ED471488 2002-12-00 Nurturing

Resilience and School Success in

American Indian and Alaska Native

Students. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Development Team

www.eric.ed.gov

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Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and Alaska

Native Students. ERIC Digest.............................................. 2

RESILIENCE.................................................................... 2

WAYS TRADITIONAL NATIVE CULTURES FOSTERED

RESILIENCE............................................................... 2

CONNECTIONS THAT FOSTER ADOLESCENT WELL-BEING...... 4

FACTORS THAT FOSTER RESILIENCE IN NATIVE YOUTH......... 5

CONCLUSIONS.................................................................6

REFERENCES.................................................................. 6

ERIC Identifier: ED471488

Publication Date: 2002-12-00

Author: Strand, Joyce A. - Peacock, Thomas D.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Nurturing Resilience and School Success in

American Indian and Alaska Native Students.

ED471488 2002-12-00 Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and

Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest.

Page 1 of 9
ERIC Digest.

THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT

ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC

This Digest examines recent literature on factors related to resilience, well-being, and

school success for American Indian and Alaska Native students. The characteristics of

resilient Native youth; traditional Native ways of fostering resilience; and connections

within family, community, and school that foster resilience are considered. Although

there are tribal differences in traditional Native ways among the 554 Native American

(U.S.) tribes, the focus here is on some commonalities that exist in "shared core values,

beliefs, and behaviors" (HeavyRunner & Morris, 1997, p. 1). The authors review findings

of a recent study on what Native youth believe parents, teachers, and schools can do to

foster resilience. Additional studies that make connections between resilience and

Native spirituality and biculturalism are briefly reviewed.

RESILIENCE

Resilience is a term used to describe a set of qualities that foster a process of

successful adaptation and transformation despite risk and adversity (Benard, 1995).

Persons who are resilient have the capacity to withstand, overcome, or recover from

serious threat (Masten, 2001). Simply put, resilience is the ability to bounce back from

adversity.

As it relates to American Indian and Alaska Native youth, resilience is exemplified by

certain qualities possessed by these children and youth who, though subjected to undue

stress and adversity, do not give way to school failure, substance abuse, mental health

problems, or juvenile delinquency (Peacock, 2002). These youth benefit from "protective

factors" provided through family (including extended tribal family who share the

responsibility of child care), schools, and the community. These protective factors

enable children to alter or reverse negative outcomes that might have been predicted

for them, fostering instead the long-term development of resilience (HeavyRunner &

Morris, 1997; Wenzlaff & Biewer, 1996).

WAYS TRADITIONAL NATIVE CULTURES

FOSTERED RESILIENCE

The Indigenous people of North America were nearly obliterated by disease, war, and

genocide during the period of European colonialism. Their numbers were reduced from

an estimated 10 million to fewer than a million people (Zinn, 2000). Many of the

survivors and their descendants struggled to resist federal efforts to terminate their

special status and limited sovereignty. They endured the boarding school era, during

which the federal government overtly worked to eradicate tribal languages and culture

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and "Americanize" Native young people by removing them from elders, family, and

community. American Indians and Alaska Natives also experienced grinding poverty

and the social ills that accompany it.

Through all this adversity, they survived with much of their traditional cultures still intact.

One explanation for their survival is that fostering resilience in young people is not a

new concept for Native people. HeavyRunner and Morris (1997) explain that,

traditionally, resilience has been cultivated by focusing on four developmental areas:

1. "spirituality"--living according to the belief in the interrelatedness of all things

2. "mental well-being"--having clear thoughts

3. "emotional well-being"--balancing all emotions

4. "physical well-being"--attending to the physical self

Brendtro, Brokenleg, and Van Bockern (1990) described Native ways of building

self-esteem as fostering resilience in young people. In traditional cultures, there were

four bases of self-esteem:

1. "Belonging." From the time they were born, children were looked after by caring

adults. Everyone in the community treated others as related, so children developed a

sense of respect and concern for others and experienced a minimum of friction. All of

this fostered good will.

2. "Mastery." American Indian and Alaska Native families told stories, provided nurture,

and acted as role models to foster balance in spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical

competence.

3. "Independence." Many traditional Native cultures placed a high value on individual

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ED471488 2002-12-00 Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and

Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest.

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freedom, and young people were given training in self-management. Young people

were never offered rewards for doing well. Practicing appropriate self-management was

seen as the reward in itself.

4. "Generosity." Giving to others and giving back to the community were fundamental

core values in many Native cultures, where adults stressed generosity and

unselfishness to young people.

CONNECTIONS THAT FOSTER ADOLESCENT

WELL-BEING

Today, a common misconception about young people is that their race, ethnicity, family

structure, or economic status are the major factors affecting their success or failure in

school and, ultimately, in life. This misconception can lead some educators and others

to view Native youth as coming from such deficient circumstances that they cannot be

expected to succeed.

However, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (NLSAH), which

analyzed a nationally representative sample of more than 90,000 young people of all

ethnicities, came to different conclusions. The NLSAH explored the social settings of

adolescent lives, the ways in which youth connect with their social worlds, and the

influence of these settings and connections on health and behavior. The study produced

insights into the role of (1) families, (2) schools, and (3) the personal characteristics of

individual youth in protecting adolescents from harm (Blum & Rinehart, 1997). The

findings may influence our understanding of adolescent resilience. Some of the factors

that protect youth from engaging in risky behaviors and harmful health practices may

also help them develop the ability to bounce back when they encounter adversity.

The importance of family. The NLSAH reported that healthy youth who avoided risky

behavior felt strongly connected with their families. They felt they were understood,

loved, wanted, and paid attention to by family members. They did not have access at

home to guns, cigarettes, alcohol, or illegal drugs. None of their family members had

attempted or committed suicide in the preceding year. Their parents disapproved of

them having intercourse and using contraception at an early age and had high

expectations for high school and college completion (Blum & Rinehart, 1997).

School connections. The NLSAH also found school-related factors in adolescent health

and avoidance of harmful behaviors. Youth tended to do well when they:

* felt teachers at their school treated students fairly

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* felt close to people at school

* got along with teachers and other students

* felt their fellow students were not prejudiced

The schools, which were of several different types (comprehensive public, magnet, or

parochial schools), had high daily attendance, a strong parent-teacher organization, low

drop-out rates, a high percentage of teachers with master's-level degrees or higher, and

a high percentage of college bound students (Blum & Rinehart, 1997; Resnick et al.,

1997).

Individual factors. Adolescents' well-being was affected by whether they believed they

had good qualities, liked themselves, and felt loved and wanted (Resnick et al., 1997).

Practices of spirituality, religion, and prayer were important. Probably because of the

way society treats homosexuals, youth who had same-sex attraction tended to be more

at risk. Students who didn't perceive a risk of their own untimely death, those who didn't

work too many hours per week after school or on weekends, and those who physically

looked their age (neither appearing too young nor too old for their age) tended to

experience lower levels of distress and engaged less frequently in risky behaviors. The

same was true of students who kept up their grades in the basic subjects and avoided

repeating a grade level.

FACTORS THAT FOSTER RESILIENCE IN

NATIVE YOUTH

The family, school, and individual factors identified in the NLSAH study as promoting

adolescent well-being have parallels in a recent study by Bergstrom, Cleary, and

Peacock (2003) involving in-depth interviews with 120 Native students from across the

United States and Canada. This study identified connections to parents, communities,

teachers, and schools as major contributors to the resilience of Native youth. But

students in this study identified another important factor: They reported that being well

grounded and connected to their tribal culture was a big reason they stayed in school.

The students in the study who were doing well (often after experiencing serious

adversity) shared three positive characteristics in particular: good self-concept, a strong

sense of direction, and tenacity. Feeling good about their tribal culture was a consistent

theme among these students, who talked about their ability to feel comfortable living in

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ED471488 2002-12-00 Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and

Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest.

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both worlds (the Native community and mainstream schools); participation in cultural

activities; strong positive feelings of belonging to a Native community and family;

appreciation of the influences of elders, grandparents, and parents; and participation in

a school curriculum that included Native history, language, and culture.

Other studies. Other recent research has identified spiritual and cultural factors as

important in fostering Native student resilience that leads to school success.

Whitbeck, Hoyt, Stubben, and LaFromboise (2001) found in interviews with 196

American Indian children in grades 5-8 that the degree to which children were

embedded in traditional culture positively affected their school performance. According

to its authors, this study provided empirical evidence that "enculturation is a resiliency

factor in the development of [American Indian] children" (p. 57).

Graham (2001) investigated the role of spirituality in promoting resilience, which, in turn,

supported school-based competence. Using a sample of 56 Native students identified

by their principal as being both high-risk and resilient, she found that spirituality reported

by adolescent students was related to competence in the school context.

Using retrospective qualitative study design, Evans (1997) interviewed 26 individuals of

various ages who had successfully met the challenges and adversities of living on the

Great Basin Indian reservation. Study participants said they strived throughout their

lives to follow the "right path," a process made easier through the support of others, a

belief in God or the Creator, and self-caring.

A study of 117 American Indian adults living in San Diego, which classified participants

according to their cultural identities, found that individuals classified as "bicultural" were

least likely to suffer depression. This group was followed by the "assimilating,"

"traditional," and "marginal" groups (Byron, 1997). Other qualitative studies, each

focused on a small sample, produced findings showing similar links between spirituality

and/or enculturation and wellness and/or resilience (Klassen, 1996; Montgomery,

Miville, Winterowd, Jeffries, & Baysden, 2000; Ness, 2001).

