American Indian and Alaska Native youth have the highest rate of suicide in the nation. The following report outlines the factors that contribute to these rates. These factors include barriers to mental health care and the unique risk factors. Barriers to mental health care that American Indians and Alaska Natives face include isolation of tribes, cultural values, limitations of Indian Health Services, and a lack of qualified providers. Unique risk factors faced by these groups include isolation, oppression, tribal characteristics, and high rates of alcohol abuse. Two prominent theories in suicide research are examined to help explain the epidemic of American Indian and Alaska Native youth suicide. These theories include the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide as well as Strain Theory of Suicide. A close look at current interventions is also provided. Limitations of these interventions are discussed. Implications for community and college counselors are given, which include being sensitive to the unique needs of these clients and designing interventions targeted specifically at these groups. Suggestions for future research are also included. / text

Data about Indigenous populations in the United States are inconsistent and irrelevant. Federal and state governments and researchers direct most collection, analysis, and use of data about U.S. Indigenous populations. Indigenous Peoples' justified mistrust further complicates the collection and use of these data. Nonetheless, tribal leaders and communities depend on these data to inform decision making. Reliance on data that do not reflect tribal needs, priorities, and self-conceptions threatens tribal self-determination. Tribal data sovereignty through governance of data on Indigenous populations is long overdue. This article provides two case studies of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and their demographic and socioeconomic data initiatives to create locally and culturally relevant data for decision making.

The purpose of this study was to examine the preschool settings of the Pearl River community and assess the effectiveness of certain preschool programs regarding the achievement of Native American kindergarten students. The data were examined to compare student achievement of the Pearl River Elementary School kindergarten class of 2006-2007 as measured by the TerraNova subtests in Reading/Language and Mathematics. A sample of n = 74 was obtained for this study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze previous preschool experiences of the participants. Demographic data showed that most students in the Pearl River Elementary School kindergarten class of 2006-2007 had attended some type of preschool. TerraNova scores for the participants were also examined. Descriptive statistics were used to examine how well the kindergarten students at Pearl River Elementary School compared with the national average. The data indicated that the kindergarteners at Pearl River Elementary School did not score as high as the national average on any of the subtests for Reading, Language, and Mathematics. A MANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis that stated that there were no statistically significant differences among the means of the TerraNova scores based upon type of preschool attended. The independent variable for the analysis was type of preschool attended. The dependent variables were the subtest scores on the TerraNova in Reading, Language, and Mathematics. Results indicated that students who had attended the Pearl River pre-kindergarten program outscored the students who had attended the Pearl River Head Start program in both Language and Mathematics subtests. Results did not indicate that there was any statistical difference in the mean of the Reading subtest based upon type of preschool attended. Recommendations for further study include obtaining another sample that would incorporate variables not used in the current study. Research should be done to examine curricular differences among pre-kindergarten, FACE, Head Start, and Day Care programs. Students should also be tracked to measure the long term effects of attending each of these programs. Alternate assessments for student achievement of preschool and kindergarten students should also be considered for further research.

abstract: Located in Southwest Alaska on the Bering Sea, Bristol Bay covers the area of land and water that lies north of the Alaska Peninsula. The Bristol Bay region consists of more than 40 million acres and is home to approximately 7,400 people of mostly Alaska Native descent. Many Natives still maintain a subsistence lifestyle. The region’s Indigenous inhabitants include Aleuts, Eskimos, and Indians. Bristol Bay’s Indigenous cultures developed around the abundant salmon runs. The Bristol Bay watershed, with its extensive lake and river systems, provides the ideal breeding grounds for all five species of Pacific salmon. As a keystone species, salmon directly or indirectly impact many species in the ecosystem. This dissertation focuses on the ecology and environment, culture, and economy in the Bristol Bay salmon fishery from its beginnings in 1884 until the present. The arrival of Euro-Americans altered the human/salmon relationship as Alaska Natives entered the commercial salmon fishery. The commercial fishery largely marginalized Alaska Natives and they struggle to remain relevant in the fishery. Participation in the subsistence fishery remains strong and allows Bristol Bay Natives to continue their cultural traditions. On a global scale, the sustainable Bristol Bay’s salmon harvest provides over half of the world’s wild sockeye salmon. Salmon cultures once existed throughout the Atlantic and Pacific. With the decline of salmon, few viable salmon cultures remain today. I argue that because of the ecological, cultural, and economic factors, salmon in Bristol Bay deserve protection from competing resource development and other factors that threaten the valuable fishery. The unique ecology of Bristol Bay needs clean water to continue its bountiful production. As a member of the Bristol Bay community, I include my own experiences in the salmon fishery, incorporating “writing from home” as one of my primary methodologies. I also include ethnohistory and oral history methodologies. I conducted interviews with elders in the Bristol Bay community to incorporate Indigenous experiences as Natives faced changes brought on by the commercial salmon fishery. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation History 2019

