Ruey-Lin Lin, Eastern Montana College

ADOLESCENCE is a period when boys and girls begin to free themselves from earlier parental attachment and to develop their own sense of competence and independence. In contrast to the relatively protected status which they enjoyed from the family where prescribed behavioral norms prevailed, the emerging perception of their own achieved status is marked by ambiguity and confusion. On the one hand they begin to experience their personal intellectual creativity and behavioral freedom and to perceive their own accomplishments. On the other, they are in many respects limited socially and financially by boundaries superimposed on them by their families as well as by their immediate social surroundings. This state of limitations must be particularly troublesome and painful for youths from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. It is for this particular group of youths that the discrepancies between the emerging concept of the self and the perceived externally superimposed limitations, especially financial constraints, are the greatest.

Growing up Indian in White America entails learning legends about historical atrocities committed by whites against Indians as well as personally experiencing white prejudice and discrimination in daily encounters (Allen, 1973; Hammerschlag, et al., 1973). Thus, in addition to confronting limitations imposed by family financial problems like any other group of socially disadvantaged youths, Native American youths have to shoulder additional burdens in their struggle with and attempts at reconciliation between their heartfelt historical resentment and hostility and the deeply entrenched negative cultural stereotyping of their heritage by White society. In his discussion on the psychosocial tasks of the Plains Indian adolescent, Allen characterizes the situation,

Though the entity of boarding schools is a thing of the past, the experience so described by Allen seems to remain very relevant to the life of adolescent Indians today.

The purpose of this study is to explore the psychosocial characteristics of Indian girls on the reservation. Even though relatively little attention has been paid to this particular subject, the fact that today’s adolescent girls will be tomorrow’s mothers who are to be responsible for another new generation of Indian children underscores the importance of understanding these girls’ inner profiles.

Downs (1972) has it that women are more conservative than men and are more content to accept traditional role expectations. In his efforts to explain the conservatism as well as the contentment of Navajo women, Downs reasons that it was because the Navajo women realized the impossibility of reaching their goals. He concludes that,

It is one thing to say that reservation life makes it very unlikely and almost impossible for Indian women to fulfill their "aspirations," it is another to infer from that fact that they thereby are content and without feelings of pain and anguish. In his study of the impact of economic and cultural changes on the Navajo women in Ramah, Blanchard discovers that Navajo women are more likely than Navajo men to use "novel ideological alternatives" (in this particular instance, joining one of the Protestant missions) as a way to compensate for the changes in sex roles (Blanchard, 1975). The study indicates clearly that the impact and consequences of social change introduced through schooling processes or by contact with the wider society outside the reservation are complex. Unlike an electrical current that one can turn on and off instantaneously without leaving any electrical residue, an idea after being introduced carries with it short- and long-term effects. The psychosocial characteristics of adolescent Indian girls are therefore an important and interesting empirical question.

Since the social reality which Indian girls confront is in one aspect identical with Indian boys in terms of racial and reservation background and in another identical with White girls in terms of gender background, comparisons between Indian girls and Indian boys and between Indian girls and White girls should provide a fair profile of the psychosocial characteristics of Indian girls. The central hypothesis of the study is that in comparison with either Indian boys on the reservation or with White girls in general, the psychosocial characteristics of Indian girls on the reservation show the greater amount of frustration. Specifically, it is hypothesized that the pain and frustration Indian girls experience stem from difficulties with authority figures at home and at school. At home, Indian girls feel a gap between themselves and their parents. More than Indian boys and White girls, Indian girls would be expected to have problems in being able (a) to share feelings with parents; (b) to accept the notion that their parents treated them fairly; (c) to want to emulate their parents. In school, Indian girls would be more likely to be isolated and also have problems in being able (a) to perceive the importance of education; (b) to perceive teachers as being fair and helpful. The difficulties they experienced, both at home and in school, contribute to create a negative perception of the world in terms of (a) a lack of feeling for the fundamental human relationship of trust; (b) a feeling of helplessness; (c) a feeling that violence is a solution to many problems; (d) a feeling of wanting revenge; and (e) a feeling of wanting to commit suicide.

