Indigenous Youth Research Articles

Comparing predictive validity of Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory scores in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadian youth.

There is an increasing recognition of the necessity to establish the predictive validity of risk assessment scores within specific population subgroups, particularly those (including Indigenous peoples) who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. I compared measures of discrimination and calibration of the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) in Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth probationers in Ontario, Canada. Compared with non-Indigenous youth, Indigenous youth would have higher risk scores and reoffense rates. The YLS/CMI would predict reoffending and time to reoffense significantly and comparably for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, but there would be group difference discrimination (sensitivity, specificity) and calibration (positive predictive value, negative predictive value). Justice ministry-supplied data on 400 Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth (330 male, 70 female) individually matched on key background variables were analyzed to provide measures of discrimination and calibration of the YLS/CMI, with 3-year recidivism as the primary outcome. Indigenous youth were assessed at significantly higher risk than non-Indigenous youth (d = .60); 70% of Indigenous youth and 46% of non-Indigenous youth reoffended (ϕ = .24). Overall measures of discrimination (area under the curve) and calibration (logistic regression) were significant and did not differ across groups. Cross-area under the curve results indicated that the YLS/CMI discriminated Indigenous recidivists from non-Indigenous nonrecidivists but differentiated Indigenous nonrecidivists from non-Indigenous recidivists at chance level. In addition, recidivism was underestimated for low-risk Indigenous youth compared with non-Indigenous youth, but specificity was also low; only 28% of Indigenous youth who did not reoffend were assessed as low risk. Results were largely consistent across male and female youth. Examining subgroup predictive validity using multiple indices provides important information that should inform policy and practice discussions regarding fair use of risk assessment tools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

To heal, grow, and thrive: Engaging Indigenous paradigms and perspectives in developmental science.

A focus on positive child development among Indigenous children has largely been absent from developmental science. In this special section of Child Development, we sought to address continuing inequity in representation and valuing Indigenous knowledge and voices by soliciting articles that identified cultural and strengths-based factors Indigenous children, youth, and families cultivate and leverage to promote positive development. In this introduction to the special section, we provide an overview of the four empirical articles included, with attention to the ways these articles advance Indigenous paradigms and methodologies by focusing on the unique histories and strengths of four distinct Indigenous communities. We end with a discussion of how to promote continued growth and inclusiveness in developmental science with Indigenous communities.

Pedagogical principles for encouraging (socially just) youth climate action: A schema for citizenship education curriculum analysis

This article synthesizes pedagogical principles for supporting youth climate action from across local (Ontario) and global literature. It also seeks out stories of Indigenous youth engaging in climate action in distinct ways—highlighting examples from Sioux (of Standing Rock) and Inuit youth. The authors propose the Pedagogical Principles for Supporting Climate Action curriculum analysis schema before using it to examine the Ontario citizenship framework. The findings reveal how the curriculum segment in its current form is incongruent with the pedagogical principles of supporting youth climate action. The authors articulate both immediate and urgent curriculum revisions that are necessary for supporting youth in socially just climate action—with a call for immediate revisions that include a shift toward centering Indigenous knowledges, integrating climate justice and upholding relationality to the land and all that it sustains.

Unravelling Suicide and Related Behaviours in Indigenous Youth and Young Adults in the Canadian Context.

