Three Studies Examining the Mechanisms Linking Stress Exposure to Delinquency and Substance Use among North American Indigenous Adolescents

Objective: The purpose of this dissertation research was to examine in three separate studies the mechanisms linking a variety of stressors to delinquency/substance use among North American Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth. Method: Data for the three empirical chapters come from an eight-wave longitudinal study of 676 Indigenous youth and their caretakers from three U.S. reservations and four Canadian First Nations reserves. Study 1 Results: The objective was to examine the intergenerational transmission of problem behavior from female caretakers to their children via caretaker stress exposure, psychosocial functioning, and parenting practices. Early caretaker adversity and problem behavior undermined caretaker warmth and support through their positive effects on adult financial strain. Early caretaker problem behavior had a direct negative association with warmth and support and was partially mediated by adult problem behavior. As expected, caretaker warmth and support linked these processes with their child’s problem behavior. Study 2 Results: The objective was to examine the mechanisms linking perceived racial discrimination with aggression. Path analysis results showed that discrimination was indirectly associated with aggression through its negative effect on school bonds and positive effect on delinquent peer associations. The indirect effect for school bonds, however, was stronger when depressive symptoms were high. Delinquent peer associations also amplified the positive effect of perceived discrimination on aggression. Depressive symptoms did not operate as a mediator or moderator. Study 3 Results: The objective was to examine ecological moderators of the relation between violence exposure and meeting past year criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD). Logistic regression analyses suggested that dating violence victimization amplified the effect caretaker victimization had on SUD risk, whereas family warmth and support buffered this association. Moreover, the effect of community violence exposure on SUD risk was greater for those living in remote communities and high income families. Although delinquent peer associations had a direct effect on SUD risk, it did not moderate any of the violence exposure measures. Conclusion: Collectively, this dissertation demonstrates the usefulness of stress-based models for understanding heightened Indigenous delinquency and substance use, and provides insights into prevention/intervention policies among Indigenous youth. Advisor: Lisa Kort-Butle

Three Studies Examining the Mechanisms Linking Stress Exposure to Delinquency and Substance Use among North American Indigenous Adolescents

Objective: The purpose of this dissertation research was to examine in three separate studies the mechanisms linking a variety of stressors to delinquency/substance use among North American Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth. Method: Data for the three empirical chapters come from an eight-wave longitudinal study of 676 Indigenous youth and their caretakers from three U.S. reservations and four Canadian First Nations reserves. Study 1 Results: The objective was to examine the intergenerational transmission of problem behavior from female caretakers to their children via caretaker stress exposure, psychosocial functioning, and parenting practices. Early caretaker adversity and problem behavior undermined caretaker warmth and support through their positive effects on adult financial strain. Early caretaker problem behavior had a direct negative association with warmth and support and was partially mediated by adult problem behavior. As expected, caretaker warmth and support linked these processes with their child’s problem behavior. Study 2 Results: The objective was to examine the mechanisms linking perceived racial discrimination with aggression. Path analysis results showed that discrimination was indirectly associated with aggression through its negative effect on school bonds and positive effect on delinquent peer associations. The indirect effect for school bonds, however, was stronger when depressive symptoms were high. Delinquent peer associations also amplified the positive effect of perceived discrimination on aggression. Depressive symptoms did not operate as a mediator or moderator. Study 3 Results: The objective was to examine ecological moderators of the relation between violence exposure and meeting past year criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD). Logistic regression analyses suggested that dating violence victimization amplified the effect caretaker victimization had on SUD risk, whereas family warmth and support buffered this association. Moreover, the effect of community violence exposure on SUD risk was greater for those living in remote communities and high income families. Although delinquent peer associations had a direct effect on SUD risk, it did not moderate any of the violence exposure measures. Conclusion: Collectively, this dissertation demonstrates the usefulness of stress-based models for understanding heightened Indigenous delinquency and substance use, and provides insights into prevention/intervention policies among Indigenous youth. Advisor: Lisa Kort-Butle

Predictors of Police Reporting Among Hispanic Immigrant Victims of Violence

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of police reporting among Hispanic immigrant victims of violence. A sample of 127 Hispanic immigrants was generated through a chain-referral procedure in the city of Hempstead, New York. Participants were asked about their most recent victimization experiences, and detailed information was collected on up to three incidents. The analyses were based on a total of 214 separate victimization incidents, one third of which were reported to the police. Logistic regression analyses indicated that serious injury, multiple-victim incidents, and perceptions of discrimination increase the odds of a police report. Moreover, incidents involving a Black primary assailant were less likely to be reported to the police than incidents involving an assailant perceived to be of Hispanic origin. Supplementary analyses suggested that this latter relationship may be contingent upon the type of crime and the victim’s relationship with the assailant. At the policy level, these findings call into question assumptions about very recent immigrants being too socially isolated and distrustful of law enforcement to sustain robust reporting levels, as well as pointing to encouraging possibilities for productive engagement between police and Hispanic immigrant populations

“Rebuilding our community”: Hearing silenced voices on Aboriginal youth suicide

This paper brings forth the voices of adult Aboriginal First Nations community members who gathered in focus groups to discuss the problem of youth suicide on their reserves. Our approach emphasizes multilevel (e.g., individual, family, and broader ecological systems) factors viewed by participants as relevant to youth suicide. Wheaton’s conceptualization of stressors (1994; 1999) and Evans-Campbell’s (2008) multilevel classification of the impacts of historical trauma are used as theoretical and analytic guides. Thematic analysis of qualitative data transcripts revealed a highly complex intersection of stressors, traumas, and social problems seen by community members as underlying mechanisms influencing heightened levels of Aboriginal youth suicidality. Our multilevel coding approach revealed that suicidal behaviors were described by community members largely as a problem with deep historical and contemporary structural roots as opposed to being viewed as individualized pathology

Moderators of the association between exposure to violence in community, family, and dating contexts and substance use disorder risk among North American Indigenous adolescents

Exposure to violence and substance abuse are salient public health concerns among Indigenous people (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations). Despite this, little research has examined the association between the two among community-based reservation/reserve samples, or factors within the broader social environment that may moderate this association. As such, the purpose of the study is to examine ecological moderators of the association between direct (i.e., dating violence victimization) and indirect (i.e., current perceptions of community violence and prospective caretaker-reported victimization exposure) exposure to violence and meeting diagnostic criteria for a substance use disorder among a large longitudinal sample of Indigenous youth and their caretakers in the upper-Midwest of the United States and Canada (N = 521). Data come from the last two waves of the study, when the adolescents were between the ages of 16 and 19 years. The results show relatively high rates of direct and indirect violence exposure by late adolescence. Logistic regression models with added interaction terms were examined to test moderating effects. Per capita family income and remote location both amplified the positive association between current community violence exposure and substance use disorder risk. Family warmth and support buffered the association between caretaker victimization exposure and substance use disorder risk, whereas dating violence victimization exposure amplified this association. The findings are contextualized for Indigenous communities, and substance abuse prevention and intervention implications are discussed.Peer reviewedSociolog

The Utility of the Prototype/Willingness Model in Predicting Alcohol Use Among North American Indigenous Adolescents

In the present study, we considered the utility of the prototype/willingness model in predicting alcohol use among North-American Indigenous adolescents. Specifically, using longitudinal data, we examined the associations among subjective drinking norms, positive drinker prototypes, drinking expectations (as a proxy of drinking willingness), and drinking behavior among a sample of Indigenous adolescents from ages 12 to 14 years. Using an autoregressive cross-lagged analysis, our results showed that subjective drinking norms and positive drinker prototypes at 12 years of age were associated with increased drinking expectations at 13 years of age, and that greater drinking expectations at 13 years of age were associated with increased drinking behavior at 14 years of age. Our results provide initial evidence that the prototype/willingness model may generalize to Indigenous adolescents, a population that has received little attention within the psychological sciences. Our results also highlight some potential ways in which existing prevention efforts aimed at reducing substance use among Indigenous adolescents may be enhanced

Prospective Childhood Risk Factors for Gang Involvement among North American Indigenous Adolescents

The purpose of the study was to examine prospective childhood risk factors for gang involvement across the course of adolescence among a large eight-year longitudinal sample of 646 Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth residing on reservation/reserve land in the Midwest of the United States and Canada. Risk factors at the first wave of the study (ages 10–12) were used to predict gang involvement (i.e., gang membership and initiation) in subsequent waves (ages 11–18). A total of 6.7% of the participants reported gang membership and 9.1% reported gang initiation during the study. Risk factors were distributed across developmental domains (e.g., family, school, peer, and individual) with those in the early delinquency domain having the strongest and most consistent effects. Moreover, the results indicate that the cumulative number of risk factors in childhood increases the probability of subsequent gang involvement. Culturally relevant implications and prevention/intervention strategies are discussed

