Sexual risk behaviors and the legacy of colonial violence among Northern plains American Indian youth: A mixed methods exploratory study

Abstract

Introduction: In this article, we honor the tribal remembering of two Northern Plains tribes to illustrate how the legacy of colonial violence frames the way in which substance use and mental health affect sexual risk behaviors among American Indian youth on the reservation today.

Methods: We used a multi-phase, mixed quantitative and qualitative methods design within a community based participatory research framework to illustrate how the legacy of colonial violence frames epidemiological links between substance use, mental health, and sexual risk behavior among American Indian youth. We conducted semistructured interviews with 29 individuals and administered questionnaires to 298 American Indian youth living in a reservation environment.

Results: Our findings explicate how a legacy of colonial violence underlies epidemiological links between mental health and substance use with sexual risk behavior among youth. Salient facets of colonial violence included systematically altered living arrangements, the boarding school era, eroded traditional practices, and the entry of extractive industries onto native lands.

Discussion: The colonial violence enacted against the ancestors of Northern Plains tribal peoples materializes in the health of those living on the reservation today. Community interventions, which seek to address the role of substance use and mental health in sexual risk behavior, could benefit from delineating tribal perceptions regarding the legacy of colonial violence on public health outcomes through the use of a CBPR framework.

Keywords: American Indian; Colonial violence; Honoring; Mental health; Remembering; Sexual risk; Structural violence; Substance use.