CONCLUSIONS

A growing collection of studies is beginning to shed light on what qualities make for

resilience in American Indian and Alaska Native children and youth, and on what factors

are necessary to develop those qualities. However, even taken together, current

research on these issues remains more suggestive than definitive, and thus they remain

a fruitful and necessary area of inquiry (Trimble & Beauvais, 2001).

REFERENCES

Benard, B. (1995). Fostering resilience in children. ERIC Digest. Champaign, IL: ERIC

Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. (ERIC Document

Reproduction Service No. ED 386 327)

www.eric.ed.gov ERIC Custom Transformations Team

Page 6 of 9 ED471488 2002-12-00 Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and

Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest.
Bergstrom, A., Cleary, L., & Peacock, T. (2003). The seventh generation: Native youth

speak about finding the good path. Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural

Education and Small Schools.

Blum, R. W., & Rinehart, P. M. (1997). Reducing the risk: Connections that make a

difference in the lives of youth [Monograph]. Bethesda, MD: Add Health. (ERIC

Document Reproduction Service No. ED 412 459)

Brendtro, L., Brokenleg, M., & Van Bockern, S. (1990). Reclaiming youth at risk: Our

hope for the future. Bloomington, IN: National Education Service.

Byron, D. M. (1997). The relationship of cultural identification to depression and alcohol

use among urban American Indians. Dissertation Abstracts International, 57(7-B), 4778.

Evans, C. M. (1997). There needs to be somebody: An exploration of the ways Great

Basin Indian youth get through difficult times (Substance Abuse Prevention, Resiliency).

University of Utah. Dissertation Abstracts International, 57(12-A), 5068.

Graham, B. L. (2001). Resilience among American Indian youth: First Nations youth

resilience study. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(3-B), 1615.

HeavyRunner, I., & Morris, J. S. (1997). Traditional native culture and resilience.

Research Practice, 5(1). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. Center for Applied

Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI), College of Education and Human

Development. Retrieved November 18, 2002, from

http://www.coled.umn.edu/carei/Reports/Rpractice/Spring97/traditiona l.htm

Klassen, H. M. (1996). The development of resiliency in American Indian adolescents

(Native Americans). Harvard University. Dissertation Abstracts International, 57(7-A),

2857.

Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American

Psychologist, 56(3), 227-238.

Montgomery, D., Miville, M. L., Winterowd, C., Jeffries, B., & Baysden, M. F. (2000).

American Indian college students: An exploration into resiliency factors revealed

through personal stories. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 6(4),

387-398.

Ness, J. K. E. (2001). American Indian completers and noncompleters in a tribal and

community college in northern Minnesota. Doctoral dissertation. Minneapolis: University

of Minnesota. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 457 912)

Peacock, T. (2002). The perceptions and experiences of American Indian high school

graduates and dropouts. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota,

ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov

ED471488 2002-12-00 Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and

Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest.

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Minneapolis.

Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. W., Bauman, K. E., Harris, K. M.,Jones, J.,

Tabor, J., Behring, T., Sieving, R. E., Shew, M., Ireland, M., Bearinger, L. H., & Udry, J.

R. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal

Study on Adolescent Health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278(10),

823-832.

Trimble, J. E., & Beauvais, F. (2001). Prevention of alcoholism, drug abuse, and health

problems among American Indians and Alaska Natives: An introduction and overview.

In J. E. Trimble & F. Beauvais (Eds.), Health promotion and substance abuse

prevention among American Indian and Alaska Native communities: Issues in cultural

competence (pp. 1-34). Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse (DHHS/PHS).

(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 452 004)

Wenzlaff, T. L., & Biewer, A. (1996). Research: Native American students define factors

for success. Tribal College, 7(4), 40-44.

Whitbeck, L. B., Hoyt, D. R., Stubben, J. D., & LaFromboise, T. (2001). Traditional

culture and academic success among American Indian children in the upper Midwest.

Journal of American Indian Education, 40(2), 48-60.

Zinn, H. (2000). A people's history of the United States: 1492 to Present. New York, NY:

HarperCollins Publishers.

-----

Joyce A. Strand, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and coordinator of special education at

the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Thomas D. Peacock is an associate professor of education at the University of

Minnesota, Duluth, where he teaches and coordinates a doctoral program in

educational leadership. He is a member of the Fond du Lac Lake Superior Band of

Chippewa.

This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0027. The

opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI,

the Department, or AEL.

Title: Nurturing Resilience and School Success in American Indian and Alaska Native

Students. ERIC Digest.

Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)

(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);

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Alaska Native Students. ERIC Digest.
Available From: ERIC/CRESS, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325-1348. Tel:

800-624-9120 (Toll Free). For full text: http://www.ael.org/eric/digests/edorc02-11.pdf.

Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Adolescent Development, Adolescents,

American Indian Education, American Indian Students, Cultural Influences, Elementary

Secondary Education, Family Influence, Nonformal Education, Resilience (Personality),

Student School Relationship, Well Being

Identifiers: ERIC Digests

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