It is important to identify both risk and protective factors because they represent opportunities for early intervention among those at greatest risk for adverse outcomes [14]. Risk and protective factors for substance use exist at multiple domains (e.g., individual, family, structural/socio-cultural) [14] and will be discussed accordingly. Historical trauma is a salient risk factor that pervades all levels of influence and will be discussed first. First, article titles and abstracts were reviewed to identify whether (1) the articles had an AIAN sample exclusively or had a sample that included AIANs (2) articles examined substance use disorders (SUD) and/or behavioral or gambling addictions as outcomes. Other inclusion criteria were that articles had to be in English and used qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods assessing SUD and/or behavioral addictions.
Alcoholism and destructive drinking patterns are serious social problems in many Native American reservations and urban communities. Native Americans have higher rates of alcohol use, frequency of use, destructive drinking patterns, and increased rates of fetal alcohol syndrome compared with other ethnic groups (Beauvais, 1998; Hisnamick, 1992; May, 1994; Wallace et al., 2003). Compared with the majority population, Native Americans experience four times as much alcohol-related mortality, three times as much alcohol-related illness, and increased rates of alcohol-related accidental deaths, suicides, and homicides (Griffith, 1996). According to leading researchers, there is no universal, all encompassing, explanation for alcohol abuse among Native Americans (Thomason, 2000; Trimble, Padilla, & Bell, 1987). Royce and Scratchley (1996) assert that there have been 42 theories proposed explaining the prevalence of alcohol problems and there is no consensus on this issue. This qualitative study of men from a single Great Lakes reservation community examined the social, cultural, and psychological aspects of their alcohol problems through their life stories.
2. Historical Trauma
Alcohol policies reverse-engineer this system, seeking to regulate the cost and physical availability of alcohol with the assumption that reductions in supply increase the full costs of alcohol and thereby reduce consumption (Babor, 2010; Chaloupka, Grossman, & Saffer, 2002). Alcohol policies focus on price and on limiting the circumstances within which people can obtain alcohol (Babor, 2010; Gruenewald, 2011). However, Alcoholism Statistics prohibition was retained for all American Indian nations until 1953, when federal law allowed Tribes to repeal it by enacting their own alcohol policies (May, 1977, 1992). Despite a great deal of research on the prevalence and etiology of alcohol-related problems among American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), there has been surprisingly little research on alcohol availability and regulation on Tribal lands.
Previous research has established historical trauma as directly linked to poor health outcomes and increased substance use [20,21,22,26,27,28,29,99]. The repercussions of historical trauma continue to be evidenced in current structural racism and social determinants of health that adversely impact AIANs’ overall health and outweigh their coping resources [27,33,43]. Mental and physical health challenges are largely related to restricted availability of culturally sensitive care and accessibility of healthcare services. Family related risk factors can also be traced back to severed family relationships that occurred with forced separation and boarding school experiences. Family bonds, healthy parenting role models, consistent socialization, the provision of extended family’s love and affection, and cultural teachings were virtually eliminated with AIANs’ removal from their lands and social networks [17,54,100,101].
Substance abuse
She recalled sitting in the back seat of their car, watching her mother drink and witnessing brawls from out the window. Whiteclay, established around the same time, was created as a non-permanent 50-mile buffer zone to prevent the sale of alcohol https://ecosoberhouse.com/ close by. But in 1904, after an executive order signed by Theodore Roosevelt reduced the dry zone to a single mile, traders poured into the area, building so-called whiskey ranches that plied the nearby Lakota community with liquor.
A more recent study found that approximately 15% of AIANs reported lifetime use of stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines [7]. As in many other Native American communities in the U.S. and Canada, alcohol abuse has destroyed the lives of many in the reservation. For example, one-fourth of the tribe’s children suffer from fetal disorders related to their parents’ alcoholism.
Resources for Native Americans with Alcohol Misuse Problems
All the participants had been married at least once, and seven out of the nine had been married more than once. All the participants were living with a spouse or female partner at the time of the interview. Individuals in the United States use alcohol widely, and drinking is often perceived as normal behavior. Respondents noted that Tribal ambiguity about alcohol legalization was rooted in historical relationships and in debates about future directions as much as concerns about risk and profits. All data—i.e., the detailed interview notes and the interview transcripts—were securely maintained on a website accessible to project team members of the three research partner agencies.
- Numerous historical accounts describe extremely violent bouts of drinking among Indian tribes during trading sessions and on other occasions, but at least as many accounts exist of similar behavior among the colonizing traders, military personnel, and civilians (Smart and Ogborne 1996).
- Furthermore, awareness is growing that solutions to social and health problems must be generated at the community level and those that have been imposed from outside will most likely be ineffective (Beauvais and LaBoueff 1985; Oetting et al. 1995).
- Traders also found that providing free alcohol during trading sessions gave them a distinct advantage in their negotiations.
- Affective processes and healing can take place through exposure to and participation in talking circles, sweat lodges, and other ceremonies.
- Attachment injuries were passed on generationally, complicating the process of successfully navigating interpersonal relationship challenges and potentially led to substance use [69].
The participants’ narratives provided insight into the ways reconnecting with traditional cultural values (retraditionalization) helped them with domestic violence issues and in achieving sobriety. The men’s recovery trajectories had strong common themes that were grouped into stages in which connecting with Elders and traditional cultural traditions helped them redefine themselves with more traditional Native (desirable) identities. Understanding the ways in which specific Native cultural groups perceive their problems with drinking and sobriety can create more culturally congruent, culturally sensitive, and effective treatment approaches.
Health standards
Antone says she’s asked doctors at Red Lake to refer Shyra and Joshua, 9, to a fetal alcohol diagnostic clinic. Matthew was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder when he was 18 months old. That made it easier for Antone to get her son into a fetal alcohol diagnostic clinic at the University of Minnesota. When Red Lake tribal member Sue Antone adopted three kids in the 1990s, she had no idea what she was getting into. The children were adopted from an Indian tribe in Arizona, where Antone lived for several years. This review was conducted using the matrix method as a guide to systematically organize and process literature according to content, methodologies, and outcomes [11].
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