Clearing the air: American Indian tribal college students' exposure to second hand smoke & attitudes towards smoke free campus policies

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge, awareness, and support for campus smoke-free policies. Participants: 1,256 American Indian tribal college students from three tribal colleges in the Midwest and Northern Plains. Methods: Data are from an observational cross-sectional study of American Indian tribal college students, collected through a web-based survey. Results: Only 40% of tribal college students reported not being exposed to second hand smoke in the past 7 days. A majority of nonsmokers (66%) agreed or strongly agreed with having a smoke-free campus, while 34.2% of smokers also agreed or strongly agreed. Overall, more than a third (36.6%) of tribal college students were not aware of their campus smoking policies. Conclusions: Tribal campuses serving American Indian students have been much slower in adopting smoke-free campus policies. Our findings show that tribal college students would support a smoke-free campus policy.     

Enough is enough: Grandmother caregivers' strategies for mitigating out-of-school suspensions for African–American youth

This qualitative study explores the strategies used by grandmothers caring for African–American grandchildren with out-of-school suspensions drawing from a larger study of caregivers. In-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews with 10 grandmothers who were caring for a total of 13 grandchildren with a range of 1 to 14 out-of-school suspensions (OSS) revealed that these grandmother caregivers took action with both their grandchildren and the grandchildren' s educators. Grandmothers became intensely involved with school and in-home educational activities. They structured their relationship with their grandchildren to attend to affection, provide incentives and respond with appropriate consequences. Additionally, grandmothers identified services and programs received and needed to enhance the grandchildren' s engagement with the learning process. Furthermore, based on strong opinions about changes needed in the schools, they provided concrete recommendations to educators. These recommendations call for professionals to support grandmothers' actions to reduce OSS and advocate to educators to revise policies and procedures that would promote a better understanding of grandchildren in the care of their grandmothers and the efforts that these grandmothers make to mitigate OSS.     

American Indian Grand-Families: Trauma and Services

Since the United States Census Bureau began collecting data regarding grandparents raising their grandchildren, the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population has had the highest proportion of families led by grandparents as the primary caregivers of their grandchildren. Despite this, research into AI/AN grand-families is limited. To begin to fill this gap, this qualitative study of 49 AI/AN grandparents raising grand-families (GFs) was conducted in an urban area with one of the highest AI/AN populations in the United States. Results indicated that loss and trauma within the middle generation is a central theme for GF formation. Such GFs also reported using a variety of services spanning state, tribal, and urban AI/AN programs, with educational support as a primary need articulated for their grandchildren. Surprisingly, enculturation was not mentioned as a primary driver of GF formulation. The study suggests a need for further exploration of the needs of urban-based AI/AN GFs, and that service providers must be aware of such issues when working with AI/AN GFs.     

Voices of African American Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren

ABSTRACT

This study examines cultural solutions to challenges perceived by African American grandmothers as they interface with kinship care policy-practice in raising their grandchildren under the auspices of the US child welfare system. Findings suggest the study participants desire to have a voice in the kinship policy-practice process, to be valued, and to have the child welfare system treat them as true partners and valuable experts. The grandmothers provide clear directives to child welfare, kinship policymakers and administrators on specific steps they can take to demonstrate respect for the grandmothers' experiences and expertise.     

“Being Indian,” “Being American”

Summary

This is a cross-cultural study that seeks to understand an aspect of Asian Indian women's realities by exploring concepts such as: attitudes toward gender roles, level of stress in their lives, and their ethnic identity. It compares Asian Indian women raised in the U.S. (n = 45), with women born and raised in India (n = 50) and with European American women in the U.S. (n = 50). Additionally, excerpts from in-depth interviews with Asian Indian women in the U.S. are included. Most Asian Indian women in this study feel that they are both Indian and American and feel the two can be very well combined. However, they have problems with their families for not being Indian enough, especially on issues regarding marriage, career choice, and dating. The study found that “being Indian” might be different for the first generation Indian immigrants and the Asian Indian women who were born and raised in the U.S. These Asian Indian women are striving to claim a new identity for themselves, one which is both Indian and American.     

An Emergent Phenomenon of American Indian Secondary Students’ Career Development Process

Nine single‐race American Indian secondary students’ career development experiences were examined through a phenomenological methodology. All 9 participants were in the transition period starting in late secondary school (age 18). Data sources included individual interviews and journal analysis. The phenomenon of American Indian secondary students’ career development process comprised 7 themes, which were integrated into 3 interacting dimensions: introspective, relational, and contextual. Findings reveal unique career development processes for American Indian secondary students living in tribal settings, including career decision process, career options, outcome expectations, and self‐efficacy. Implications for school counselors and counselor educators are discussed.     

