Urban American Indian Youth
Urban American Indian Youth
Final Paper
Holistic Assessment
Stephanie Calvert
March 14, 2011
Abstract
This study focused on how a non-targeted group minority youth might or might not benefit from a prevention intervention focused on other cultural groups. The study specifically evaluated the effects of an evidence-based drug prevention curriculum with a sample of urban American Indian youth in the southwest U.S., most of whom self-reported multi-ethnic heritages. This research examined the developmental trajectory of drug use for these youth, and compared it with the trajectory of youth from other racial/ethnic groups at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and two follow up time periods. Results indicated that alcohol and marijuana use increased from pre-intervention across subsequent time periods for all youth. The drug use of the American Indian youth in the treatment group increased on certain measures. They reported a steeper trajectory in the amount and frequency of alcohol and marijuana use compared to the youths in the treatment groups with other racial/ethnic identifications. Implications of these findings for the development of culturally grounded prevention programs for multi-ethnic, urban American Indian youth are discussed.
Culturally specific, school-based drug prevention programs have been receiving increased attention in recent years. These programs are based on the premise that infusing youths ' culture into the content and format of the prevention message will reduce adolescent drug use (Kandel 1995). One such program, Keepin ' it R.E.A.L., has achieved this by creating the curriculum from the developmental and cultural realities of Mexican American youth from the southwest United States (Gosin et al. 2003). To date, the program has been developed for and evaluated with primarily Mexican American youth (Kulis et
Final Paper
Holistic Assessment
Stephanie Calvert
March 14, 2011
Abstract
This study focused on how a non-targeted group minority youth might or might not benefit from a prevention intervention focused on other cultural groups. The study specifically evaluated the effects of an evidence-based drug prevention curriculum with a sample of urban American Indian youth in the southwest U.S., most of whom self-reported multi-ethnic heritages. This research examined the developmental trajectory of drug use for these youth, and compared it with the trajectory of youth from other racial/ethnic groups at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and two follow up time periods. Results indicated that alcohol and marijuana use increased from pre-intervention across subsequent time periods for all youth. The drug use of the American Indian youth in the treatment group increased on certain measures. They reported a steeper trajectory in the amount and frequency of alcohol and marijuana use compared to the youths in the treatment groups with other racial/ethnic identifications. Implications of these findings for the development of culturally grounded prevention programs for multi-ethnic, urban American Indian youth are discussed.
Culturally specific, school-based drug prevention programs have been receiving increased attention in recent years. These programs are based on the premise that infusing youths ' culture into the content and format of the prevention message will reduce adolescent drug use (Kandel 1995). One such program, Keepin ' it R.E.A.L., has achieved this by creating the curriculum from the developmental and cultural realities of Mexican American youth from the southwest United States (Gosin et al. 2003). To date, the program has been developed for and evaluated with primarily Mexican American youth (Kulis et
References: 2. Botvin, G. J., Epstein, J. A., Baker, E., Diaz, T., & Ifill-Williams, M. (1997). School-based drug abuse prevention with inner-city minority youth. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 6, 5-19. 3. Castro, F. G., Barrera, M., & Martinez, C. R. (2004). The cultural adaptation of prevention interventions: Resolving tensions between fidelity and fit. Prevention Science, 5, 41-45. 4. Hecht, M. L., Marsiglia, F. F., Elek, E., Wagstaff, D. A., Kulis, S., Dustman, P., & Miller-Day, M. (2003). Culturally grounded substance use prevention: An evaluation of the keepin ' it R.E.A.L. curriculum. Prevention Science, 4, 233-248. 5. Kandel, D. B. (1995). Ethnic differences in drug use: Patterns, paradoxes. In G. J. Botvin, S. Schinke, & M. A. Orlandi (Eds.), Drug abuse prevention with multiethnic youth (pp. 81-104). Thousand Oaks: Sage. 6. Gosin, M., Marsiglia, F. F., & Hecht, M. L. (2003). keepin 'it R.E.A.L.: A drug resistance curriculum tailored to the strengths and needs of pre-adolescents of the southwest. Journal of Drug Education, 33, 119-142. 7. Kulis, S., Marsiglia, F. F., Elek, E., Dustman, P., Wagstaff, D. A., & Hecht, M. L. (2005). Mexican/Mexican American adolescents and keepin ' in R.E.A.L.: An evidence-based, substance use prevention program. Children and Schools, 27, 133-145.