Original articleReduced Ratings of Physical and Relational Aggression for Youths With a Strong Cultural Identity: Evidence From the Naskapi People
Section snippets
Participants
The data of 65 students of the approximately 80 students enrolled in grades between 6 and 11 in the Jimmy Sandy Memorial School in Kawawachikamach, