Date of Award

1-10-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

First Advisor

Cindy Juntunen

Abstract

For generations American Indians struggled with the burden of historical trauma. Despite this trauma, American Indian people have survived and many flourish. With the majority of American Indian research focusing on deficits in this population it is difficult to gain a perspective that positive, strength-based factors may contribute to this cultural survival. The intent of this study is to present evidence for the position that resiliency exists in this population and that the resilience is directly related to acculturation, specifically a bicultural orientation. Further, subjective well-being is impacted by resiliency and biculturalism. Participants from a Northern Plains Ojibwa tribe completed surveys in two locations, the tribal casino and the community college, consisting of three instruments: 1) the Northern Plains Bicultural Inventory-Revised that measures cultural orientation, 2) the Ethnic, Culture, Religion/Spirituality Questionnaire which measures resiliency and is based on Cross' 1995 relational worldview model, and 3) the Satisfaction with Life Scale measuring participants' subjective well-being.A key finding of this study was that culture is a factor in the resilience of this particular sample. Persons identifying as bicultural were more resilient than those identifying with other cultural modes, however, biculturalism did not necessarily impact or predict satisfaction with life. Resiliency did, however, have an impact on participants' subjective well-being whereas those who were resilient were more satisfied with their lives. In conclusion, these findings may help to illuminate the construct of resiliency and the interaction with acculturation in this particular Northern Plains tribe and add to a strength-based focus when conducting research with American Indian populations.

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