Limited criminal justice research focuses on the experiences of American Indians. This is also true for American Indian youth. To expand current scholarship, our research investigates the experiences of American Indian youth in the Southwestern United States to examine their experiences with discrimination and historical trauma. Existing scholarship suggests both are ubiquitous and overwhelming in the everyday lives of American Indians due in large part to ongoing settler colonial practices. Data were collected from a program evaluation of an education-based program for at-promise Indigenous youth. We examine the impact of discrimination and historical trauma with 75 American Indian youth between the ages of 11 to 18. Our findings show that the influence of discrimination and historical trauma are contingent on intersecting identities–young girls and first generation at-promise youth are at an increased risk for experiencing discrimination, historical trauma, and associated symptoms. We discuss implications, limitations, and directions for future research.
AllenP. G. (1999). Off the reservation: Reflections on boundary-busting border-crossing loose cannons. Beacon Press.
2.
AlvarezA.BachmanR. D. (1996). American Indians and sentencing disparity: An Arizona test. Journal of Criminal Justice, 24(6), 549–561.
3.
BachmanR. (1992). Death and violence on the reservation: Homicide, family violence, and suicide in American Indian populations. Auburn House.
4.
BarneyD. D. (2001). Risk and protective factors for depression and health outcomes in American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents. Wicazo Sa Review, 16(1), 135–150.
5.
BauerC. A.JobV. (2024). Double disadvantage: Female first-generation-students think of themselves as least talented, contributing to disproportionate disadvantage. Learning and Instruction, 90, 101865.
Bonilla-SilvaE. (2021). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield.
8.
Brave HeartM. Y. H. (1998). The return to the sacred path: Healing the historical trauma and historical unresolved grief response among the Lakota. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 68(3), 287–305.
9.
Brave HeartM. Y. H. (1999a). Oyate Ptayela: Rebuilding the Lakota Nation through addressing historical trauma among Lakota parents. Journal of Human Behavior and the Social Environment, 2(1/2), 109–126.
10.
Brave HeartM. Y. H. (1999b). Gender differences in the historical trauma response among the Lakota. Journal of Health and Social Policy, 10(4), 1–21.
11.
Brave HeartM. Y. H.ChaseJ. (2016). Historical trauma among indigenous peoples of the Americas: Concepts, research, and clinical considerations. Wounds of History, 270–287.
12.
Brave HeartM. Y. H.ChaseJ.ElkinsJ.AltschulD. B. (2011). Historical trauma among indigenous peoples of the Americas: Concepts, research, and clinical considerations. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 43(4), 282–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2011.628913
13.
Brave HeartM. Y. H.ChaseJ.ElkinsJ.AltschulD. B. (2016). Historical trauma among indigenous peoples of the Americas: Concepts, research, and clinical considerations. In SalbergJ.GrandS. (Eds.), Wounds of history: Repair and resilience in the trans-generational transmission of trauma (pp. 270–287). Routledge.
14.
Brave HeartM. Y. H.DeBruynL. M. (1998). The American Indian holocaust: Healing historical unresolved grief. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 8(2), 60–82.
BurtC. H.LeiM. K.SimonsR. L. (2017). Racial discrimination, racial socialization, and crime: Understanding mechanisms of resilience. Social Problems, 64(3), 414–438.
17.
BurtC. H.SimonsR. L.GibbonsF. X. (2012). Racial discrimination, ethnic-racial socialization, and crime: A micro-sociological model of risk and resilience. American Sociological Review, 77(4), 648–677.
18.
CameronS. C.PhanL. T. (2018). Ten stages of American Indian genocide. Revista Interamericana de Psicología, 52(1), Article 876.
19.
CrenshawK. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracial politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1, 139–167.
20.
CrenshawK. W. (2010). Close encounters of three kinds: On teaching dominance feminism and intersectionality. Tulsa Law Review, 46, Article 151.
21.
CroisyS. (2017). Fighting colonial violence in “Indian Country”: Deconstructing racist sexual stereotypes of Native American Women in American popular culture and history. Angles. New Perspectives on the Anglophone World, 5, Article 1313.
CunneenC.TauriJ. M. (2019). Indigenous peoples, criminology, and criminal justice. Annual Review of Criminology, 2(1), 359–381.
24.
DanieliY. (1998). International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. Plenum Press.
25.
DeerS. (2009). Decolonizing rape law: A native feminist synthesis of safety and sovereignty. Wicazo Sa Review, 24(2), 149–167.
26.
de GuevaraL. C. P. L.HernandezM. D. R. N. (2012). Access to elementary education for Indigenous girls. Resources for Feminist Research, 34(1/2), 127.
27.
Dunbar-OrtizR. (2014). An indigenous peoples’ history of the United States. Beacon Press.
28.
DuranE.DuranB. (1995). Native American post-colonial psychology. State University of New York.
29.
Evans-CampbellT. (2008). Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: A multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(3), 316–338.
30.
FelsenI.ErlichH. S. (1990). Identification patterns of offspring of Holocaust survivors with their parents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(4), 506–520.
31.
GarciaN. M.IbarraJ. M.Mireles-RiosR.RiosV. M.MaldonadoK. (2022). Advancing QuantCrit to rethink the school-to-prison pipeline for Latinx and Black youth. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 33(2), 269-288.