Prospective Childhood Risk Factors for Gang Involvement among North American Indigenous Adolescents

The purpose of the study was to examine prospective childhood risk factors for gang involvement across the course of adolescence among a large eight-year longitudinal sample of 646 Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth residing on reservation/reserve land in the Midwest of the United States and Canada. Risk factors at the first wave of the study (ages 10–12) were used to predict gang involvement (i.e., gang membership and initiation) in subsequent waves (ages 11–18). A total of 6.7% of the participants reported gang membership and 9.1% reported gang initiation during the study. Risk factors were distributed across developmental domains (e.g., family, school, peer, and individual) with those in the early delinquency domain having the strongest and most consistent effects. Moreover, the results indicate that the cumulative number of risk factors in childhood increases the probability of subsequent gang involvement. Culturally relevant implications and prevention/intervention strategies are discussed

Latent trajectories and profiles of commercial cigarette smoking frequency from adolescence to young adulthood among North American Indigenous people

Introduction: North American Indigenous people (ie, American Indian/Alaska Native and Canadian First Nations) have the highest rates of commercial cigarette smoking, yet little is known about long-term trajectories of use among this population. The purpose of this study is to examine heterogeneous trajectories and profiles of Indigenous cigarette use frequency from early adolescence (mean age: 11.1 years) to young adulthood (mean age: 26.3 years).Aims and Methods: Data come from a nine-wave prospective longitudinal study spanning early adolescence through young adulthood among Indigenous people in the Upper Midwest of the United States and Canada (N = 706). Smoking frequency was examined at each wave, and latent class growth analysis was used to examine heterogeneous patterns. Early adolescent and young adult demographics and smoking-related characteristics were examined across these latent trajectory groups.Results: In young adulthood, 52% of participants smoked daily/near-daily, and an additional 10% smoked weekly or monthly. Four latent trajectory groups emerged: low/non-smokers (35.2%) who had low probabilities of smoking across the study; occasional smokers (17.2%) who had moderate probabilities of smoking throughout adolescence and declining probabilities of smoking into young adulthood; mid-adolescent onset smokers (21.6%) who showed patterns of smoking onset around mid-adolescence and escalated to daily use in young adulthood; and early-adolescent onset smokers (25.9%) who showed patterns of onset in early adolescence and escalated to stable daily use by late adolescence.Conclusions: The findings suggest multiple critical periods of smoking risk, as well as a general profile of diverse smoking frequency patterns, which can inform targeted intervention and treatment programming.Implications: Nearly two-thirds (62%) of this sample of Indigenous people were current smokers by early adulthood (mean age = 26.3 years), which is substantially higher than national rates in the United States and Canada. Moreover, in all but one trajectory group, smoking prevalence consistently increased over time, suggesting these rates may continue to rise into adulthood. The longitudinal mixture modeling approach used in this study shows that smoking patterns are heterogeneous, and implications for public health policy likely vary across these diverse patterns characterized by timing of onset of use, escalation in frequency of use, and stability/change over time.Peer reviewedSociolog

Latent Risk Subtypes Based on Injection and Sexual Behavior Among People Who Inject Drugs in Rural Puerto Rico

Background—People who inject drugs (PWID) in Puerto Rico engage in high levels of injection and sexual risk behavior, and they are at high risk for HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) infection, relative to their US counterparts. Less is known, however, about the clustering of risk behavior conducive to HIV and HCV infection among rural Puerto Rican communities. Objectives—The purpose of this study was to examine concurrent injection and sexual risk subtypes among a rural sample of PWID in Puerto Rico. Methods—Data were drawn from a respondent-driven sample collected in 2015 of 315 PWID in 4 rural communities approximately 30–40 miles from San Juan. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to examine risk subtypes using 3 injection and 3 sexual risk indicators. In addition, demographic and other PWID characteristics were examined as possible predictors of latent class membership. Results—Four LCA subtypes were identified: low risk (36%), high injection/low sexual risk (22%), low injection/high sexual risk (20%), and high risk (22%). Younger age and past year homelessness predicted high risk latent class membership, relative to the other classes. In addition, daily speedball use predicted membership in the high injection/low sexual risk class, relative to the low risk and low injection/high sexual risk classes. Conclusion/Importance—The findings suggest ways in which PWID risk clusters can be identified for targeted interventions