An Ecological Assessment of Drug-Related Problem Situations for American Indian Adolescents of the Southwest

ABSTRACT

This study examined difficult situations related to drug and alcohol use as identified by American Indian youth in the Southwest. Sixty-two contextually based items were developed from focus group data, and were administered to 71 American Indian youth. The items measured the frequency in which youth experienced specific drug-related situations, as well as the perceived difficulty in resisting drug use offers in those situations. The results indicated that the most frequent and difficult drug and alcohol situations occurred primarily with friends or cousins at their homes or after school. Implications for culturally specific assessment, prevention, and treatment are discussed.     

Parent Effectiveness Among Single,Low-Income,African American Mothers

Abstract

This study was an exploratory investigation of parenting effectiveness among 135 single, low-income African American mothers. Two aspects of parenting were investigated, satisfaction with one's ability to parent and parent effectiveness or abilities. Two instruments were used to measure these concepts, the Kansas Parental Satisfaction Scale (James, Schumn, Kennedy, Grigsby, Shectman, & Nichols, 1985) and the Parent Success Indicator for Parents (Strom & Strom, 1998).

Results indicate high levels of effective parenting among the group on both measures. This was true regardless of the mother's age, level of income, level of education, number of children, or age of the oldest child. Implications for social work practice, policy, and research are presented.     

LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

This article draws on theories of colonial discourse, cultural representation, subjectivity, feminist studies, cultural studies, and historical analysis to examine how the representations of American Indians in 1990s television fiction are constructed, especially in the American television fictions Northern Exposure, Twin Peaks and Paradise. Central to this analysis is the discussion of colonial discourse and representations of American Indians as Other on popular American television and, more generally, in mainstream American discourse. This examination is set in the context of the issues surrounding the treatment of Indian people in mainstream history, in film, and in contemporary television fiction. It is the authors' position that in the easy acceptance of a stereotyped cultural construction, mainstream America has come to little knowledge or understanding of American Indian nations, their contemporary concerns, or their discrete identities. For the mass market, their contemporary concerns, or their discrete identities. For the mass market, the Indian is either the Vanishing Race of Edward Curtis's photographs or the savage of the captivity narratives, and the process by which that imaginary functions to contain American Indian identity continues in our most popular narrative today: television fiction.     

The Relation Between Peer Victimization and Adolescents' Well‐Being: The Moderating Role of Ethnicity Within Context

This study examined the moderating effects of individual ethnicity and school ethnic composition on the relation between peer victimization and adolescents' well‐being. Participants were 4,593 sixth grade students attending 36 schools categorized as ethnically diverse or predominantly African American, European American, or Latino American. Multilevel models revealed relations between participants' ethnicity and their reported frequency of overt but not relational victimization. Findings did not support the hypothesis that adolescents in the minority group in their school would be more frequently victimized than adolescents in the majority group. Furthermore, contrary to hypothesis, the relation between the reported frequency of victimization and well‐being did not vary as a function of the interaction between adolescents' ethnicity and their schools' ethnic composition.     

Educating for Practice

Abstract

Few studies have profiled American Indian social workers or social work students in terms of their career objectives and practice interests. This article expands the current literature by reporting results from a secondary data analysis of a California statewide sample of 162 entering American Indian MSW students, from 1991 and 1998. Results are also helpful in understanding this unique racial/ethnic group with regard to their socio-demographic characteristics, views on poverty and the poor, career motivations, and future practice interests. Additionally, comparisons are made between American Indians and all MSW students regarding the above mentioned variables. Findings indicate that American Indian students demonstrate a noticeably stronger adherence toward supporting and maintaining social work's traditional mission in helping poor and dis-advantaged populations when compared to all MSW students. Implications for social work practice with American Indian populations are also discussed.     

The Portable Community: Mobility and Modernization in Bluegrass Festival Life

Drawing from six years of ethnographic field research, I examine participants' involvement in bluegrass music and festival culture in the American West. Participants left their community‐starved home neighborhoods to cultivate what I refer to as “portable communities”: temporary forms of mobile gemeinschaft community that participants found in multiple settings. Festivalgoers articulated a consistent vocabulary of intimacy, inclusion, and simplicity when describing their continued involvement in this setting. They described their involvement as driven by a quest for intimate community, open and equal social relations, and simple living, elements they found in short supply in their daily lives. Whereas traditional community forms depend on residential stability, these participants intentionally cultivated and supported alternatives that emerged in response to participants' geographic mobility.     