32.
GarroutteE. M.GoldbergJ.BealsJ.HerrellR.MansonS. M.; Ai-Superpfp Team. (2003). Spirituality and attempted suicide among American Indians. Social Science & Medicine, 56(7), 1571–1579.
33.
Grubrich-SimitisI. (1984). From concretism to metaphor—Thoughts on some theoretical and technical aspects of the psychoanalytic work with children of Holocaust survivors. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 39, 301–319.
34.
HartshornK. J. S.WhitbeckL. B.HoytD. R. (2012). Exploring the relationships of perceived discrimination, anger, and aggression among North American indigenous adolescents. Society and Mental Health, 2(1), 53–67.
35.
Herman-StahlM.SpencerD. L.DuncanJ. E. (2003). The implications of cultural orientation for substance use among American Indians. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 11(1), 46–66.
36.
HodgeF. S.NandyK. (2011). Predictors of wellness and American Indians. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 22(3), 791–803.
37.
KulisS.HodgeD. R.AyersS. L.BrownE. F.MarsigliaF. F. (2012). Spirituality and religion: Intertwined protective factors for substance use among urban American Indian youth. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 38(5), 444–449.
38.
LaFromboiseT. D.HoytD. R.OliverL.WhitbeckL. B. (2006). Family, community, and school influences on resilience among American Indian adolescents in the upper Midwest. Journal of Community Psychology, 34(2), 193–209.
39.
LandrineH.KlonoffE. A. (1996). The schedule of racist events: A measure of racial discrimination and a study of its negative physical and mental health consequences. Journal of Black Psychology, 22(2), 144–168.
40.
MayP. A. (1994). The epidemiology of alcohol abuse among American Indians: The mythical and real properties. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 18(2), 121–143.
NielsenM. O. (2019). Native Americans, crime, and justice. Routledge.
43.
PoupartL. M. (2002). Crime and justice in American Indian communities. Social Justice, 29(87–88), 144–159.
44.
PowersK. M. (2006). An exploratory study of cultural identity and culture-based educational programs for urban American Indian students. Urban Education, 41(1), 20–49.
45.
PridemoreW. A. (2004). Review of the literature on risk and protective factors of offending among Native Americans. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 2(4), 45–63.
46.
RiosV.Mireles-RiosR. (2019). My teacher believes in me! The educator’s guide to at-promise students. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
47.
RitchieA. J. (2016). # SayHerName: Racial profiling and police violence against Black Women. Harbinger, 41, 11.
48.
RossL. (1998). Inventing the savage: The social construction of Native American criminality. University of Texas Press.
SittnerK. J.GentzlerK. C. (2016). Self-reported arrests among Indigenous adolescents: A longitudinal analysis of community, family, and individual risk factors. Journal of Developmental and Life-course Criminology, 2, 494–515.
51.
SmithA. (2015). Conquest: Sexual violence and American Indian genocide. Duke University Press.
52.
SnippC. M. (1992). Sociological perspectives on American Indians. Annual Review of Sociology, 18(1), 351–371.
53.
SwisherK.HoischM. (1992). Dropping out among American Indians and Alaska natives: A review of studies. Journal of American Indian Education, 31, 3–23.
54.
Torres-StoneR. A.WhitbeckL. B.ChenX.JohnsonK.OlsonD. M. (2006). Traditional practices, traditional spirituality, and alcohol cessation among American Indians. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 67(2), 236–244.
55.
WallsM. L.ChappleC. L.JohnsonK. D. (2007). Strain, emotion, and suicide among American Indian youth. Deviant Behavior, 28(3), 219–246.
56.
WeaverH. N. (1996). Social work with American Indian youth using the orthogonal model of cultural identification. Families in Society, 77(2), 98–107.
57.
WhitbeckL. B.AdamsG. W.HoytD. R.ChenX. (2004). Conceptualizing and measuring historical trauma among American Indian people. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33(3–4), 119–130.
58.
WhitbeckL. B.ChenX.HoytD. R.AdamsG. W. (2004). Discrimination, historical loss and enculturation: Culturally specific risk and resiliency factors for alcohol abuse among American Indians. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65(4), 409–418.
59.
WhitbeckL. B.HoytD. R.McMorrisB. J.ChenX.StubbenJ. D. (2001). Perceived discrimination and early substance abuse among American Indian children. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 42, 405–424.
60.
WhitbeckL. B.McMorrisB. J.HoytD. R.StubbenJ. D.LaFromboiseT. (2002). Perceived discrimination, traditional practices, and depressive symptoms among American Indians in the upper Midwest. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 400–418.
61.
WhitbeckL. B.WallsM. L.JohnsonK. D.MorrisseauA. D.McDougallC. M. (2009). Depressed affect and historical loss among North American indigenous adolescents. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 16(3), Article 16.
62.
WolfeP. (2006). Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native. Journal of Genocide Research, 8(4), 387–409.
63.
YoderK. A.WhitbeckL. B.HoytD. R.LaFromboiseT. (2006). Suicidal ideation among American Indian youths. Archives of Suicide Research, 10(2), 177–190.
64.
YuM.StiffmanA. R. (2007). Culture and environment as predictors of alcohol abuse/dependence symptoms in American Indian youths. Addictive Behaviors, 32(10), 2253–2259.
