Boarding and Public Schools: Navajo Educational Attainment, Conduct Disorder, and Alcohol Dependency

• NCJ Number: 227973
• Journal: American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: 1998 Pages: 24-45
• Author(s): Eric Henderson Ph.D., J.D.; Stephen J. Kunitz Ph.D., M.D.; K. Ruben Gabriel Ph.D.; Aaron McCright B.A.; Jerrold E. Levy Ph.D.
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): AA09420
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined Navajo boarding school education and problems with alcohol in adulthood.

Abstract

Results indicate that Navajo high school dropouts reported greater problems with alcohol than did graduates; contrary to expectations, Navajos with a history of alcohol dependency were no more likely to have attended boarding schools than those who did not report patterns of alcohol dependency. Based on clinical impressions, mental health workers reported that the boarding school experience was damaging to American Indian students: boarding schools break up families; set parents and children, and home and school against each other; and deprive students of their own tribal cultures. They further propose that the experience may have long term negative consequences for the personality development of the students. Boarding schools which have generally been the focus of criticism, have also been cited by many of their former students as having effectively taught them skills needed for survival in an Anglo-dominated world. Some participants claimed that going to boarding school got them out of very disruptive and abusive home situations. Second, the large public school complexes that arose to replace the boarding schools of an earlier era, especially those located in the large and relatively densely populated agency towns such as Tuba City and Shiprock, have proven to be fertile soil for the development of a new youth culture which includes heavy drinking. This relatively new pattern suggests that school environments other than boarding schools may also produce behavior which predisposes youth to alcohol dependence. Data were collected using a case-control design to investigate risk factors for alcohol dependence among Navajos who were between 21 and 67 years of age in 1992-1995; two of the eight Indian Health Service units on the Navajo reservation participated. Tables, figure, references, and notes