Indian Boarding School Experience, Substance Use, and Mental Health among Urban Two-Spirit American Indian/Alaska Natives

Abstract

Background: Systematic efforts of assimilation removed many Native children from their tribal communities and placed in non-Indian-run residential schools. Objectives: To explore substance use and mental health concerns among a community-based sample of 447 urban two-spirit American Indian/Alaska Native adults who had attended boarding school as children and/or who were raised by someone who attended boarding school. Method: Eighty-two respondents who had attended Indian boarding school as children were compared to respondents with no history of boarding school with respect to mental health and substance use. Results: Former boarding school attendees reported higher rates of current illicit drug use and living with alcohol use disorder, and were significantly more likely to have attempted suicide and experienced suicidal thoughts in their lifetime compared to non-attendees. About 39% of the sample had been raised by someone who attended boarding school. People raised by boarding school attendees were significantly more likely to have a general anxiety disorder, experience posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, and have suicidal thoughts in their lifetime compared to others.

• American Indian/Alaska Native
• mental health
• substance use
• boarding school

ACKOWLEDGMENTS

We acknowledge the contributions of the Honor Project’s Leadership Circle of two-spirit elders as well as the national and regional Native community leaders, colleagues, and ancestors for their guidance and participation with this project.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

This research was funded in part through a grant awarded to the first author by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH Grant R01 MH65871).

Notes on Contributors

Teresa Evans-Campbell, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Washington, School of Social Work (UWSSW), where she directs the Institute for Indigenous Health and Child Welfare Research at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI). She is an enrolled member of the Snohomish Tribe of Indians. Karina L. Walters, Ph.D., is a professor at the UWSSW where she directs the IWRI. She is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation. Cynthia Pearson, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor at the UWSSW and a faculty member at the IWRI. Christopher D. Campbell, Ph.D., is a faculty member at the UW Department of Urban Planning.

Notes

1. The terms American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) and Native are used interchangeably throughout the article.