Research Reports
Reflections on Traditional American Indian Ways, 1998
Threats to Tribal Sovereignty, 1998
Traditional American Indian Leadership: A Comparison with U.S. Governance, 1997
Resiliency and Risk Among American Indian Adolescents
Appendix C
This report has focused on some of the economic conditions facing children and their families as revealed by the census. There are other ways of looking at what is happening among youth besides economic analysis.
The Urban Coalition and the University of Minnesota's Adolescent Health Program have been working together to try to find some of the factors and life experiences that increase risk or strengthen resiliency among adolescents. Resiliency can be thought of as the capacity to thrive, be emotionally healthy and avoid destructive behavior in spite of very difficult circumstances. Two of the aspects of adolescent well-being that we have looked at are emotional stress and suicide risk. The study was based on survey data from thousands of 7th-12th grade students from Minneapolis and St. Paul and was done separately for each community of color.
Among American Indian students, there were several factors that appear to increase emotional stress. Adolescents who said they were bored ("nothing interesting to do"), who were worried about violence, who indicated previous experience with physical abuse, and who had negative feelings about their bodies had much higher levels of emotional stress. On the other hand, there was one factor--strong family connectedness--that reduced emotional stress. Young people who said they had lots of fun with their families and who felt that their families cared about and understood them reported much less emotional stress
High emotional stress was in turn one of the most important factors associated with suicide risk, a concept based on the students' reports of suicidal thoughts and recent attempts. Among American Indian youth, suicide risk was also greater among youths who said there were recent serious mental health/emotional problems within their families. Surprisingly, doing OK in school was also associated with suicide risk for American Indian youth. Students who said they liked school, had average or above-average grades, and who did not skip school often were more likely to report suicidal thoughts and attempts. One factor emerged which appeared to reduce suicide risk. American Indian students who thought of themselves as a religious or spiritual person were less likely to have suicidal thoughts or attempts.
The full report, Resiliency and Risk Among Young People of Color, is available by calling the Urban Coalition at 651-348-8550.
- Appendix A Infant Mortality
- Appendix B State Policy Affecting Low Income People
The
Well-Being of American Indian Children in Minnesota: Economic Conditions,
1994
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