Racial and Sexual Identities of Asian American Gay Men

ABSTRACT

This paper reports results of two studies about the racial and sexual identities of Asian American gay men. In the first study, 32 Asian American gay men completed measures assessing racial and sexual identity attitudes. Results suggested that Assimilationists had the most negative sexual identity attitudes, followed by Marginalists and Separationists, with Integrationists having the most positive sexual identity attitudes. Study 2 was a qualitative study based on interviews with 10 of the participants in Study 1. Twenty-nine themes were identified and grouped under five domains (personal background, coming out, being Asian in the U.S., being gay in the U.S., and multiple identities). Most themes were related to the parallel and interactive processes between participants' racial and sexual identity development. Practical and research implications are discussed.     

Entrance and Exit from the Military

Abstract

The literature that addresses the reasons for entering military service is limited and generally does not report on the experiences of ethnic minority populations. This article reports on findings from a qualitative research study that examined health utilization and health status for a sample of 86 American Indian and Alaska Native veterans. The study generated data that provide interesting insights about the reasons for entering military service and experiences post discharge for this population. The data indicate that cultural material plays a significant role in the decision to enter the military and in the reentry experience of the veterans who participated in this research study. The analysis supports the proposition that despite the diversity that characterizes the American Indian and Alaska Native experience, there are overarching values and belief systems that are held in common across tribal communities which influence the social construction of life and the interpretation of life events.     

A Psychosocial View of Mental Illness: An Introduction to Part II

Increasingly, grandmothers are parenting grandchildren in homes where parental presence is sporadic or nonexistent. A disproportionate percentage of African American grandparents fall in this category. The author reviews the literature on the African American grandmother in the context of the African American family and describes a practice model for service provision to those women who seek support as they “parent again.”     

Results of an Interdisciplinary Intervention to Improve the Psychosocial Well-Being and Physical Functioning of African American Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the effects of an interdisciplinary intervention designed to enhance family adaptation toward stress of grandmothers raising grandchildren by improving their psychosocial well-being and physical functioning. Participants were predominantly low-income, African American grandmothers raising one or more grandchildren in parent-absent households in an urban area in the southeast. The intervention consisted of social work and nursing case management, participation in monthly support groups, and parenting classes, as well as legal service referrals for those seeking custody or adoption of their grandchildren.

Results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the direction predicted for psychological distress, family resources, social support, and family coping, but not physical health. These findings suggest that the intervention positively affected the psychosocial well-being of grandmothers raising grandchildren. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed. doi:10.1300/J194v05n03_04     

Recidivism,Risk, and Resiliency Among North American Indian Parolees and Former Prisoners

Abstract

Using official data, this paper examines recidivism, defined as rearrest over a 3-year follow up period, among a North American Indian First Nation-the Lumbee of North Carolina. Recidivism of the Lumbee, who reside in a tri-county non-reservation area, is compared with that of non-natives residing in the same counties. The working hypothesis was that being a member of the Lumbee First Nation and residing in a “Lumbee county” provides resiliency against the risk of recidivism. The hypothesis was confirmed with respect to violent and drug-related arrests, but not for property and other miscellaneous types of offenses.     

Reaching at-risk populations: The inconsistency of communication channels among American Indian tribes and nations in Oklahoma

While according to Census figures American Indians are considered a single minority group, not all tribes within the racial classification of American Indian have the same access to information and resources. This study exposes the inconsistent availability of communication channels among American Indian tribes and nations and the use of available channels for disseminating diabetes awareness, prevention, and treatment messages. Findings imply that health communication campaigns targeting at-risk groups should first identify and assess the ethnic communication channels available to the population, and inclusion of these channels should be essential in the health communication campaign; however, practitioners cannot assume equality of access and availability of these channels within a minority population.     

Actual-Ideal Self Discrepancy and Sexual Esteem and Depression

Abstract

A study was conducted to explore the relationship between the way individuals feel about their sexuality (e.g., sexual esteem and sexual depression) and the way they think about their sexual self-more specifically, the difference between the way they perceive their actual and their ideal selves. It was predicted that discrepancies between individuals' actual and ideal selves would be negatively correlated with sexual esteem and positively correlated with sexual depression. Furthermore, it was predicted that there would be a significant difference between the participants' ratings of their actual and their ideal selves. There was unequivocal support for the first hypothesis and general support for the second hypothesis. The results were discussed in terms of the development of the ideal self, gender roles, and the role that social comparison processes may play in this process. Also, limitations to this study were noted and suggestions for further research were discussed.