According to a 2003 Health Canada report, suicide was the leading cause of death among Aboriginal individuals under the age of 45, accounting for 23% of all deaths in this at-risk population. While previous research has explored many potential risk factors for suicide among Aboriginal populations, none have considered the Métis population independent of other Aboriginal groups. Additionally, there have been no studies explicitly examining the relationship between family context and suicidality among either of these populations; this is the primary relationship of interest in this project.
Data used for this project was taken from the 2006 Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS). The APS is a national cross-sectional survey of 61,041 First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Within the APS, family context was constructed using several variables including parental divorce, childhood adoption, number of siblings, etc.
Analyses for this project included a multi-stage process consisting of bivariate and multivariable analyses. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was separated by gender and examined those aged 25-54.
Results showed that that for women, renting versus owning your home, the death of sibling under age 2, or being removed by a child welfare agency, the church, or government officials was significantly associated with suicidal ideation.
For men, unemployment, living in the community of origin, death of a sibling under age 2, and participating in traditional craftwork all significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Not graduating from high school and unemployment were significantly associated with suicide attempts for men or women when controlling for all other demographic, family context, and culture variables within the final model.
As has been the case in previous research surrounding culture, several of the results in the bivariate analysis of this project were counterintuitive (Wilson & Rosenberg, 2002). This shows that nuanced and contextual interpretations are critical, and a space is opened with this research to critically consider what exactly is being captured through the survey measures. I argue that the strength of the linkage between a measure and its conceptual basis becomes increasingly tenuous and problematic as the complexity of the circumstance the measure is attempting to capture increases.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-08182011-142446 |
| Date | 02 September 2011 |
| Creators | Hagen, Briana Nisa Melia |
| Contributors | Bilinski, Hope, Pahwa, Punam, Abonyi, Sylvia, Janzen, Bonnie |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-08182011-142446/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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