DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

Definition

In addition to the specific health information collected, the 2012-13 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS) collected a range of descriptive demographic characteristics.

Population

In the 2012-13 NATSIHS and NATSINPAS, some demographic information was collected for all people in the household (including non-Indigenous persons), whereas other information was collected only for the respondents selected in the survey.

Information from all persons in responding households was collected for the following characteristics:

• age
• sex
• social marital status (15 years and over)
• Indigenous status.

Information from all selected persons (0 years and over for NATSIHS, 2 years and over for NATSINPAS) was collected for the following characteristics:

• language mainly spoken at home
• proficiency at English.
  

Methodology

Age

Age as reported was recorded for all persons in the household in single years. Standard output categories differ according to the topic to which the data relates. Age in five or ten year groups is most commonly used in survey output. Other non-standard groupings are available on request.

Age in months is also available in the NATSIHS for selected persons aged less than 2 years. This item has been produced for use with breast feeding data.

Sex

Male or female as reported.

Social marital status

Social marital status was derived for persons aged 15 years and over, and was classified as:

• Married - if living with another person in a couple relationship. Included are persons living with a person of the same sex in a couple relationship.
• Not married - if not living with another person in a couple relationship. Includes persons living alone, with other family members, or in shared accommodation. Includes persons in a registered or defacto marriage whose partners are not usually resident in the household.

Indigenous status

Refers to whether the person is of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, as identified by an adult spokesperson within each household, i.e. not necessarily self-identified. Status is classified as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander.

Language mainly spoken at home

Obtained for all selected persons, as reported. Main language was first collected as broad categories of English, an Aboriginal Language, a Torres Strait Islander Language, and Other language. For non-English categories, more detailed information was requested regarding the specific language. Language was classified at the finest level of the Australian Standard Classification of Languages 2005-06 (cat no. 1267.0). The abbreviated classification used in most standard output is shown in Appendix 3: ABS Standard Classifications of this Users' Guide.

For children aged 5 years or younger, a category of ‘Child not yet speaking’ was available if the child was not yet speaking a recognisable language. This was classified to 0001 ‘Non-verbal, so described’. The other statuses included English, an Aboriginal language, a Torres Strait Islander language or other language.

Proficiency in spoken English

All selected persons who reported they mainly spoke a language other than English at home (with the below exceptions) were asked how well they spoke English. Responses were recorded as reported by respondents against the categories:

• very well
• well
• not well
• not at all
• only speaks English (at home).

In output, persons who identified the main language spoken was English were assigned the category of ‘mainly speaks English (at home)’.

Children identified as not yet speaking or people for whom sign language or Auslan (Australian Sign Language) was their main language were also not asked the questions but for output were assigned the category of Not known/Does not speak.

Data items

Data items and related output categories for this topic will be available in Excel spreadsheet format from the Downloads page of this product.

Interpretation

Points to be considered in interpreting data for this topic include the following:

• Summary characteristics of all usual residents of selected households were recorded from information supplied by any 'responsible adult' resident of the household (the ARA). Characteristics recorded were sex, age, marital status, whether currently attending school/educational institution (15-24 years), Indigenous status and relationship to other household members.
• ARA may identify a resident as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, however, the resident may not identify themselves as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Residents also may not have identified to other people in their household their Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status and so the ARA may not be aware of their status in order to correctly report on it.

Comparability with 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS)

Data for common items are considered comparable between the 2004-05 and 2012-13 surveys. However, the main language spoken at home was coded to the ASCL 1997 edition in 2004-05 and the ASCL 2005-06 edition in 2012-13. Furthermore, in 2004-05 main language spoken at home data were only collected for adults and remote areas had only the categories of English, An Aboriginal Language (not further defined), A Torres Strait Islander Language (not further defined) and Other Language collected.

Comparability with 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS)

Data for common items are considered comparable between the 2008 NATSISS and 2012-13 NATSIHS, however, it should be noted that the language questions were only asked of those 3 years and over in the 2008 NATSISS, while 2012-13 NATSIHS collected data from respondents 0 years and over.

Comparability with 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (AHS)

Data for common items are considered comparable between the 2011-12 AHS and 2012-13 AATSIHS. Care should be taken to ensure comparable ages are used (e.g. NATSIHS is the only survey to obtain information on main language for 0-1 year olds). Care should also be taken when comparing social marital status as this was derived differently in the two surveys. In AHS, social marital status was derived based on selections from the registered marital status question. A respondent had to select either "Married" or "Defacto" in this question to be considered married in the social marital status item. In AATSIHS, residing with one's partner was sufficient to be considered married in the social marital status item (consistent with 2004-05 NATSIHS and 2008 NATSISS).

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