Historical Trauma among Urban American Indians: Impact on Substance Abuse and Family Cohesion
Abstract
Historical trauma theory suggests that many American Indians are still affected by the cultural losses and injustices endured by previous generations. The current study examines historical trauma in an urban American Indian sample using validated measures of historical loss and associated symptoms (N = 120). Urban American Indians reported high degrees of historical trauma compared to reservation samples in past research. Generalized linear models showed that historical trauma symptoms were significantly associated with past month alcohol use, lifetime use of non-marijuana illicit drugs, and lower family cohesion. However, frequent thoughts about historical losses were positively associated with family cohesion. Implications are discussed.
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Many studies reported significant associations between higher levels of reported historical trauma experience and adverse health outcomes; several studies linked historical trauma to increased substance use.
“Many studies reported significant associations between higher levels of reported historical trauma experience and adverse health outcomes; specifically, several studies linked historical trauma to increased substance use [26,27,28,29].”
From Substance and Behavioral Addictions among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
Historical trauma is directly linked to poor health outcomes and increased substance use.
“Previous research has established historical trauma as directly linked to poor health outcomes and increased substance use [20,21,22,26,27,28,29,99].”
From Substance and Behavioral Addictions among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
AIANs resorted to substance use and other behavioral addictions to cope with multiple, chronic, and acute stressors related to discrimination, cultural and material losses, genocide, and knowledge of deliberate efforts to erase the culture.
“Potentially as a direct result, or through indirect associations, AIANs resorted to substance use and other behavioral addictions to cope with the multiple, chronic, and acute stressors related to discrimination, cultural and material losses, genocide, and knowledge of the deliberate efforts to erase the culture [26,27,28,29,99].”
From Substance and Behavioral Addictions among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations (2022) · cites this paper as [29]
Cites
International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma
(1998) · doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-5567-1 · Cited by 957 · see citing works
Heart, M. Y. H. B. (2003) · Journal of Psychoactive Drugs · doi:10.1080/02791072.2003.10399988 · Cited by 932 · see citing works
Conceptualizing and measuring historical trauma among American Indian people
Whitbeck, L. B., Adams, G. W., Hoyt, D. R., & Chen, X. (2004) · American Journal of Community Psychology · doi:10.1023/b:ajcp.0000027000.77357.31 · Cited by 751 · see citing works
Heart, M. Y. H. B. (1999) · Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment · doi:10.1300/j137v02n01_08 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
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Gone, J. P., Hartmann, W. E., Pomerville, A., Wendt, D. C., Klem, S. H., & Burrage, R. L. (2019) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/amp0000338 · Cited by 388 · see citing works
Substance and Behavioral Addictions among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations
Soto, C., West, A. E., Ramos, G. G., & Unger, J. B. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19052974 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wiechelt, S. A., Gryczynski, J., Johnson, J. L., & Caldwell, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County (US)
- Friends Research Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wiechelt, Shelly A.
- Venue
- Journal of Loss and Trauma
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-07
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 319-336
- ISSN
- 1532-5024 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-5032
- OpenAlex
- W2059742816
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 2.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Loss and Trauma (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
- Keywords
- historical trauma, urban American Indians, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, family cohesion, historical loss, cultural loss, Native American mental health
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