Correlates of physical and emotional health among native American adolescents

Purpose: To examine the risk and protective factors among Native American y outh that are correlated with both physical and emotional health. Methods: The study was based upon the National American Indian Adolescent H ealth Survey (n = 13,454), conducted using students self-categorized into a ranked variable of physical health ("poor," "fair," "good," or "excellent" ) and a continuous variable of emotional health based upon a nine-item unid imensional scale (overall Cronbach's alpha of .74). Twenty-nine variables d erived from resilience theory encompassing both risk and protective factors were selected. Associations with physical and emotional health were examin ed using linear regression analysis. Results: Identified protective factors explained approximately 30% of varia nce for emotional health, with family caring explaining nearly 15% of varia nce for both genders. The most significant associations for emotional healt h for females were family caring, body pride, feelings about school, and wo rries or concerns particularly about violence. For males, most significant protective factors included family caring, body pride, parental expectation s, and type of sexual attraction. For physical health, the identified varia bles explained only 16% of variance for both genders. Body pride was the mo st significant association, explaining 10% of variance. Conclusions: Connection to family remains a consistently powerful factor in the lives of these youth. Ether associations including body pride and pare ntal expectations may help in the exploration and buffering of emotional he alth among American Indian youth. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1998 .