For the purpose of this investigation, this study analyzes data collected during the first two weeks of April, 1984, from nine high schools within a one hundred mile radius of the city of Billings, Montana, for a delinquency research project. The survey returns were collected from a nonstratified random sample consisting primarily of 17 (30.1%), 16 (28.1%), 18 (19.0%) and 15 (17.25%) year-old high school students. Three senior students majoring in Sociology administered the questionnaire mainly to classes in History and Social Studies. In order to avoid any possible "contamination" or "leveling" effect on the experience of Indians living on the reservation and in the city, the comparison will be made between Native American students in schools located within or closely bordering the reservation and white students from schools outside the reservation. Among the nine schools, one school is located in, and another borders on, the Crow Indian reservation. Students in these two schools are grouped together as being on the reservation. Of the total 1,063 returns, there were 117 Native American students on the reservation, and 705 white students outside the reservation. Of the 117 Native American students, 64 were male, 53 were female. Of the 705 white students outside the reservation, 354 were male, 351 were female.

To operationalize the study, 21 questions in the original questionnaire were drawn to construct nine family variables, three school variables, and five world-view variables. Among the nine family variables, relationships between youth and parents are measured by over-all feelings to father (FFATHER), over-all feelings to mother (FMOTHER), the extent to which the youth is willing to share his/her feelings and thought with parents (FSHARED), the extent the youth feels that his/her parents are fair and honest (PAFAIR), and wants to emulate his/her father (EFATHER) and mother (EMOTHER). In addition, the extent to which the youth feels he/she has been sexually (XABUSED), physically (PABUSED), or emotionally (EABUSED) abused are also used as indicators of family relationships. Experiences at school are measured by the number of trusting friends the youth has and the extent to which he/she wants to emulate his/her friends (GFRIENDS), the over-all perception on the importance of education (EDIMPORT), and the extent the youth feels that his/her teachers are fair and helpful (FTEACHER). The youth’s perception of the world is measured by the degree of fundamental trust in human relationship (TRUST) the youth has, the extent of helplessness the youth feels (HELP), the extent to which the youth sees violence as an acceptable solution to problems (VIOLENCE), the degree of hostility and revenge he/she feels (REVENGE), and his/her suicidal tendency (SUICIDE).

Table 1 reports the mean scores of the variables studied for Indian girls, Indian boys, white girls, and the three groups as a whole. Two observations can be made of the scores when we compare Indian girls with the three groups as whole: on the one hand, with the exception of sexual abuse, the mean score of the Indian girls are all lower than the grand mean scores of the group a whole indicating that Indian girls were among the worst off and troubled in terms of family and school relationships, and self perception of the world There was a greater "emotional" distance between Indian girls and their parents. For instance, the mean scores for the over-all feelings to father (FFATHER) and to mother (FMOTHER) for Indian girls are 3.38 and 4.04 respectively in contrast to the grand mean scores of 3.75 and 4.09. The mean score for peer relations (GFRIENDS) for the Indian girls is 5.75 in contrast to 6.48 for the group indicating that Indian girls were more isolated in school. Furthermore, the mean scores for TRUST and HELP for the Indian girls are 2.87 and 3.06 respectively in contrast to 3.46 and 3.56 for the group as a whole. This also shows that the Indian girls had a greater negative view of the world than the two other groups. On the other hand, standard deviation scores in 11 of the 17 variables are greater for Indian girls than the group as a whole. This greater variation indicates that individual variations within groups were greater for the Indian girls than for the Indian boys or the White girls. In other words, individually, the Indian girls showed more differences from each other than from individuals in the two other groups.

TABLE 1
Mean Scores of the Variables Studied for Indian Girls
53 - 51), Indian Boys (64 - 60), and White Girls (351 - 345)

In order to ascertain that the differences in data between Indian girls and the two other groups are not due to random error, T-tests were run. Table 2 reports the results of the t-tests between Indian girls and Indian boys on the reservation and between reservation Indian girls and white girls outside the reservation. T values reported in this study were all generated from separated variance estimates. Since our interest is only in discovering the troublesome aspects of the experiences that Indian girls encountered, one-tailed probability was used. As can be seen from the Table, 10 of the 17 variables have the probability of less than .05 that the differences between Indian girls and each of the two other groups were due to random error.

