Work

Profiles of Ecosystemic Resilience and Risk: American Indian Adolescent Substance Use during the First Year of the COVID-19 Crisis

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented disruption to the lives of American Indian (AI) adolescents. While reservation-area AI youth already have a higher risk of substance use (SU) compared to their non-AI peers, COVID-19 stressors likely exacerbated this risk. However, COVID-19-specific and general resilience factors may have buffered against increased SU over the course of the pandemic. Using a person-centered, ecosystemic framework of resilience, we used latent profile analysis to identify ecosystemic resilience profiles indicated by general and COVID-19-specific risk and resilience factors, then examined inter-profile changes in alcohol and cannabis use after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic from the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021. The sample was 2218 reservation-area AI adolescents (7–12th grade; schools = 20; Mage = 15, SD = 1.7; 52% female). Four profiles emerged: Average Risk and Resilience, High Resilience, Low Resilience, and High Risk. Adolescents with a High-Risk profile demonstrated increases in alcohol and cannabis use, while High Resilience youth demonstrated decreases. These findings support the hypothesized COVID-19-specific ecosystemic resilience profiles and the application of a person-centered ecosystemic framework to identify which AI adolescents are most likely to experience substance use changes during a life-altering crisis like COVID-19.

Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191811228

Authors: Meghan A. Crabtree, Linda R. Stanley, Randall C. Swaim, Mark A. Prince

Institution: Colorado State University

Language: English

Topic: Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights

Subfield: Health

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,618