The need for mental health service is increasing in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. While research has examined the availability, access, and effectiveness of provided services to the AI/AN, very little is known about the influence of the attitude and perceptions of both clinicians and clients in their therapeutic relationship in the treatment process. Using the frameworks of liberation, oppression, and trauma theory, this qualitative phenomenological study explored mental health service delivery and utilization issues within an AI/AN community. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 14 clinician and client participants. The data were sorted into themes and subthemes and analyzed using the NVivo 11 computer software. Intergenerational struggle represented the primary theme and other subthemes such as assimilation, acculturation, and communication were among some of the secondary themes gathered from the data. Analysis of the themes provided greater insights into the dynamics of the participant's lived experience in various organizational structures within the larger community as well as a better understanding of mental health service delivery and utilization in maintaining sobriety in their daily struggles. The results indicated that intergenerational struggle along with other environmental factors were the chief causes of their cyclical journey through the penal and other systems; thus reducing their ability in maintaining longer sobriety and in improving their mental health. The implications for positive social change in this study include the reduction of stigma associated with these health issues through the education of the community and in training clinicians in factor-specific issues impacting life altering critical events in AI/AN struggles.

The impact of CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 genetic variation on nicotine metabolism, tobacco use behaviours, and nicotine biomarkers was investigated in a group of Alaska Natives (n = 400). CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 allele frequencies were unique and associations of CYP2A6 genotype and CYP2A6 activity (plasma and urine trans 3’-hydroxycotinine/cotinine (3HC/COT) ratios) were robust. Notably, this population possessed a more rapid rate of CYP2A6 activity (higher plasma 3HC/COT) when compared to CYP2A6 wild-type individuals in other ethnic groups (ANOVA P < 0.001). Also demonstrated was a significant difference in urine total nicotine equivalents by CYP2A6 activity median split (t-test P < 0.01), the first evidence of nicotine titration by CYP2A6 activity within a light smoking population. Overall, this population possessed a distinctive pattern of CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 variant frequencies and a faster rate of nicotine metabolism, which may in part explain higher levels of tobacco use prevalence and tobacco-related disease risk.

The impact of CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 genetic variation on nicotine metabolism, tobacco use behaviours, and nicotine biomarkers was investigated in a group of Alaska Natives (n = 400). CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 allele frequencies were unique and associations of CYP2A6 genotype and CYP2A6 activity (plasma and urine trans 3’-hydroxycotinine/cotinine (3HC/COT) ratios) were robust. Notably, this population possessed a more rapid rate of CYP2A6 activity (higher plasma 3HC/COT) when compared to CYP2A6 wild-type individuals in other ethnic groups (ANOVA P < 0.001). Also demonstrated was a significant difference in urine total nicotine equivalents by CYP2A6 activity median split (t-test P < 0.01), the first evidence of nicotine titration by CYP2A6 activity within a light smoking population. Overall, this population possessed a distinctive pattern of CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 variant frequencies and a faster rate of nicotine metabolism, which may in part explain higher levels of tobacco use prevalence and tobacco-related disease risk.

