How Child Abuse Effects Native Americans - Risk Factors
As mentioned in our last blog, the month of April is both Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and Child Abuse Prevention Month. In the same blog, we discovered that children within the Native American community often suffer from child abuse and or child neglect at higher rates than other racial groups with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Today, we will go over some of the more common risk factors that currently increase the risk of Native American children to be victimized by child abuse and or neglect.
The United States Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs state that are some of the most common reasons for the high rates of child abuse and child neglect across Indian Country are:
- Geographic or social isolation - As we know, most Native American Reservations across the United States are often in more sparsely populated territories. Though many Native Americans do not live on reservations, the isolated nature of the land for those that do reside on the reservation makes accessing helpful resources such as prevention programs and high paying jobs hard to come by. Therefore, access to parenting support groups, childcare, and generally lower paying jobs can often lead to high stress levels for parents or guardians.
- Stress or dysfunction – As a population, the Native American Community is more likely to experience severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other forms of psychological distress at rates close to double the general population. Therefore, high levels of psychological distress and again a major lack of resources often prevent parents from receiving necessary help which can ultimately lead to abuse and or general neglect of children.
- Alcoholism and drug use – As we know, many cases of abuse are often fueled because of drug and or alcohol abuse. The American Addiction Center estimates that approximately 13% of all Native Americans over the age of 12 have issues with substance abuse or dependence. This is nearly double all other races surveyed.
These reasons coupled with centuries of generational trauma inflected on the Native American community, allow for many factors to lead to high rates of child abuse and neglect among American Indian and Alaska Native people. Next week, we will examine different ways we can prevent further child abuse within Native American communities across the country.
References:
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/child-sexual-abuse-native-american-communities
https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2018/11/native-american-trauma
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics