Abstract
This PRISMA style literature review was used to explore substance abuse studies focused on Native American populations in the context of historical trauma (from experiences at Indian boarding schools) and the critical loss of family relationships from colonization. It was found that while Indian boarding schools are recognized as being important research topics related to substance use, they are usually mentioned as a part of the colonization process rather than examined for their specific historical/personal impacts. Furthermore, social science may fail to recognize how detrimental the loss of family relationships was to the traditional bond of a Native American family. Beginning with an extensive list of 402 articles, two criteria were used to arrive at a systematic list of research in the topic areas: the acknowledgment of Indian boarding school attendance and the impact on family relationships. The final list included 27 studies which looked at Indian boarding schools and family relationship’s relation to substance use among Native Americans. Overall, this review revealed that family discord should not be singled out as a causal link for Native American families; rather, it should be included in the argument to explain the relationship between Indian boarding school attendance and substance use.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Trafzer CE, Keller JA, Sisquoc L. Boarding school blues: revisiting American Indian educational experiences. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press; 2006.
Lajimodiere D. US Indian boarding school history. 2017. https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/. Accessed March 16, 2018.
Riley JB. The sixth annual report of the superintendent of Indian schools to the secretary of the interior for the year 1887 (Bureau of Indian Affairs). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1887.
Ainsworth M. Infancy in Uganda. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1967.
Bowlby J. Attachment and loss. In: Separation: Anxiety and Anger, vol. 2. New York: Basic Books; 1969/ 1973.
Chase JA. Native American elders’ perceptions of the boarding school experience on Native American parenting: an exploratory study. Northampton: Smith College; 2011.
Haskell L, Randall M. Disrupted attachments: a social context complex trauma framework and the lives of aboriginal peoples in Canada. J Aborig Health. 2009;5(3):48–99.
Kahn CB, Reinschmidt K, Teufel-Shone N, Oré CE, Henson M, Attakai A. American Indian elders’ resilience: sources of strength for building a healthy future for youth. Am Indian Alaska Native Ment Health Res. 2016;23(3):117–33.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Drinking levels defined. 2015. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/moderate-binge-drinking. Accessed March 22, 2018.
Cassidy J, Shaver PR. Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications. New York City: Guilford Press; 2016.
Duran E, Duran B. Native American postcolonial psychology. Albany: State University of New York Press; 1995.
Adams DW. Education for extinction: American Indians and the boarding school experience: 1875–1928. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press; 1995.
Churchill W. Kill the Indian, save the man: the genocidal impact of American Indian residential schools. San Francisco: City Lights Books; 2004.
Ringel S. Through the camera’s eye: the intergenerational transmission of loss. Clin Soc Work J. 2005;33(4):433–43.
Vijverberg R, Ferdinand R, Beekman A, Van Meijel B. The effect of youth assertive community treatment: a systematic PRISMA review. BMC Psychiatry. 2017;17(1).
Brave Heart MY, Chase J, Elkins J, Altschul DB. Historical trauma among indigenous peoples of the Americas: concepts, research, and clinical considerations. J Psychoactive Drugs. 2011;43(4):282–90.
Morgan R, Freeman L. The healing of our people: substance abuse and historical trauma. Subst Use Misuse. 2009;44(1):84–98.
Neault N, Mullany B, Powers J, Coho-Mescal V, Parker S, Walkup J, et al. Fatherhood roles and drug use among young American Indian men. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2012;38(5):395–402.
Lane DC, Simmons J. American Indian youth substance abuse: community-driven interventions. Mt Sinai J Med. 2011;78(3):362–72.
Radin SM, Kutz SH, La Marr J, Vendiola D, Vendiola M, Wilbur B, et al. Community perspectives on drug/alcohol use, concerns, needs, and resources in four Washington State tribal communities. J Ethn Subst Abus. 2015;14(1):29–58.
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
Gryczynski J, Johnson JL. Challenges in public health research with American Indians and other small ethnocultural minority populations. Subst Use Misuse. 2011;46(11):1363–71.
Nutton J, Fast E. Historical trauma, substance use, and indigenous peoples: seven generations of harm from a “big event”. Subst Use Misuse. 2015;50(7):839–47.
Evans-Campbell T, Walters KL, Pearson CR, Campbell CD. Indian boarding school experience, substance use, and mental health among urban two-spirit American Indian/Alaska Natives. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2012;38(5):421–7.
Rasmus S, Allen J, Connor W, Freeman W, Skewes M. Native transformations in the Pacific Northwest: a strength-based model of protection against substance use disorder. Am Indian Alaska Native Ment Health Res. 2016;23(3):158–86.
Dell D, Hopkins C. Residential volatile substance misuse treatment for indigenous youth in Canada. Subst Use Misuse. 2011;46:107–13.