More specifically, comparing mean scores reported on Table 1 for the 10 variables that met T-test probability specification, we can confidently say that in contrast to Indian boys, the Indian girls felt "distant" from their fathers as shown from the mean scores of 3.38 (FFATHER) for the girls to 3.94 for the boys. Scores for FSHARED (2.89 vs 3.42) and PAFAIR (3.60 vs 4.29) also shows they were less likely than the boys to share their feelings with their parents and less likely to feel they were treated fairly by their parents. They were less likely to want to emulate either their father (EFATHER, 2.66 vs 3.56) or mother (EMOTHER, 3.32 vs 3.64). Most importantly, they were more likely to feel "emotionally" abused (EABUSED: 2.10 vs 1.45). At school, the most noticeable difference was that Indian girls were more likely than Indian boys to have a positive perception of their teachers (FFEACHER, 6.98 vs 6.13). Their over-all perception of the world, in contrast to Indian boys, shows they were less trustful of other people (TRUST, 2.87 vs 3.16).

TABLE 2
T-test between Indian Girls and Indian Boys, between Indian Girls and White Girls

In contrast to the White girls, the family relationships of the Indian girls and their parents were more turbulent. The Indian girls were less likely to feel an attachment to their fathers (FFATHER, 3.38 vs 3.78). They were less likely to be willing to share their feelings and thoughts with their parents (FSHARED, 2.89 vs 3.42) and more likely to feel that they were not treated fairly (PAFAIR, 3.60 vs 3.95). Surprisingly, the Indian girls were more likely than White girls to want to emulate their mothers (EMOTHER, 3.32 vs 3.04). At school, the Indian girls were more likely to be isolated (GFRIENDS, 5.57 vs 6.65) and less likely to give as much importance to education as the White girls (EDIMPORT, 10.1 vs 11.01). In terms of worldview, the Indian girls were more likely to be distrustful of people (TRUST, 2.87 vs 3.61), and to feel at a loss for help when help is needed (HELP, 3.06 vs 3.77). They were more likely than White girls to accept violence as the solution for their problems (VIOLENCE, 2.48 vs 1.66). At the same time, the Indian girls were also more likely to turn their hostility inward toward committing suicide (SUICIDE, 2.45 vs 1.81).

When we look at Table 2 across the column, we see that statistically the Indian girls are significantly different from both Indian boys and White girls for 6 of the 17 variables. The Indian girls were less likely to feel an attachment to their fathers, less able to share their feelings with parents, and more mistreated. In addition, they were also less likely than either Indian boys or White girls to trust people and to have a greater tendency toward suicide. Interestingly, the Indian girls were less likely than Indian boys and yet more likely than White girls to want to emulate their mothers.

TABLE 3a
Zero-order Correlation Coefficients Matrix
(Indian Girls: N = 47 - 53)

In order to gain further insight into the psychosocial characteristics of the Indian girls, a zero-order correlation analysis was run. As can be seen from the correlation coefficients reported on Table 3a and 3b, the over-all feelings of attachment to father (FFATHER) is positively related to whether or not an Indian girl was able to share her feelings and thoughts with her father (FSHARED, .322), whether or not she wanted to emulate him (EFATHER, .47), the extent she was able to trust people (TRUST, .345), and the extent she felt able to count on others for help when help was needed (HELP, .257). This is to say that the more an Indian girl felt attached to her father, the more she was able to share her feelings and thoughts with her father, to want to emulate him, to trust people, and to feel that help was available when needed. Conversely, the less she felt attached to her father, the more she felt sexually abused (XABUSED, -.324), accepted violence as an alternative for solving problems (VIOLENCE, - . 269), and felt a desire to commit suicide (SUICIDE, -.312). In contrast, the more an Indian girl felt attached to her mother (FMOTHER), the more she felt willing to share her feelings and thoughts with her mother (FSHARED, .46), she was being treated fairly (PAFAIR, .529), and a desire to emulate her mother (EMOTHER, .369). Furthermore, the more an Indian girl was able to share her feelings and thoughts with her parents (FSHARED), the more she felt treated fairly (PAFAIR, .586), a desire to emulate her father (EFATHER, .432) and to trust people (TRUST, .267). Conversely, the less an Indian girl was able to share her feelings and thoughts with her parents, the more she felt physically (PABUSED, -.301) or emotionally abused (EABUSED, -.269), and a desire to commit suicide (SUICIDE, -.321). In addition, the more an Indian girl felt she was treated fairly (PAFAIR), the more she felt the importance of education (EDIMPORT, .359). Conversely, the less an Indian girl felt she was treated fairly, the more she felt emotionally abused (EABUSED, -.252). The more she felt emotionally abused, the greater the suicidal tendency (SUICIDE, .408). Suicidal tendency is also negatively related to whether or not she was able to get help when needed (HELP, -.426).

