Psychological and Physical Health Related Problems to Discrimination

The following is an excerpt of an article entitled, "Risk and Protective Factors for Depression and Health Outcomes in American Indian and Alaska Native Adolescents" by David D. Barney discussing the psychological and physical health of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

"The health status of American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents has also been identified as poorer than that of adolescents of other racial or ethnic groups (Office of Technology Assessment 1990, 1986; Indian Health Service 1998). For American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents, social and health indicators illustrate increased risk for poor outcomes on almost all well-being measures. Overall, in American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents (ages 15 to 24), the mortality ratio is approximately three times greater (2.7:1) than for U.S. all races (Office of Technology Assessment 1986). American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents are exposed to poverty and racial discrimination, which severely limit individual, family, and community prosperity. In these environments, personal values and integrity may be discouraged or corrupted and human potential limited."

Throughout history, Native Americans have been oppressed, discriminated against, denied their rights as a sovereign nation, forced to live on a plot of land chosen by the U.S. government and then told what they could and could not do on that land as a sovereign nation, and have been therefore forced to submit to tremendous stresses which have corrupted their psychological and physical health.

"Risk and Protective Factors for Depression and Health Outcomes in American Indian and Alaska Native Adolescents"
David D. Barney
Wicazo Sa Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, Native American Health in the 21st Century. (Spring, 2001), pp. 135-150.
Stable URL: <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0749-6427%28200121%2916%3A1%3C135%3ARAPFFD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M>