Findings from a Mixed Methods Study of Social Networks Among American Indian Adolescents

Background: Social relations and multigenerational networks remain a salient fixture of American Indian (AI) culture, survival, and thriving. Research in other populations has demonstrated how social networks impact youth risk and resilience, but data are lacking among AI adolescents. Settler colonialism’s historical and contemporary impacts lead some AI youth to early initiation of substance use, along with high risk for suicide and witnessing and experiencing violence. Aims of this study were to describe peer, kin and community social networks and associations with risk and protection for substance use, violence, and suicide among adolescents in a reservation community. This presentation will describe the development and implementation of this innovative mixed-methods study. Development of the social network survey and its mixed methods design will be described and findings from the study will be shared.

Methods: Social network surveys were completed by 9th and 10th graders (N = 263) at three high schools on a Northern Plains reservation. Social network measures were adapted for reservation-based AI youth. Following an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, qualitative interviews were conducted with a subsample of participants (n = 16) to interpret findings from their individual and school networks. Participants for the qualitative interviews were randomly selected after stratifying by gender and risk levels for substance use, violence, and suicidality.

Results: Cross-sectional findings support the hypotheses that the social networks of AI youth may not conform to prevailing social network theories. Dominant theories suggest network formation and maintenance tied to racial homophily, but in our study 93% of networks were Native and tie formation was not significantly related to race. Youth nominated more family members than what has been found among non-Native adolescents. Students demonstrated similar in-degree centrality, a measure of how many times an individual was nominated by someone in their school network. And school networks varied by size and density. We also observed associations between students’ social networks and substance use, suicide ideation, and exposure to violence.

Implications: Variation in networks across schools suggests unique community contexts that may make a universal approach to prevention development and implementation less effective. Findings also suggest that ways of defining family relations varied across students. This has implications for future measurement of family networks with this population. And finally, similar in-degree within networks suggests that prevailing key opinion leader social network interventions may not work in this population. Adaptations to social network interventions offer a promising new approach to prevention with AI communities. This work aligns with the conference theme by aligning innovations in social network science and mixed methods with transformative changes in prevention efforts with Indigenous communities.