Stress, trauma, and risky sexual behaviour among American Indians in young adulthood

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship of risky sexual behaviour to stress and trauma—often the mediators of the content and structure of everyday life—among young American Indians. School, work, social life, and home life bring about demands and stresses for youth; choices young people make may depend on the quantity and content of those demands. Traumatic events or highly distressing situations may shatter fragile (or even resilient) systems of external and internal support from which youth may draw. American Indians live in some of the most impoverished areas of the country, where everyday life includes a heavy burden of stress and trauma. Using data from a representative sample of youth from a Northern Plains tribe, bivariate and adjusted ordered logit models are used to show that stress and trauma do play a role in the sexual decision‐making of young people, especially young women. For example, young women who have experienced a trauma have a 20% probability of having had multiple casual partners in the prior year compared to 9% for those who have not experiences a trauma. Types and levels of stress and trauma also make a difference by gender.

Notes

Carol Kaufman is an assistant professor, Janette Beals is an associate professor, Christina Mitchell is associate professor and Alexandra Fickenscher is senior professional research assistant at the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Pamela LeMaster is a research scientist at the Tri‐Ethnic Center for Prevention Research, Colorado State University. All correspondence should be addressed to: Carol Kaufman, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building, Mailstop F800, PO Box 6508, Aurora, CO 80045‐0508, USA; E‐mail: [email protected]

Note: Data from Healthy Ways, data are weighted and subject to rounding errors.

*Defined as all those who gave a numeric answer about number of partners in prior year, plus those who did not answer the partner number question, but did report consistency of condom use.

Note: Data from Healthy Ways, all data are weighted and subject to rounding errors.

Note: Data from Healthy Ways, data are weighted and subject to rounding errors.

Note: Data from Healthy Ways, data are weighted and subject to rounding errors.

Note: Data from Healthy Ways, data are weighted. *p<0.05; **p<0.01.

^aOrdered logit estimation used in both unadjusted and adjusted models. Each measure of trauma and stress estimated separately.

^bAdjusted for age, high school or general education diploma, highest level of education of either parent, and current relationship status.

Note: Data from Healthy Ways.

Italics connotes statistical significance (p<0.05).

^aadjusted for age, high school or general education diploma, highest level of education of either parent, and current relationship status.

¹See: http://www.uchsc.edu/ai/ncaianmhr/presentresearch/superprj.htm

²See: http://www.uchsc.edu/ai/ncaianmhr/pastrsch/choices.htm

• Résumé

• Cet article examine le rapport entre les comportements sexuels à risque et les tensions et les traumatismes – souvent liés au contenu et à la structure de la vie quotidienne – chez les jeunes indiens-américains. L'école, le travail, la vie sociale et familiale imposent et provoquent exigences et tensions chez ces jeunes : leurs choix peuvent dépendre de la quantité et du contenu de ces exigences.

• Des évènements traumatisants et des situations extrêmement stressantes peuvent briser les systèmes externes ou internes de soutien, qu'ils soient fragiles ou résistants, sur lesquels ces jeunes peuvent s'appuyer. Les indiens‐américains vivent dans certaines des régions les plus appauvries du pays, où la vie quotidienne est lourde de tensions et de traumatismes.

• Grâce aux données obtenues à partir d'un échantillon représentatif de jeunes issus d'une tribu des Plaines du Nord, des modèles de régression bi‐variés et ajustés sont utilisés afin de montrer que le stress et les traumatismes jouent un vrai rôle dans la prise de décision quant aux rapports sexuels chez les jeunes, en particulier les jeunes femmes. Par exemple, les jeunes femmes qui ont vécu un traumatisme sont 20% à avoir eu des partenaires occasionnels multiples au cours de l'année précédant l'enquête, contre 9% chez celles qui n'ont pas connu de traumatisme. La nature et les niveaux de stress sont par ailleurs trs différents selon le genre.

• Resumen

• En este documento se analiza la relación del comportamiento sexual arriesgado con el estrés y el trauma – a menudo los mediadores del contenido y la estructura de la vida diaria – entre los jóvenes indios americanos. Las exigencias de la escuela, el trabajo, la vida social y el hogar provocan a menudo estrés a los jóvenes. Y lo que los jóvenes eligen depende de la cantidad y el contenido de esas exigencias. Las experiencias traumáticas o situaciones altamente estresantes pueden quebrantar sistemas frágiles (o incluso fuertes) a los que los jóvenes podrían recurrir en busca de ayuda externa e interna. Los indios americanos viven en algunas de las zonas más empobrecidas del país, donde la vida diaria supone una carga pesada de estrés y trauma. Usando los datos de una muestra representativa de jóvenes de la tribu de las llanuras del norte, se utilizan modelos de regresión bivariados y ajustados para mostrar que el estrés y el trauma desempeñan una función importante en las decisiones sexuales de los jóvenes, especialmente en las chicas jóvenes. Por ejemplo, las jóvenes que pasan por una experiencia traumática tienen un 20% de probabilidades de haber tenido muchos compañeros sexuales casuales durante el año anterior comparado con el 9% de las que no padecen ningún trauma. También se observan diferencias en los tipos y niveles de estrés y trauma entre los sexos.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Fickenscher

Carol Kaufman is an assistant professor, Janette Beals is an associate professor, Christina Mitchell is associate professor and Alexandra Fickenscher is senior professional research assistant at the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Pamela LeMaster is a research scientist at the Tri‐Ethnic Center for Prevention Research, Colorado State University. All correspondence should be addressed to: Carol Kaufman, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building, Mailstop F800, PO Box 6508, Aurora, CO 80045‐0508, USA; E‐mail: [email protected]