TABLE 3b
Zero-order Correlation Coefficients Matrix
(Indian Girls: N = 47 - 53)

As a part of the American cultural myth, growing up in America means equality for exploring and developing to the fullest one’s potential in this land of unlimited opportunity. Every single individual regardless of gender or race, is entitled to pursue his or her dreams. And as long as he or she is willing to sacrifice and work hard, so says the myth, he or she is destined to fulfill those dreams. Alas, it takes little time for the many disadvantaged youths to experience and discover the discrepancies between cultural myth and social reality. Differences in social and economic status are painfully real. Opportunities for success are hidden and often discriminatory. Bias in gender role differentiation is deeply entrenched at home and everywhere else. When confronted with unmitigated brutal social reality, many youths find the great American dream has turned into personal nightmares.

Findings reported in this study reveal an untold anguish of a number of Indian girls growing up in America. Contrary to the conventional assumption of a close-knit intimate family, the relationship between a number of Indian girls and their parents, particularly with father, may be distant. Although they have a more positive perception of the importance of education and their attitudes toward teachers are more favorable when compared with that of Indian boys, the perceptions and attitudes of Indian girls may be more negative when compared with that of White girls. Particularly, they may be less social, being isolated at school. They may have a pessimistic outlook on the world in that they are less likely to trust people and are more likely to want to commit suicide.

The growing up pains the Indian girl experiences seem to be rooted in her relationship with her father. As discussed in the previous section, overall feelings of attachment to mother are only positively related to sharing feelings with parents, feelings of parental fairness and the extent she wanted to emulate her mother and are not significantly related negatively to other variables. In contrast, over-all feelings of attachment to father are not only positively related to sharing feelings with parents, and the extent she wanted to emulate her father, but are also positively related to the sense of trust and the certainty of help. Most importantly, it is negatively related to her seeing violence as an acceptable solution for personal problems and to the desire for suicide. As over-all feelings of attachments are negatively related to her feeling of being sexually abused, the problem of sexual abuse should not be overstated. Instead, the main difficulties the Indian girls encountered with their fathers seemed to rest with their feelings of being "emotionally" abused. This can be seen from the findings that among the three groups, Indian girls had the lowest mean sources and standard deviation in having feelings of being sexually abused (XABUSED, 1.08, 1.13, 1.14 for Indian girls, Indian boys, and White girls, respectively) (see Table 1). Conversely, the scores for feelings of being physically abused (PABUSED, 1.31, 1.26, 1.16, for the three groups respectively) and of being emotionally abused (EABUSED, 2. 10, 1.45, 1.66, for the three groups respectively) are higher among Indian girls, particularly emotional abuse.

Available data in this study did not provide information for the interpretation of what the Indian girls meant by being "emotionally" abused. It may be that the problem lay with the discrepancy between the dominant cultural myth of equality that was taught in school and the social reality of traditional gender role expectation at home. At school, they were taught to believe in themselves, to dream the highest possible dreams and to capture the world. And yet, at home they were constantly pushed back into their "proper" roles and reminded of how a "good" girl should behave and should be. In contrast to the restrictions and limitations placed on them by their parents, they saw the freedom and possibilities their brothers enjoyed. In addition, the social reality of reservation life sank in slowly but surely. A beautiful dream became a nightmare and a source of torment. Her traditional father may be a source of that conflict.

The racial characteristics of one’s background makes it impossible to be socially assimilated even after total acculturation (Parrillo, 1980; Hughes, 1949). The marginality of racial minority remains forever (McFee, 1972). If this is the case, growing up Indian, or any racial minority, in White America requires a careful definition of equality, possibility, and limitation in school as well as at home.