This dissertation explores the adaptation of traditionally objectified women's spaces, into an arena for leadership development, research which incorporates the development of culturally relevant mechanisms of leadership training within Indigenous societies. Cultural pageants offer a place for young women to become spokespersons on social justice issues, without the sexual objectification of entering beauty pageants. Such pageants also provide a glimpse of how cultural groups wish their national identity to be portrayed to the general public. Fifty years in the making, today's Native Nations cultural pageants have been decolonized to present images of young leaders, confident in their heritage, introducing themselves in their Native language, and committed to cultural continuity and sustainable Nations. This research examines a state-wide Alaska Native pageant, Miss World Eskimo Indian Olympics, from three perspectives: 1) The young women who develop culturally based leadership skills; 2) The community, who gains language and cultural, revitalization and maintenance role models; 3) And the general public, who gains a much needed positive representation of a contemporary Indigenous women. This study draws from interdisciplinary theories and research methodologies (including observation, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and archival research) and follows the young women through to the contest at the national level, Miss Indian World, run annually in Albuquerque, through Gathering of Nations. The underlying hypothesis is that women use cultural pageants as a stepping stone to advance their cultural leadership. In doing so, they promote factors of community well-being affecting Indigenous communities, such as suicide prevention, substance abuse, and language and cultural revitalization.

The history of contact with Europeans for Native Americans and the Tlingit people in particular has been well documented as one of extreme pain, suffering, and injustice. It was "survival time" for the Tlingit and very difficult choices had to be made. The life of one Tlingit man, Rudolph Walton, born in Sitka, Alaska in 1867, illuminates this critical time in the history of the Tlingit people. This dissertation is ah exploration of the interplay between competing cultures and interests and it is a quest to understand who Rudolph Walton was and how his life and the choices he made are connected to the larger historic themes and cross-cultural issues in Alaska Native education and religious life. In addition to providing a look at history and at cultural change through an individual's life, choices and experiences, this dissertation is also about the connection between my ancestors' choices and the impact those choices had on the survival of a people. It is at once a macro view and a micro view of the impact of history on Indian people. After the purchase of Alaska by the United States traditional Tlingit life changed forever. The Tlingit were forced on a daily basis to balance demands and pressures made by various Christian religious groups and the U. S. government. They also had to contend with the prejudice of the average American citizen. Most Native American history has been limited to the use of records written by Europeans and Americans. Our understanding of that history is limited because the voice of the Native American is rarely heard. This dissertation fills a gap in the history of Southeast Alaska through an examination of the life of Rudolph Walton. The life of Mr. Walton is important because he left us with a unique set of documents which help us to understand the difficulties he had to face as a Tlingit man during a critical time in the history of Southeast Alaska.

The history of contact with Europeans for Native Americans and the Tlingit people in particular has been well documented as one of extreme pain, suffering, and injustice. It was "survival time" for the Tlingit and very difficult choices had to be made. The life of one Tlingit man, Rudolph Walton, born in Sitka, Alaska in 1867, illuminates this critical time in the history of the Tlingit people. This dissertation is ah exploration of the interplay between competing cultures and interests and it is a quest to understand who Rudolph Walton was and how his life and the choices he made are connected to the larger historic themes and cross-cultural issues in Alaska Native education and religious life. In addition to providing a look at history and at cultural change through an individual's life, choices and experiences, this dissertation is also about the connection between my ancestors' choices and the impact those choices had on the survival of a people. It is at once a macro view and a micro view of the impact of history on Indian people. After the purchase of Alaska by the United States traditional Tlingit life changed forever. The Tlingit were forced on a daily basis to balance demands and pressures made by various Christian religious groups and the U. S. government. They also had to contend with the prejudice of the average American citizen. Most Native American history has been limited to the use of records written by Europeans and Americans. Our understanding of that history is limited because the voice of the Native American is rarely heard. This dissertation fills a gap in the history of Southeast Alaska through an examination of the life of Rudolph Walton. The life of Mr. Walton is important because he left us with a unique set of documents which help us to understand the difficulties he had to face as a Tlingit man during a critical time in the history of Southeast Alaska. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate