Intergenerational Transmission of Problem Behavior among American Indian/First Nations Youth

• In Event: Intergenerational Effects of Parental Deviance and Incarceration

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the intergenerational transmission of problem behavior from female caretakers to their adolescent children among a large longitudinal study of 558 reservation/reserve residing Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth and their caretakers from the Midwest of the United States and Canada. Using retrospective reports from the female caretakers, early childhood adversity and early problem behavior was expected to increase current stress exposure and poor psychosocial functioning (i.e., current problem behaviors and depressive symptoms) based on arguments derived from social stress theories and Thornberry’s interactional theory. Drawing from family stress research, these distal and proximal factors were posited to be indirectly associated with adolescent problem behavior primarily through decreased caretaker warmth and support. Using structural equation modeling, early caretaker problem behavior indirectly undermined their current warmth and support through its positive effect on financial strain and current problem behavior. Early caretaker adversity indirectly undermined caretaker warmth and support primarily through its positive effect on financial strain. As expected, caretaker warmth and support linked these processes with adolescent problem behavior. The results are contextualized for Indigenous communities and culturally-relevant prevention/intervention programming is discussed.

Author

• Dane Hautala, University of Nebraska - Lincoln