Applying an Indigenous Connectedness Framework to Examine Environmental Risk and Protective Factors for Urban American Indian Children's Executive Function Development.

Indigenous frameworks suggest environmental risk and protective factors for American Indian (AI) children's development can be understood in terms of connecting and disconnecting forces in five domains: spirituality, family, intergenerational ties, community, and environment/land. This study examined the prevalence of these forces among 156 urban AI parents and their children (mean age = 10.69, = 1.

To heal, grow, and thrive: Engaging Indigenous paradigms and perspectives in developmental science.

A focus on positive child development among Indigenous children has largely been absent from developmental science. In this special section of Child Development, we sought to address continuing inequity in representation and valuing Indigenous knowledge and voices by soliciting articles that identified cultural and strengths-based factors Indigenous children, youth, and families cultivate and leverage to promote positive development. In this introduction to the special section, we provide an overview of the four empirical articles included, with attention to the ways these articles advance Indigenous paradigms and methodologies by focusing on the unique histories and strengths of four distinct Indigenous communities.

Strong cultural connectedness buffers urban American Indian children from the negative effects of stress on mental health.

We explored whether urban American Indian (AI) caregivers who maintained a strong sense of cultural connectedness buffered their children from the negative effects of stress on mental health. A community sample of 161 urban AI children (91 girls) ages 8-15 years (M = 11.20 years) and their primary caregivers participated between 2016 and 2017.

Corrigendum: Nurturing resilience in American Indian/Alaska Native preschool children: the role of cultural socialization, executive function, and neighborhood risk.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.

Nurturing resilience in American Indian/Alaska Native preschool children: the role of cultural socialization, executive function, and neighborhood risk.

Introduction: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children possess numerous cultural assets, yet higher exposures to neighborhood risks (e.g., lack of housing, crime) may present barriers to healthy cognitive development, including executive function (EF).

Chronic stress predicts post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms via executive function deficits among urban American Indian children.

Little is known about how chronic exposure to stress affects mental health among American Indian (AI) children. The current study aimed to fill this gap by exploring if hair cortisol concentration (HCC), an indicator of chronic stress, predicted post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms through deficits in executive function (EF) skills commonly referred to as inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. A total of 163 urban AI children between 8- and 15-years old participated in the study (92 girls, 56.

Parenting in 2 worlds: Effects of a culturally grounded parenting intervention for urban American Indians on participant cultural engagement.

Background: Culturally appropriate, evidence-based prevention programs are seldom available to the growing majority of American Indians (AIs) who now live in cities. Parenting in 2 Worlds (P2W), a culturally grounded parenting intervention, was created to strengthen family functioning and reduce behavioral health risks in urban AI families from diverse tribal backgrounds.

Objectives: This study reports on the AI cultural engagement of the P2W participants as an outcome of the intervention.

ASSESSING PARENTING AND FAMILY FUNCTIONING MEASURES FOR URBAN AMERICAN INDIANS.

Urban American Indian (AI) families often "live in two worlds," and widely used parenting measures may not adequately capture their parenting styles. Drawing from baseline surveys of AI parents living in 3 urban communities in Arizona (n = 606), this study examines the applicability of using 6 previously validated measures with urban AI parents: parent self-agency, parental supervision, positive parenting practices, discipline, family cohesion, and parent-adolescent conflict. A 4-step factor analytic sequential procedure was employed, and results indicate the only measure remaining as a single factor is discipline.

Involvement in traditional cultural practices and American Indian children's incidental recall of a folktale.

This study examined incidental recall of a folktale told to 91 Tohono O'odham American Indian children (average age 9 years) who either were directly addressed or had the opportunity to overhear the telling of the folktale. Learning from surrounding incidental events contrasts with learning through direct instruction common in Western schooling, which was familiar to all the children and their families. We hypothesized that Tohono O'odham children who have greater cultural engagement in traditional Tohono O'odham practices (Tohono O'odham language, activities, and storytelling) would have greater incidental recall of the story, especially in the overhearing condition, due to the emphasis on learning through listening to others in this community.

An exploratory analysis of American Indian children's cultural engagement, fluid cognitive skills, and standardized verbal IQ scores.

This exploratory cross-sectional study examined fluid cognitive skills and standardized verbal IQ scores in relation to cultural engagement amongst Tohono O'odham children (N = 99; ages 7 to 12 years). Guardians with higher socioeconomic status engaged their children in more cultural activities, and participation in more cultural activities contributed to higher standardized verbal IQ scores. Mean cognitive skill scores varied as a function of age and Tohono O'odham language knowledge.

The influence of a friend's perspective on American Indian children's recall of previously misconstrued events.

The ability of American Indian children (N = 99; 7-12 years of age) to reframe a memory of a friend's seemingly mean-spirited actions (Story 1) after hearing the friend's perspective detailing her/his good intentions (Story 2) was explored. Children in a control group heard an unrelated Story 2 and did not alter their retelling of Story 1. Good verbal skills facilitated the integration of the friend's perspective in memory for the children who heard the friend's explanation.

Exploring maternal social perceptions and child aggression among urban American Indians.

Currently, the majority of American Indian families live in urban areas. A number of statistics demonstrate that urban American Indian families deal with a variety of stressors such as poverty and isolation. However, very little is known about how these families perceive their lives.

The influence of another's perspective on children's recall of previously misconstrued events.

Children's abilities to reframe their memories of events after hearing another child's perspective of the same events were examined, and links between memory reframing, cognitive ability, and social competence were explored. Nine- to 11-year-olds (N = 79) were told to imagine that the events in a narrated story happened to them. Next, they heard another story that described either the same events (experimental condition) or unrelated events (control condition) from another child's perspective.