This information is critical for health care planners who must determine the eligible population for Indian health services and the costs of providing them. The volume will also be of interest to researchers and policymakers concerned about the future characteristics and needs of the American Indian population. These approaches are grouped below under the standard prevention terminology of primary, secondary, and tertiary levels (Bloom, 1981; May and Moran, 1995). First, the recreational drinking pattern of sporadic bingeing persists among many Indian drinkers throughout the years during alcoholism statistics which they drink.
Table 2. Bivariate Correlations between Alcohol Dependence Measures.
The percentage of lifetime abstainers ranged from less than 20% (Northern Plains men aged 45–57 years, US men aged 30–44 years and 45–64 years) to well over 50% (Southwest women aged 45–57 years). The Southwest population was more likely to have lifetime abstainers than was either the US or the Northern Plains population for most age and gender groups. The rates of abstention for Northern Plains men were generally similar to those for the US men. The percentages of these populations who were former drinkers ranged from less than 10% (Southwest and Northern Plains men aged 18–29 years) to a high of 36% (Northern Plains women aged 45–57 years).
Secondary Prevention
The researchers concluded that pathological drinking was defined by the degree to which alcohol use interfered with gender-specific developmental tasks and cultural values. Biological and psychological processes were less relevant to the construct of adolescent problem drinking. The Oglala Sioux filed a federal lawsuit against the four stores and the beer manufacturers and distributors that supply to those stores in 2012 asserting that these companies were specifically targeting Pine Ridge. The tribe also referred to the public health and safety issues plaguing the reservation as a direct result of alcohol sales and consumption linked to Whiteclay. Over ninety percent of crime what is alcoholism on the reservation is alcohol-related and one-quarter of children born on the reservation suffer from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a series of conditions caused by drinking during pregnancy including fetal alcohol syndrome. The tribe’s suit was dismissed due to lack of federal jurisdiction, but the decision specifically noted that this challenge could be taken up in state court.
5. Individual Risk Factors
- The sample consisted of American Indian/Alaska Natives who were in full, sustained remission from alcohol dependence, reporting upon their experiences with incarceration and alcohol treatment.
- Furthermore, there is very little literature currently available on alcohol-specific causes of death among Indians.
- Indian leaders like Joseph LaFlesche, chief of the Omaha in the early 19th century, outlawed alcohol when he saw its effects on his people, but successive leaders allowed its return.
- From a 1969 study of the Navajo, Levy and Kunitz (1974) report a vastly lower proportion of drinking among the tribal population than among the U.S. population; by 1984 however, the proportion of Navajo drinking had risen substantially (May and Smith, 1988).
The patterns of alcohol-related problems highlighted here raise a number of public health issues. Before one begins prevention or intervention efforts in any Indian community, it is vital to have data that are locally specific. The motivation of a community to change must also be considered before any prevention initiative is undertaken (May et al., 1993). Most of this literature is based on a large number (several hundred) of high school substance abuse surveys administered across the nation (see Oetting et al., 1988, 1989; Beauvais, 1992; Swaim et al., 1993).
A second contradiction revealed in this study was that alcohol use promoted social connectedness and also fragmented Native communities. Participants described drinking as a shared activity, frequently occurring in social settings. The interviews showed that some participants held positive expectations of the effects of alcohol on sociability and relationship development. Similar positive aspects of American Indian alcohol use have been reported among urban drinkers (Spicer, 1997).
Social
Seven American Indian tribes participated in focus group interviews and main study assessments before funds were exhausted. Tribes were recruited using letters and personal contacts with an emphasis on large tribes with diverse alcoholism rates, cultures, histories, and geographic regions. The inclusion criteria enhanced the representation of the heterogeneity of Native communities. Native Americans were allowed to be served and drink alcohol across the country and reservations would be allowed the presence of alcohol–barring tribal regulations.
- Alaska Natives and American Indians comprise 2 diverse populations with distinct variations in alcohol and substance abuse rates due to geographic location and tribal affiliation.
- She is a recipient of a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
- As an offense, the intoxication code was said to be primarily used in conjunction with other charges, including disorderly conduct.
One can easily say “it is out of my hands,” continue drinking, and not seek the ceremonial assistance needed to achieve sobriety. Also goes back to one of the oldest things of conquering a people … people that are out drinking and then you have those people that aren’t okay with it, so it divides them like that … People stay away from people cause they’re drinking … it starts separating the families and the people. The history of Pine Ridge and Whiteclay has been the source of considerable media attention, activism from Native American groups and public health and safety experts, and documentary films.
Alcohol And Its Effect On The Health Of Native Americans
Although our respondents noted that data on the prevalence of alcohol use and abuse was not necessarily maintained, alcohol-related illnesses and injuries may be assessed using population level datasets (Emerson et al., 2017; Grant et al., 2015; Ponicki et al., In Press). Children were also impacted by parents’ drinking when it meant that limited cash resources went to purchase alcohol and drugs. Respondents noted that teens were acutely aware of clothes styles and vulnerable to teasing about their appearance when their clothes were seen as worn-out or unfashionable. When parents received subsidy funds at two times in the month, some children skipped school to go to town with them to ensure that these funds were spent on basic needs—food and clothing—rather than alcohol and drugs. Control and regulation of alcohol and other intoxicating substances have been debated in the United States almost since the nation’s beginning. Distilled spirits arrived with the Puritans, were soon easily obtained from the Caribbean colonies or domestic production, and production as well as consumption of alcoholic beverages were favored by influential U.S. political leaders including Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin (Okrent, 2010).
- Furthermore, awareness is growing that solutions to social and health problems must be generated at the community level and those that have been imposed from outside will most likely be ineffective (Beauvais and LaBoueff 1985; Oetting et al. 1995).
- Additionally, Natives are exceedingly vulnerable to the consequences of substance abuse, including high dropout rates, violence, chronic health issues, and suicidal behavior — all issues that are commonplace on reservations, undermining the strength and stability of Native communities living there.
- Some expressed a sense of urgency in intervening with youth before more serious consequences occurred.
- Among both Indian and non-Indian adolescents, drug and alcohol use are much more tightly coupled than they are among adults.
Identified alcohol-related legal problems included public intoxication, driving while intoxicated (DWI)/driving under the influence (DUI), traffic accidents, theft, trespassing, vandalism, and providing alcohol to minors. Individuals reported that tribal members drank until they were intoxicated, passed out, or ran out of money. There were mixed opinions about whether American Indians engaged in less severe patterns of alcohol consumption. The body of literature on drinking among American Indians1 has been growing steadily over the past two decades. Since the publication of a comprehensive bibliography on the topic by Mail and McDonald in 1980, several hundred papers have been published in professional journals. Despite the publication of new epidemiological data, much of the life-cycle pattern of alcohol abuse among various Indian groups must be pieced together from a number of very different individual studies.