadian Aboriginal Population Living Off Reserve

• Main Author: Susan Wingert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Western Ontario 2011-05-01
• Series: International Indigenous Policy Journal
• Subjects: mental health; distress; well-being; stress process
• Online Access: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=iipj

This article examines how the social structure distributes risk and protective factors and mental health outcomes within the off reserve Aboriginal population in Canada. It uses the stress process model, aprominent model in the sociology of mental health, to explore pathways between social status, stress, coping resources, and mental health outcomes. Path analyses are used to decompose total effects on distress and wellbeing into direct and indirect or mediating pathways. The results suggest that stress, mastery, and social support are important mediators between social status and mental health outcomes. Stress appears to be a stronger contributor to distress while mastery and social support are of higher relative importance to wellbeing.