Suicide, rooted in antiquity, is now identified as a global dilemma, particularly impacting Indigenous peoples. The backdrop for this non-systematic focused review is the worldwide challenges faced by vulnerable Indigenous peoples with untenable poverty, degraded life-quality conditions, and suicidality, while the focus, as a specific case, is on the complexity of suicidality in Canadian Indigenous high-risk age groups. The aim here is to present overt and covert intersecting factors underlying suicide in Indigenous youths and young adults in the vast Canadian context. Although living in a privileged geopolitical region, their physically remote and economically compromised communities meshed with a haunting history combined with authorities' ingrained attitudes of exclusion and neglect, spawned meager health and education resources, services, and consequent dire results. The article's guiding theoretical frameworks are Transcultural Psychiatry with its emphasis on context that explains health, illness, and recovery in groups and individuals, and the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide to identify individuals' suicidality triggers. The article highlights indigenous social determinants of health, identifies elements underlying the tragic suicidality trend in these groups, and addresses literacy and education as poverty driven issues and suicidality-contributing factors promoting attitudes of hopelessness. The discussion includes joint suicide combatting efforts by Indigenous communities and Canadian authorities, these authors' psychosocial-cognitive literacy acquisition plan to address all age-groups simultaneously, and a take-home message introducing employers' desirable worker competencies for effective future employment, thereby uplifting life-quality and prospects to help thwart the spectre of suicide. The Conclusion introduces current trends in suicidality science, confirming the authors' intervention plan is a good fit in the psychosocial intervention trend. Future directions include advice to examine the effectiveness of the plan in the Indigenous context, and tweak it accordingly. For ease of reader comprehension, the article flow is included at the start of the Introduction section.

Indigenous Child Wellness:

The measurement of wellness among Indigenous Peoples is crucial to understanding the needs of communities today and for generations to come. Here, we summarize the extant research on assessments relevant to measuring the wellness of Indigenous children in Canada through an examination of existing international best-practices. A thoughtful identification of wellness metrics aligned with Indigenous cultural contexts is important because in the past, wellness assessments that were not co-developed by Indigenous partners have perpetuated systemic harms. A scoping review of existing measures across Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand was completed consistent with the PRISMA guidelines across five databases. These guidelines provided guidance for the process of the review, as well as the structure for this paper. Search terms included "Indigenous" or "Aboriginal”, "wellness", “child-welfare”, "children”, “families" and “framework” or “measure”. In total 896 abstracts were screened. Of these, 88 articles were reviewed, 16 measures and four frameworks were identified as most relevant to our work. All efforts were led by Indigenous students in keeping with Traditional Ways of Being and Knowing as well as self-determination practices. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with four Indigenous community members in order to advise the process of developing such a project and to gauge considerations on the appropriateness of assessing wellness in our communities. Results highlight a unique set of factors to consider from an Indigenous values perspective when assessing child wellness. The most salient of these include incorporating elements of self-determination in both measure development and usage. Themes of family, community, and wholism were also emphasized. While this exemplifies an emerging assessment base for measuring wellness, minimal work to date is directly designed to be relevant for Indigenous children or youth. Moving forward, we will seek to fill this gap by supporting the development of a wellness measure with potential to multi-contextual relevance to promote the adequate and equitable dispersion of supports and resources to families and communities.

Supplemental Material for Comparing Predictive Validity of Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory Scores in Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadian Youth

Supplemental Material for Comparing Predictive Validity of Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory Scores in Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadian Youth

Document Indigenous Food Ingredients in China through Youth Participation

Abstract Problem Indigenous food systems can affect multiple aspects of Indigenous people’s health and contribute to more efficient, sustainable, resilient, and equitable food systems. However, although tens of Indigenous groups live in China, very few projects have targeted their traditional or Indigenous food systems and ingredients. Description of the problem The main purposes include documenting traditional and Indigenous foods and medicine, building multiple social media for public impact, encouraging Indigenous youth participation, and advocating a more sustainable food system in China Results With the collaboration of Good Food Fund China, the project recruited 257 volunteers from 27 ethnic groups. The project collected 418 traditional food ingredients, produced 18 TikTok short videos to introduce Indigenous ingredients with the maximum number of views in a single post of more than 100,000, organized 16 Indigenous food culture knowledge webinars, translated 14 international case studies in Indigenous food systems with the permission of authors, and published 16 articles about Indigenous food ingredients and culture in the writing camp. The online lives also received more than a million total views. The results were presented at COP26 and COP28. More results will continue to be presented to the public through articles, books, academic papers, documentaries, short videos, online webinars, and other forms. Lessons The project demonstrates the potential to use online platforms to advocate and document sustainable food systems and biodiversity through youth participation. More similar projects can be designed in different parts of the world to support sustainable food systems transformation and ignite down-to-earth changes. However, funding and publication channels are still difficulties in the project. Key messages • The first national level youth participation project to document Indigenous food biodiversity in China. • Take advantage of social media and the internet for public impact.

Validity of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure for Māori, Pacific, Asian & European adolescents

Abstract Background Ethnic identity is important for positive health and wellbeing outcomes, especially for Indigenous youth and adolescents from minoritised ethnic groups. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) is widely used to examine ethnic identity as a general phenomenon across ethnic groups. However, evidence regarding its validity for adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds is mainly limited to the US context. This study investigated psychometric properties of the MEIM, for the first time, within a large ethnically diverse population-based sample in New Zealand. Methods We used data from the Growing Up in New Zealand study. Participants were 4500 12-year-olds and included 22.4% Māori (the Indigenous people of New Zealand), 16.7% Pacific, 14.8% Asian and 51.9% European young people. 45.7% were cisgender boy, 37.4% were cisgender girl, and 16.4% were non-binary, trans or unsure. We conducted factor analysis for the 12-item MEIM. Results Confirmatory factor analysis model fit tended to be best for a solution with two factors representing two ethnic identity subcomponents of Exploration and Affirmation/Belonging. A single ‘ethnic identity’ factor showed a slightly weaker model fit. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 2-factor structure with a slightly different item composition as compared to the original MEIM subscales. The findings were largely comparable across ethnic groups. Conclusions The MEIM appears to be a valid measure for Māori, Pacific, Asian and European young people. However, nuances may exist due to unique contexts including structural factors, societal norms and challenges, opportunities and access to cultural engagement. Ethnic identity is strongly linked to health and wellbeing including quality of life, self-esteem and life satisfaction. Therefore, we recommend acknowledging nuances of ethnic identity during an important time of development within diverse cultural contexts, by applying subscales and subgroup analyses where possible. Key messages • The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure is valid and appropriate to use at age 12-years among diverse ethnic groups including Māori, Pacific, Asian and European. • Nuances of ethnic identity should be acknowledged as an important factor for health and wellbeing, especially during critical times of transition for adolescents within diverse cultural contexts.

Exploring Youths’ Offers to Use E-Cigarettes in Rural Hawai‘i: A Test Development and Validation Study

The purpose of this study is to describe the development and initial validation of a survey focused on problematic situations involving e-cigarette use by rural Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) youths. A 5-phase approach to test development and validation was used. In Phase 1 (Item Generation), survey items were created from a series of focus groups with middle school youths on Hawai‘i Island (N = 69). In Phase 2 (Item Refinement and Selection), situational items were reduced to 40 e-cigarette offer situations that were selected for inclusion in the survey. In Phase 3 (Item Reduction), items were administered to 257 youths from 11 middle, intermediate, or multi-level public or public-charter schools on Hawai‘i Island. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of three factors accounting for 50% of the variance: E-Cigarette Offers from Friends (24%), E-Cigarette Offers from Non-Friends (16%), and Coercive Pressure to Use E-Cigarettes (10%). Hypothesized relationships between offer situations and e-cigarette use were partially confirmed, supporting the construct validity of the survey. This survey helps to fill the scientific and practice gap in measuring ecodevelopmental risk and protection for e-cigarette use and has implications for e-cigarette use prevention with rural, NHPI, and/or Indigenous youth populations.

The association between trajectories of structural disadvantage and mental wellbeing for Māori youth

