" Inside of my home, I was getting a full dose of culture": Exploring the ecology of Indigenous peoples' development through stories.

According to the Indigenist ecological systems model (Fish et al., 2022; Fish & Syed, 2018), Indigenous Peoples' histories and cultures are critical to their development. However, the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples' histories and cultures in their environments is complicated by settler colonialism-a societal structure that seeks to eliminate such important contexts. The exclusion of Indigenous Peoples' histories and cultures in their environments can have adverse effects on psychological functioning (Fryberg & Townsend, 2008; Wexler, 2009). Despite this, Indigenous Peoples continue to access their histories and cultures throughout their development to survive and thrive (Vizenor, 2008). Though the Indigenist ecological systems model offers theoretical insight into the histories and cultures that contour Indigenous Peoples' environments, there are no empirical studies that examine its most basic claims. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring how historical and cultural contexts intersect with the environments that affect Indigenous Peoples' development. Through a QUANT-qual embedded mixed-methods design, our analyses of Indigenous Peoples' digital story narratives (n = 73) suggest that immediate (e.g., parents, peers, school) and distant (e.g., media, government, policies) environments are the most salient to Indigenous Peoples' development. Culture figured into Indigenous Peoples' immediate environments to a moderate extent and distant environments to a prominent extent. History did too, but to a lesser extent. We discuss the implications of these findings for Indigenous well-being and recommendations for creating a more equitable developmental landscape via partnerships with Indigenous Peoples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Conceptualizing Indigenous strengths-based health and wellness research using group concept mapping.

BACKGROUND: In recent years public health research has shifted to more strengths or asset-based approaches to health research but there is little understanding of what this concept means to Indigenous researchers. Therefore our purpose was to define an Indigenous strengths-based approach to health and well-being research. METHODS: Using Group Concept Mapping, Indigenous health researchers (N = 27) participated in three-phases. Phase 1: Participants provided 218 unique responses to the focus prompt "Indigenous Strengths-Based Health and Wellness Research…" Redundancies and irrelevant statements were removed using content analysis, resulting in a final set of 94 statements. Phase 2: Participants sorted statements into groupings and named these groupings. Participants rated each statement based on importance using a 4-point scale. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to create clusters based on how statements were grouped by participants. Phase 3: Two virtual meetings were held to share and invite researchers to collaboratively interpret results. RESULTS: A six-cluster map representing the meaning of Indigenous strengths-based health and wellness research was created. Results of mean rating analysis showed all six clusters were rated on average as moderately important. CONCLUSIONS: The definition of Indigenous strengths-based health research, created through collaboration with leading AI/AN health researchers, centers Indigenous knowledges and cultures while shifting the research narrative from one of illness to one of flourishing and relationality. This framework offers actionable steps to researchers, public health practitioners, funders, and institutions to promote relational, strengths-based research that has the potential to promote Indigenous health and wellness at individual, family, community, and population levels.

Centering Indigenous Knowledges and Worldviews: Applying the Indigenist Ecological Systems Model to Youth Mental Health and Wellness Research and Programs.

Globally, Indigenous communities, leaders, mental health providers, and scholars have called for strengths-based approaches to mental health that align with Indigenous and holistic concepts of health and wellness. We applied the Indigenist Ecological Systems Model to strengths-based case examples of Indigenous youth mental health and wellness work occurring in CANZUS (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and United States). The case examples include research, community-led programs, and national advocacy. Indigenous youth development and well-being occur through strengths-based relationships across interconnected environmental levels. This approach promotes Indigenous youth and communities considering complete ecologies of Indigenous youth to foster their whole health, including mental health. Future research and programming will benefit from understanding and identifying common, strengths-based solutions beyond narrow intervention targets. This approach not only promotes Indigenous youth health and mental health, but ripples out across the entire ecosystem to promote community well-being.

Somali migration to the United States: Understanding adaptation through digital stories.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to further understand the psychological process of migration through an interdisciplinary (psychology, history, and digital humanities) collaboration that examines the experiences of Somali refugees in the United States. METHOD: The sample consisted of 26 Somali American emerging adult and older adult refugees who created digital stories as part of the Immigrant Stories Project (https://immigrantstories.umn.edu/). Stories were analyzed through an examination of narrative structure and content. RESULTS: The structure of the authors' stories was primarily progressive or stable, with very few regressive stories. Although the distribution of these story structures did not differ for emerging adults and older adults, there were important variations in content. Emerging adults' stories reflected a struggle to find self-continuity across time and place, whereas older adults' stories indicated attempts to find meaning and optimally adapt to their current situations. Moreover, none of the stories took on a redemptive structure, a type of story that has been identified as culturally prevalent in U.S. culture but seldom examined across diverse populations. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the varieties of paths toward successful immigration and the importance of taking a collaborative, participatory approach to understanding migration experiences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Digital storytelling methodologies: Recommendations for a participatory approach to engaging underrepresented communities in counseling psychology research.