Chong J, Lopez D. Predictors of relapse for American Indian women after substance abuse treatment. Am Indian Alaska Native Ment Health Res. 2007;14(3):24–48.
Stanley LR, Swaim RC, Dieterich SE. The role of norms in marijuana use among American Indian adolescents. Prev Sci. 2017;18(4):406–15.
Fear-Segal J. White man’s club: schools, race, and the struggle of Indian acculturation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press; 2007.
Myhra LL, Wieling E, Grant H. Substance use in American Indian family relationships: linking past, present, and future. Am J Fam Ther. 2015;43(5):413–24.
Urbaeva Z, Booth JM, Wei K. The relationship between cultural identification, family socialization and adolescent alcohol use among native American families. J Child Fam Stud. 2017;26(10):2681–93.
Lafromboise TD, Albright K, Harris A. Patterns of hopelessness among American Indian adolescents: relationships by levels of acculturation and residence. Cult Divers Ethn Minor Psychol. 2010;16(1):68–76.
Brown RA, Dickerson DL, D’Amico EJ. Cultural identity among urban American Indian/Alaska native youth: implications for alcohol and drug use. Prev Sci. 2016;17(7):852–61.
Sarche MC, Croy CD, Big Crow C, Mitchell CM, Spicer P. Maternal correlates of 2-year-old American Indian children’s social-emotional development in a Northern Plains tribe. Infant Ment Health J. 2009;30(4):321–40.
Baumrind D. The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. J Early Adolesc. 1991;11(1):56–95.
Spear SE, Crevecoeur-Macphail D, Denering L, Dickerson D, Brecht M. Determinants of successful treatment outcomes among a sample of urban American Indians/Alaska natives: the role of social environments. J Behav Health Serv Res. 2013;40(3):330–41.
Barlow A, Mullany B, Neault N, Compton S, Carter A, Hastings R, et al. Effect of a paraprofessional home-visiting intervention on American Indian teen mothers’ and infants’ behavioral risks: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Psychiatry. 2013;170(1):83–93.
Cwik M, Barlow A, Tingey L, Goklish N, Larzelere-Hinton F, Craig M, et al. Exploring risk and protective factors with a community sample of American Indian adolescents who attempted suicide. Arch Suicide Res. 2015;19(2):172–89.
Lonczak HS, Fernandez A, Austin L, Marlatt GA, Donovan DM. Family structure and substance use among American Indian youth: a preliminary study. Fam Syst Health. 2007;25(1):10–22.
Tragesser SL, Beauvais F, Burnside M, Jumper-Thurman P. Differences in illicit drug-use rates among Oklahoma and non-Oklahoma Indian youth. Subst Use Misuse. 2010;45(13):2323–39.
Baldwin JA, Brown BG, Wayment HA, Nez RA, Brelsford KM. Culture and context: buffering the relationship between stressful life events and risky behaviors in American Indian youth. Subst Use Misuse. 2011;46(11):1380–94.
Chen H, Balan S, Price RK. Association of contextual factors with drug use and binge drinking among White, Native American, and Mixed-Race adolescents in the general population. J Youth Adolesc. 2012;41(11):1426–41.
Stevens S, Andrade R, Korchmaros J, Sharron K. Intergenerational trauma among substance-using Native American, Latina, and White mothers living in the southwestern United States. J Soc Work Pract Addict. 2015;15(1):6–24.
Sun A. Relapse among substance-abusing women: components and processes. Subst Use Misuse. 2007;42(1):1–21.
Hazan C, Shaver PR. Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1987;52:511–24.
Swaim RC, Stanley LR, Beauvais F. The normative environment for substance use among American Indian students and White students attending schools on or near reservations. Am J Orthop. 2013;83(2–3):422–9.
Martinez MJ, Ayers SL, Kulis S, Brown E. The relationship between peer, parent, and grandparent norms and intentions to use substances for urban American Indian youths. J Child Adolesc Subst Abuse. 2015;24(4):220–7.
Kerr ME, Bowen M. Family evaluation: an approach based on Bowen theory. New York City: Norton; 1988.
Whitbeck LB, Sittner Hartshorn KJ, Walls ML. Indigenous adolescent development: psychological, social and historical contexts. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group: New York, NY; 2014.
Barlow A, Mullany B, Neault N, Goklish N, Billy T, Hastings R, et al. Paraprofessional-delivered home-visiting intervention for American Indian teen mothers and children: 3-year outcomes from a randomized controlled trial. Am J Psychiatry. 2015;172(2):154–62.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zephier Olson, M.D., Dombrowski, K. A Systematic Review of Indian Boarding Schools and Attachment in the Context of Substance Use Studies of Native Americans. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 7, 62–71 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-019-00634-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-019-00634-4