TY - JOUR
T1 - A cautionary tale
T2 - Examining the interplay of culturally specific risk and resilience factors in indigenous communities
AU - Walls, Melissa L.
AU - Whitbeck, Les
AU - Armenta, Brian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2016.
PY - 2016/7
Y1 - 2016/7
N2 - Efforts to build empirical evidence for the protective effects of Indigenous cultural factors on psychological health have yielded mixed findings. We examine the interplay of previously hypothesized culturally relevant risk (discrimination, historical loss) and protective (spiritual activities) factors among Indigenous people. The sample includes 569 Indigenous adolescents (mean age = 17.23, SD = 0.88; 51.0% girls) and 563 Indigenous adult caregivers (mean age = 44.66, SD = 9.18; 77.4% women). Our central finding was that indigenous spirituality was associated with poorer psychological outcomes across several domains (depressive symptoms, anger, anxiety, somatization, and interpersonal difficulties), but observed effects were attenuated once perceived discrimination and historical losses were added to statistical models. Thus, consideration of relevant stressors drastically changed our conclusions, underscoring the uncertain dynamics through which specific Indigenous cultural factors impact mental health. Researchers should work in collaboration with Indigenous communities to improve measurement and empirical investigation of these complex constructs.
AB - Efforts to build empirical evidence for the protective effects of Indigenous cultural factors on psychological health have yielded mixed findings. We examine the interplay of previously hypothesized culturally relevant risk (discrimination, historical loss) and protective (spiritual activities) factors among Indigenous people. The sample includes 569 Indigenous adolescents (mean age = 17.23, SD = 0.88; 51.0% girls) and 563 Indigenous adult caregivers (mean age = 44.66, SD = 9.18; 77.4% women). Our central finding was that indigenous spirituality was associated with poorer psychological outcomes across several domains (depressive symptoms, anger, anxiety, somatization, and interpersonal difficulties), but observed effects were attenuated once perceived discrimination and historical losses were added to statistical models. Thus, consideration of relevant stressors drastically changed our conclusions, underscoring the uncertain dynamics through which specific Indigenous cultural factors impact mental health. Researchers should work in collaboration with Indigenous communities to improve measurement and empirical investigation of these complex constructs.
KW - American indians
KW - Culture and mental health
KW - Psychological stress
KW - Risk factors
KW - Sociocultural factors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84986905942&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/2167702616645795
DO - 10.1177/2167702616645795
M3 - Article
C2 - 28138417
AN - SCOPUS:84986905942
SN - 2167-7026
VL - 4
SP - 732
EP - 743
JO - Clinical Psychological Science
JF - Clinical Psychological Science
IS - 4
ER -