The relationship between ethnocultural identity measures and youth substance use among a school-based sample: A focus on Native Hawaiian youth.

Abstract

The way in which behavioral health interventions are designed, implemented, and evaluated must be responsive to the ethnocultural characteristics of the targeted youth and their families, schools, and communities. The goal of this article is to examine the relationship between ethnocultural identity measures and substance use among Native Hawaiian compared with non-Hawaiian youth. A crosssectional analysis was conducted from baseline data drawn from an efficacy trial of a culturally grounded drug prevention curriculum, Ho'ouna Pono. The sample (N ϭ 486) included youth from 13 rural, public middle schools who identified as Native Hawaiian, as well as other Pacific Islander, Asian, and other ethnicities. Ethnocultural identity measures used to explore the relationship between 30-day substance use included items from the Hawaiian Culture Scale (Hishinuma et al., 2000) and from Phinney's (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure. Among the total sample, prevalence rates indicated that 11.2% of participants reported having been offered substances, and 9.7% reported having used one or more substances in the past month. For Hawaiian youth relative to the non-Hawaiian group, higher levels of Native Hawaiian ethnocultural independent variables were moderately associated with fewer offers to use substances and less gateway drug use. Mixed results were obtained for the relationship between ethnocultural variables and substance use. The present study found that selected ethnocultural variables were moderately associated with fewer drug offers and lower levels of gateway drug use for Hawaiian versus non-Hawaiian youth. What is the public significance of this article?Results from this cross-sectional analysis indicate that ethnoculture appears to be moderately protective for the Native Hawaiian students and less so for non-Hawaiian students (primarily of Asian and Pacific ancestry). There is a need for more robust measures to reflect ethnocultural connections and cultural continuity with respect to substance use prevention. Given the persistent lack of culturally relevant options in drug prevention for minority youth, such as for Native Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Islander adolescents, it can be argued that public investments must be prioritized if gains are to be made in the development and evaluation of culturally focused prevention interventions.

Eliminating disparities in youth substance use among Native Hawaiian, Micronesian, and sex and gender minorities: A qualitative needs assessment from interviews with public service leaders.

“…Research investigating ethnocultural identity has shown that for NH youth, identity serves as a protective factor against SU (Helm et al, 2019). Recent efficacy trials for the Hoʻouna Pono school-based culturally grounded SU prevention curriculum have shown promising results of preventing SU among NH youth in rural communities (Okamoto et al, 2019).…”

Place matters: Exploring Native Hawaiian youths’ cultural selves, pride, and generativity.

“…In addition, this is primarily an urban sample of Native Hawaiian youth who may qualitatively describe the relationship between place and self very differently from youth living entirely in rural locations. Hawai’i is unique and quite diverse ethnoculturally and there are differences geographically across the islands and within and across groups (Helm et al, 2019). Hence, we cannot generalize to all Native Hawaiians based on our small sample.…”

“…They report that 1.5 million people in the U.S. identified as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and this group represents one of the fastest-growing cultural groups in the U.S.. The term “Native Hawaiians” refer to the indigenous people of Hawai’i, comprising about 25% of the population of the state (Helm et al, 2019).…”

Special issue introduction: Advancing Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander health.

“…Four of the articles in this special issue are specifically focused on the behavioral health of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Two of these articles (Helm, Hishinuma, Okamoto, Chin, & Silva, 2019; Wills, Okamoto, Knight, & Pagano, 2019) are focused on psychosocial risk and protective factors in Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander youth and have implications for informing the development of culturally responsive youth interventions. The other two behavioral health articles in this special issue (Okamoto et al, 2019; Yamada, Vaivao, & Subica, 2019) are focused on the evaluation of culturally responsive interventions for Native Hawaiians and Samoans, respectively.…”

“…The other two behavioral health articles in this special issue (Okamoto et al, 2019;Yamada, Vaivao, & Subica, 2019) are focused on the evaluation of culturally responsive interventions for Native Hawaiians and Samoans, respectively. Helm et al (2019) examined the relationship between selected ethno-cultural identity items from two scales -The Hawaiian Culture Scale (Hishinuma, et al, 2000) and the Multiethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992)-and substance use in rural Native Hawaiian youth. They found a significant inverse relationship between Native Hawaiian identity (primarily measured by Hawaiian language proficiency and maintaining Hawaiian cultural traditions) and the number of offers to use alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs for Native Hawaiian youth.…”