NCJ Number
227972
Journal
American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: 1998 Pages: 1-23
Date Published
1998
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study compared the mental health status of American Indian and Caucasian youth living on or near a rural reservation.
Abstract
Results revealed that there was a clear trend across the reports of all informants of elevated profiles for American Indian youth compared to Caucasian youth. Of the 12 profile comparisons, 6 were significant and 3 more approached significance. In each analysis, the profiles of American Indian adolescents were higher than those of Caucasian adolescents. Data from males and females produced dissimilar results, and profile patterns also differed considerably by informant. The American Indian males had higher overall rates of problem behavior; an examination of the individual child behavior checklist (CBCL) clinical scales revealed that these differences were mainly the result of significantly elevated scores for American Indians on the delinquency scale (for youth report, the somatization scale was also significantly elevated). Differences across externalizing and internalizing scales were close to, but not significant for both youth and parent report. Teacher reports that were profiles of American Indians were again elevated; six of the eight clinical scales were significantly elevated, including withdrawal, somatization, anxiety/depression, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, delinquency, and aggression. Data were collected from 900 students from grades 7, 9, and 11 in 7 schools from 4 school districts on or near the reservation; 1 parent and 1 teacher from each student also participated. Tables, figures, and references