Citation

White EJ. J. Adolesc. Health 2024; 74(1): 1-2.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.08.053

PMID

38103917

Abstract

American Indian (AI) youth are disproportionately impacted by mental health and substance use difficulties rooted in historical and ongoing sociocultural, political, and environmental risk factors (e.g., cultural degradation, forced geographic removal, and discrimination). Development and maintenance of mental health and substance use symptoms in AI adolescents is a vastly understudied topic of research. Barry and colleagues (2023), in the current issue, present a timely multilevel analysis of school racial composition's impact on the relationship between racial discrimination and anxiety, depression, and substance use among AI adolescents.

RESULTS indicate that as AI representation in school population increased the influence of racial discrimination on anxiety symptoms weakened. This work is an important advancement in our understanding of risk dynamics for mental health and substance use disorders in AI youth and represents a strong approach to research conducted in AI communities, which have previously endured a history of research exploitation and abuse. Important reflections on the current work can be organized around five key topics (1) addressing context of AI sample given heterogeneity of AI populations, (2) collaborative research with Tribes and communities, (3) the role of social injustice in the experience of mental health difficulties in AI samples, (4) implications of current results, and (5) call to action for communities and researchers.

Language: en