Studies of Substance Abuse with Interventions for the Youth of Native American Indian Community #11

Definitions #6

Cultural epidemiologists have suggested that the stresses of forced acculturation, urbanization, and cultural disruption have increased the vulnerability of American Indian youth for developing psychological problems (Beauvais & LaBoueff, 1985; Kemnitzer, 1973; Spindler & Spindler, 1978). Among Native American Indians there is a historical and generational trauma that underlies this risk (see Brave Heart & DeBruyn, 1998, for a comprehensive discussion of historical trauma and grief). Many Native American Indian communities share similar experiences of warfare and colonization, coercive methods of assimilation, loss of traditional land and customs, boarding school educations and abuses, longstanding struggles to maintain treaty rights, poverty, and high rates of unemployment and disease.

The concept of internal colonialism stems from the writings of Blauner (1972), who describes four components of the colonization complex: colonization begins with a forced, involuntary entry. Second there is an impact on the culture and social organization of the colonized people which is more than just a result of such "natural" processes as contact and acculturation. The colonizing power carries out a policy which constrains, transforms, or destroys indigenous values, orientations, and ways of life. Third, colonization involves a relationship by which members of the colonized group tend to be administered by representatives of the dominant power. There is an experience of being managed and manipulated by outsiders in terms of ethnic status. A final fundament of colonization is racism. Racism is a principle of social domination by which a group seen as inferior or different in terms of alleged biological characteristics is exploited, controlled, and oppressed socially and psychically by a superordinate group. (Blauner, World of Sociology. Gale Group, 2001, p. 396) The European conquest of American Indian populations typifies the process of internal colonialism. From the first European contact with the original population in the New World to the present day, Native American Indians have been relegated to a colonized status. History tells a story of brutalization, exploitation, segregation, expulsion, and, for some tribes, annihilation. In the mid-nineteenth century, the U.S. government embarked on a policy of containment as a means of controlling the Indians and encouraging westward expansion. Military force was used to displace many tribes and resettle them on wasteland reservations, where they remained unless new settlement plans or the discovery of oil and valuable minerals resulted in further displacement. Virtually all of the original tribal nations were separated or absorbed into other groups, if not exterminated altogether. The cultural heritage of many was forever altered, if not completely obliterated. This colonization process continues today. Almost every facet of Native American Indian life is controlled by our government, including important elements of the culture such as religion. These factors, plus many more that are tribe or community specific, are often viewed as risk factors for substance use, as tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use may offer a method of coping with these stressors.

This colonization process has undoubtedly contributed to economic deprivation and social disorganization within American Indian populations. The foundation for the social disorganization perspective stems from one of Durkheim's arguments that rapid social change is associated with increases in crime due to a breakdown of social controls. It emerged in the writings and research of sociologists at the University of Chicago during the 1920s. The initial formulator was Thomas, with other contributors following, including Park and Burgess (1921), and Shaw and McKay (1969). Probably the most concise statement of this perspective is found in the classic study conducted by Thomas and Znaniecki (1920). According to these authors, social disorganization was to be defined as a decrease in the influence of existing social rules of behavior on individual members of the group. When a society is in a state of social disorganization, people are set free of normative constraints, leading increasing numbers of people to drift from conformity into deviance.

Specific cultural factors that have been associated with increased substance use include ethnic dislocation (May, 1982; Oetting, Beauvais, & Velarde, 1982; Trimble, Padilla, & Bell-Bolek, 1987), acculturation stress (LaFromboise, 1988), alienation from the larger culture (Moncher et al., 1990), and an excessive amount of unstructured time on reservations, during which drinking is often a response to boredom (E. D. Edwards & Edwards, 1988). In addition, Whitbeck, Hoyt, McMorris, Chen, and Stubben (2001) have found perceived discrimination to be a risk factor for alcohol and drug use. In their study, 49% of fifth–eighth-grade students from three reservations in the upper Midwest reported experiencing significant discrimination. This was strongly associated with early onset substance abuse, a relationship that was mediated by adolescent anger and delinquent behaviors.

Many Native American Indians today find themselves in a psychological no-man's land as a result of the impact of the dominant culture on Indian values. Most young Native American Indian people now share similar educational experiences with the typical teenager of today. They no longer wear the tribal costume, and they speak the common language. They, also, are victims of television and followers of the latest fad. They have all the problems common to the youth of the country, and in addition, the special problem of making satisfactory psychological reconciliations with the mores of two cultures. This clearly depicts the psychological state of many young American Indians, who may be experiencing culture conflict between the dominant White culture and their own Indian identity. Many other authors have noted this concept as well. Berlin (1987) states that "pressures to make it in Anglo ways because very few are making it in the old ways result in serious conflict between contradictory values" (p. 224). Others have documented that this culture conflict is often a precursor of violent behavior. For example, Frederick (1973) believes that every young Indian must ask himself or herself this question: "shall I live in the white man's world or in the world of the Indian?'' He further notes that the two life styles do not always merge, aiding conflicts to appear "Young Indians grow up without a satisfactory identification either with their own heritage or with that of white society" (p. 8).