Abstract Background Youth mental health is a major global concern with substantial inequities for Indigenous and other young people from minoritised ethnic groups. In New Zealand, Māori, the Indigenous people, experience poorer mental health than other young people, especially those living in high deprivation. Cultural connectedness is related to positive mental wellbeing, however, its potential to buffer against the harms of structural disadvantage for young Māori mental health has not been investigated. Methods We used data from 1224 Māori young people in the longitudinal Growing Up in New Zealand study. Structural disadvantage measures included material hardship, deprivation, employment, residential mobility. We conducted Latent Class Analysis and Social Sequence Analysis to identify clusters and longitudinal patterns of structural disadvantage. Cultural connectedness and mental wellbeing (depression & anxiety symptoms, quality of life) were measured at age 12. Linear regression analysis was used to determine associations between structural disadvantage, cultural connectedness and mental health. Results We identified 3 trajectories of structural disadvantage for Māori youth: 21% experienced persistent high structural disadvantage, 35% intermittent high structural disadvantage and 44% persistent relatively low structural disadvantage. Few differences in mental health were found between groups. Cultural connectedness was independently associated with positive mental wellbeing, yet there was mixed evidence it might buffer the impacts of structural disadvantage on mental health. Conclusions Our results highlight the importance of policies that uphold Indigenous rights to health and address structural disadvantage as a persistent threat to Indigenous wellbeing. Our findings call for holistic, early-life, family-centred strategies and to reduce barriers to accessing support. We highlight the need for policies that enable young people to flourish in their identity and culture. Key messages • Many Māori young people experience pervasive structural disadvantage starting before they are born, persisting throughout childhood and adolescence which is an omnipresent threat to their wellbeing. • Supporting cultural connectedness for Indigenous youth is important but cannot substitute for policies addressing structural disadvantages that contribute to health inequities.

Project Yarn Circle: development and pilot evaluation of a cultural connection suicide prevention program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people

ABSTRACT Background Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people experience markedly higher suicide mortality than non-Indigenous youth in Australia, yet there is little evidence of effective preventative strategies. Many are misaligned to the needs of First Nations young people due to a lack of consideration of protective factors such as community and cultural connection. Objective To date no research has examined whether increasing cultural connectedness may reduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth suicidality. The current study outlines the development, implementation, and pilot evaluation of Project Yarn Circle, a school-based suicide prevention initiative utilising cultural education and connection. Method Project Yarn Circle was piloted by an Indigenous owned and managed youth mental health organisation, delivering 5 weekly sessions to 276 young people at 9 schools in Southeast Queensland, Australia, between 2019 and 2023. Sessions connected students to cultural knowledge and practices (stories, painting, dance, Indigenous languages) with Elders and local cultural knowledge facilitators. Results Pre- and post-program evaluation questionnaires completed 6–8 weeks apart found that participants had significantly lower suicidal ideation (GHQ-18-SS), pre 7.16, post 6.61, p = .043 higher positive ideation/reasons for living (PANSI-PI) pre 22.44, post 23.60, p = .009, and higher self-esteem (RSES) pre 16.55, post 23.60, p = .005. Analyses of cultural connectedness items co-designed for this evaluation study and validated using Exploratory Factor Analysis found that students demonstrated greater cultural identity clarity, peer cultural competence, strength from culture, salience of cultural continuity and sense of belonging. Conclusions These findings provide new evidence towards utilising cultural connectedness as an intervention mechanism in Indigenous youth suicide prevention.

Storytelling and good relations: Indigenous youth capabilities in climate futures

AbstractHow can we support young citizens facing chaotic climate futures? This question is urgent, particularly for Indigenous communities who face disproportionate risks and impacts of climate change. For the past three decades, climate‐related education has focused largely on the acquisition of scientific knowledge in instrumental ways, while encouraging individual behaviour change. This approach centres the problem rather than human capabilities to generate solutions, which is especially misaligned with the increasing practice and significance of Indigenous communities’ regenerating self‐determining capabilities. This article reports on a pilot study that uses intergenerational storytelling methods or pūrākau to support leadership capabilities among Indigenous Māori and Pacific young people aged 10 to 14 years in communities at high risk of flooding in Ōtautahi/Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study showed how storytelling locates and scaffolds Indigenous young people into positions of individual and collective responsibility for grappling with “wicked problems” such as climate and injustice and climate‐related challenges as part of the future they will inherit and shape within a broader intergenerational journey of resilience and reclamation.