While counseling psychologists made substantial proposals to advance qualitative research since the special issue on related methods was published 15-years ago (Haverkamp, Morrow, & Ponterotto, 2005), the field continues to demonstrate an overreliance on quantitative methods. Though important for producing knowledge we can depend on, excessive use of these methods poses a barrier for counseling psychologists to address the needs of the communities that are at the core of our discipline's values-those who are marginalized and underserved in society. In alignment with our values of social justice, advocacy, and empowerment, we propose counseling psychologists adopt a methodology within a critical paradigm to better address issues of inequality and inequity when working with underrepresented communities, such as digital storytelling. Rooted in a movement to increase access to art for marginalized communities in the 1970s and 1980s, digital storytelling is an arts-based research methodology that captures first-person narrated accounts of peoples' lives through the use of stories, photos, and videos, and empowers communities to be a part of research to create social change. We provide recommendations for using digital storytelling in counseling psychology research as outlined through 5 phases, including Phase I) digital storytelling's critical paradigm, Phase II) project development, Phase III) implementation, Phase IV) data analysis, and Phase V) dissemination. While doing so, we draw on examples from 2 digital storytelling projects we are familiar with, Immigrant Stories and OrigiNatives, providing a framework for a digital frontier in counseling psychology research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

When the personal is political: Ethnic identity, ally identity, and political engagement among Indigenous people and people of color.

OBJECTIVES: The present mixed-methods study examines allyship as a politicized collective identity and its associations with ethnic identity, personality traits, and sociopolitical engagement among IPPOC. METHOD: Participants in two samples in 2016 (n = 256) and 2017 (n = 305) completed measures of ally identity, ethnic identity, personality traits, and political engagement. RESULTS: Results indicate two factors of ally identity (ally beliefs and behaviors). Quantitative findings suggest a) ethnic identity exploration predicts ally beliefs and behaviors, b) extraversion predicts ally behaviors, while agreeableness and neuroticism predicts ally beliefs, and c) ally beliefs and behaviors predict awareness, while ethnic identity exploration predicts involvement in political action, even when personality traits are considered. Thematic analysis findings suggest IPPOC allies are politically engaged through social media, individual actions, protests, and civic engagement. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic and ally identity provide different paths to sociopolitical awareness and involvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic-racial typicality and its relation to ethnic identity and psychological functioning.

OBJECTIVES: Ethnic identity development is considered a central task of adolescence and emerging adulthood for ethnic minority individuals. Although the process of developing a coherent ethnic identity has received attention from researchers, there has been little work done to elucidate the content of ethnic identity. This study uses an inductive mixed-methods approach to address 1 aspect of ethnic identity content: typicality, or the degree of perceived similarity individuals feel to their ethnic-racial group. METHOD: Participants included 974 college students at 3 universities-66% women, average age 20.4 years, 5% Black, 30% Asian, 10% Latinx, 40% White, 11% Multiracial, 1% American Indian, and 4% Other race-ethnicity. Thematic analysis was used to code qualitative categories on what makes individuals typical of and atypical of their ethnic group. Codes were used to quantitatively assess relations between aspects of typicality, ethnic identity, and mental health. RESULTS: Findings suggest that individuals judged their typicality and atypicality to their ethnic group by focusing on skin color, hair, facial features; values related to family, achievement, and religion-spirituality; and behaviors related to arts-media, sports, spending time with others, and food. Additionally, findings demonstrated that most individuals feel typical of their ethnic group and, of importance, that level of perceived typicality was inversely related to measures of ethnic identity and well-being. Finally, participants differed in their feeling of being typical by ethnic-racial group identifications. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic-racial typicality provides valuable information about ethnic identity content and is related to important mental health outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

"This is the way we were raised": Alcohol beliefs and acculturation in relation to alcohol consumption among Native Americans.

Native Americans have the highest rates of alcohol use in comparison to other ethnic groups, placing them at risk for experiencing alcohol-related problems. The present study examined the beliefs that some Native Americans may have related to alcohol use; specifically, the belief that alcohol is a key component in Native American cultures. To assess these beliefs, we developed the Stereotypical Alcohol Beliefs Scale for Native Americans (SABSNA). The new 20-item measure was administered to 144 individuals who identified as Native American along with a measure of acculturation and other drinking-related measures, including perceived norms, alcohol expectancies, and drinking motives. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the measure is unidimensional in structure and has excellent internal consistency. SABSNA scores were found to be positively associated with typical week drinking, alcohol expectancies, and drinking motives (social, coping, enhancement, and conformity). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that level of acculturation moderated the association between alcohol beliefs and weekly drinking. Native Americans who identified less with mainstream culture demonstrated a positive association between their cultural alcohol beliefs and their weekly drinking. The findings suggest that alcohol beliefs would be an appropriate additional target for interventions for individuals who are not oriented to the mainstream culture.