Because of the traditional submissive roles expected of them, the growing up experiences of Indian girls in general have been ignored. The investigation undertaken in this study reveals a profile of Indian girls with significant and unique problems. Steps need to be taken to educate Indian parents, particularly fathers, regarding the necessity of understanding the hardships their daughters endure and the confusion they confront. Most importantly, it is necessary for parents to understand that their daughters have a keen sense of fairness with regard to how they are treated compared with their brothers and that an intimate family relationship requires "active cultivation" rather than simple expectation on the part of traditional family role relationships.

Allen, James R. (1973). The Indian adolescent: Psychosocial tasks of the plains Indian of western Oklahoma. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 4(3), 368-375.

Blanchard, Kendall. (1975). Changing sex roles and protestantism among the Navajo women in Ramah. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14, 43-50.

Downs, James F. (1972). The cowboy and the lady: Models as a determinant of the rate of acculturation among the Pinon Navajo. In Howard M. Bahr, et al., op cit., pp. 275-291.

Hammerschlag, Carl A, Clayton P. Alderfer, & David Berg. (1973). Indian education: A human systems analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 130 (10), 1098-1102.

Hughes, Everett C. (1949). Social change and status protest: An essay on the marginal man. Phylon, 10, 58-65.

McFee, Malcolm. (1972). The 150% man, a product of Blackfeet acculturation. American Anthropologist, 70 (6) (1968). Reprinted in Howard M. Bahr, et al., op cit., pp. 303-312.

Metcalf, Ann. (1976). From Schoolgirl to mother: The effects of education on Navajo women. Social Problems, 25 (5), 535-544.

Parrillo, Vincent N. (1980). Strangers To These Shores: Race and Ethnic Relations in the United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

5. Strongly attached, 4. Are close, 3. Get along, 2. Dislike each other, 1. Strongly dislike each other

FMOTHER: Please indicate by number the overall feeling you have toward your mother:

5. Strongly attached, 4. Are close, 3. Get along, 2. Dislike each other, 1. Strongly dislike each other

FSHARED: I believe I can share my feelings and thoughts with my parents:

5. Always, 4. Most times, 3. Sometimes, 2. Rarely, 1. Never

PAFAIR: My parents are fair and honest

5. Always, 4. Most times, 3. Sometimes, 2. Rarely, 1. Never

EFATHER: Please indicate by number the extent you like to be the kind of person your father is:

5. In every way, 4. In most ways, 3. In some ways, 2. In just a few ways, 1. Not at all

EMOTHER: Please indicate by number the extent you like to be the kind of person your mother is:

5. In every way, 4. In most ways, 3. In some ways, 2. In just a few ways, 1. Not at all

XABUSED: I feel that I have been sexually abused:

5. Yes, 1. No

PABUSED: I feel that I have been physically abused:

5. Yes, 1. No

EABUSED: I feel that I have been emotionally abused:

5. Yes, 1. No

GFRIEND: Would you like to be the kind of person your best friends are?

5. In every way, 4. In most ways, 3. In some ways, 2. In just a few ways, 1. Not at all

How many of your friends do you trust and have warm feelings for?

5. Four or more, 4. Three, 3. Two, 2. One, 1. None

EDIMPORT: I believe a good education is essential for my future:

(Strongly Disagree) __1 __2 __3 __4 __5 (Strongly Agree)

I think school courses are interesting:

5. All of them, 4. Most, 3. Some, 2. Few, 1. Don’t care

FTEACHER: Do you care what teachers think of you?

(Very Little) ) __1 __2 __3 __4 __5 (A Great Deal)

I believe teachers try to be fair and helpful to students:

(Strongly Disagree) __1 __2 __3 __4 __5 (Strongly Agree)

TRUST: In general, I trust people:

5. Always, 4. Most times, 3. Sometimes, 2. Rarely, 1. Never

HELP: When I have a problem, I feel for sure I can count on someone for help:

5. Always, 4. Most times, 3. Sometimes, 2. Rarely, 1. Never

VIOLENCE: Violence is an acceptable solution to many problems:

(Strongly Disagree) __1 __2 __3 __4 __5 (Strongly Agree)

REVENGE: Do you ever feel the world owes you and that you want revenge?

5. Always, 4. Most times, 3. Sometimes, 2. Rarely, 1. Never

SUICIDE: Do you ever feel so hopeless and helpless that you want to commit suicide?

5. Always, 4. Most times, 3. Sometimes, 2. Rarely, 1. Never