Youth Workers’ Discourses on the Overrepresentation of Indigenous Youth in the Criminal Legal System: An Exploratory Research Note

Youth Workers’ Discourses on the Overrepresentation of Indigenous Youth in the Criminal Legal System: An Exploratory Research Note

Applying an Integrated Indigenist Ecological Systems Model to Research on Justice-Involved Indigenous Youth in Canada

Applying an Integrated Indigenist Ecological Systems Model to Research on Justice-Involved Indigenous Youth in Canada

Access to land and nature as health determinants: a qualitative analysis exploring meaningful human-nature relationships among Indigenous youth in central Canada

BackgroundHuman relationships with and connections to nature and the “land” are a commonly accepted Social Determinant of Health. Greater knowledge about these relationships can inform public health policies and interventions focused on health equity among Indigenous populations. Two research questions were explored: (1) what are the experiences of meaningful human-nature relationships among Indigenous youth within central Canada; and (2) how do these relationships function as a determinant of health and wellness within their lives.MethodsDrawing from three community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects within two urban centers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the integrated qualitative findings presented here involved 92 interviews with 52 Indigenous youth that occurred over a period of nine years (2014–2023). Informed by “two-eyed seeing,” this analysis combined Indigenous Methodologies and a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach.ResultsOur integrative analysis revealed three cross-cutting themes about meaningful human-nature relationships: (1) promoting cultural belonging and positive identity; (2) connecting to community and family; and (3) supporting spiritual health and relationships. The experiences of young people also emphasized barriers to land and nature access within their local environments.DiscussionPolicies, practices, and interventions aimed at strengthening urban Indigenous young peoples’ relationships to and connections with nature and the land can have a positive impact on their health and wellness. Public Health systems and healthcare providers can learn about leveraging the health benefits of human-nature relationships at individual and community levels, and this is particularly vital for those working to advance health equity among Indigenous populations.

Land-Based Retreats as a Method for Building Enabling Environments for HIV Prevention with Northern and Indigenous Adolescents in the Northwest Territories, Canada: Mixed-Methods Findings.

The Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada has high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI) that elevate HIV acquisition risks. We conducted a mixed-methods study to explore the potential of land-based peer leader retreats (PLR) in building HIV prevention enabling environments among Northern and Indigenous youth in the NWT. PLRs are grounded in Indigenous principles and ways of knowing, acknowledging the land as a physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual being with the potential to facilitate (re)connection to culture, community, and self. We conducted one-week PLRs between 2016 and 2021 with adolescents aged 13-17 in the NWT. PLRs addressed HIV/STIs, safer sex, and gender equity. We conducted post-retreat focus groups (FGs) and pre/post-retreat surveys with youth participants (n = 353), and post-retreat FGs with PLR facilitators (n = 252). We applied thematic analysis to FGs and assessed pre/post-retreat changes in HIV/STI knowledge and safer sex efficacy (SSE) using paired sample t-tests. We assessed factors associated with post-test SSE and HIV/STI knowledge using multivariable linear regression. Youth participants (n = 353; mean age: 14.5, standard deviation [SD]: 1.3) were mostly Indigenous (71%) and women (66%). Participant narratives revealed PLRs enhanced technical communication (e.g., correct condom use). There were significant post-retreat HIV/STI knowledge increases; change score increases were lower for Indigenous participants. Qualitative narratives described how PLRs fostered transformative communication (e.g., sexual consent). There were significant post-retreat increases in SSE, and these were lower among men and sexually diverse (vs. heterosexual) participants. Land-based PLRs offer the potential to build technical and transformative communication to facilitate HIV prevention with youth in Canada's North.

An exploration of self-continuity for rural Indigenous youth: Considering the influence of community and cultural factors on perceiving oneself across time.

Research on self- and cultural continuity has contributed to our understanding of resilience processes in Indigenous communities, as connecting oneself to the past, present, and future of one's family, community, and traditional culture has been found to protect against deleterious developmental outcomes. To examine factors associated with self-continuity for Indigenous youth in the current study, Indigenous youth from six rural Ojibway and Métis communities in Treaty 2 Territory completed self-report questionnaires aimed at understanding the relationship between the concept of oneself across time and protective and risk factors at different systemic levels (family, community, culture, and colonial). The concept of oneself across time was measured by self-efficacy (global self-worth) and future orientations (optimism and sense of self in the future). The findings indicated that connectedness to caregivers, siblings, friends, neighborhoods, and culture was associated with higher self-efficacy, seeing oneself as more connected to the future, and seeing the future more positively. These findings support the notion that familial, community, and cultural connectedness are associated positive self-concepts in the present and future, which aligns with our understanding of self- and cultural continuity in Indigenous communities.

Explaining educational achievement among Indigenous individuals: how important are culture and language?

ABSTRACT A mismatch between one's culture and that of the school they attended – cultural discontinuity – has been put forward as a reason for low educational attainment globally. This paper evaluates the cultural discontinuity hypothesis for Indigenous youth in Canada using the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey. I find that Indigenous language instruction and cultural programming are generally associated with negative educational outcomes for the full APS sample. However, in communities with the highest proportion of Indigenous language speakers, and among a sub-sample who speaks an Indigenous language, such programming is more likely to be associated with educational success.

Examining community-level protection from Alaska Native suicide: An Indigenous knowledge-informed extension of the legacy of Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde.

Chandler and Lalonde broadened the scope of inquiry in suicide research by providing theoretical grounding and empirical support for the role of community, culture, and history in understanding Indigenous youth suicide and reimagining its prevention. Their work pushed the field to consider the intersectional process of individual and collective meaning-making in prevention of Indigenous suicide, together with the central role culture plays in bringing coherence to this process over time. Their innovation shifted the research focus to include the shared histories, contexts, and structures of meaning that shape individual lives and behaviors. We describe here a new generation of research extending their pathbreaking line of inquiry. Recent work aims to identify complex associations between community-level structures and suicidal behavior by collaborating with Alaska Native people from rural communities to describe how community protective factors function as preventative resources in their daily lives. Community engagement and knowledge co-production created a measure of community protection from suicide. Structured interviews with rural Alaska Native community members allowed use of this measure to produce relevant, accessible, and actionable knowledge. Ongoing investigations next seek to describe their mechanisms in shaping young people's lives through a multilevel, mixed-methods community-based study linking community-level protection to protection and well-being of individual youth. These efforts to understand the multiple culture-specific and culturally mediated pathways by which communities build on their strengths, resources, and practices to support Indigenous young people's development and reduce suicide risk are inspired by and expand on Chandler and Lalonde's remarkable legacy.

Positive youth development of Tayal and Han adolescents in Taiwan: A cultural and structural perspective.

Using the Five Cs model of positive youth development (PYD), this study aimed to provide a socio-structural and cultural understanding of PYD in Indigenous Tayal youth by examining the specificity in the development of Five Cs (Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring, and Connection) between Tayal and Han youth in Taiwan. A sample of 847 Tayal and Han adolescents (43.8% Tayal, 47.9% girls, Mage = 14.83, SD = 0.50) were drawn from a larger study (September 2014 to August 2017). Adolescent participants completed questionnaires asking about their Five Cs, contribution behavior, and depressive symptomatology. Measurement invariance was conducted to explore specificity between Tayal and Han youth's Five Cs performance. A bi-factor Five Cs model was identified and partial metric and partial scalar measurement invariance was established between the two samples. Across both groups an overarching PYD factor, which was associated with increased contribution and lower depressive symptomatology, was identified. Specificity was observed in the Tayal sample, particularly relating to indicators of Competence, Character, Caring, and Connection. The findings of this study provide a sociocultural-informed lens regarding the specificity of development in Tayal youth. Character, Caring, and Connection appear to contribute significantly more to the overall PYD for Tayal adolescents than their Han peers. Findings relating to Competence suggest that the educational environment may not be aligned with the learning style of Tayal youth. This study has policy and practical implications for Tayal youth, and can further help inform program development in Taiwan and internationally.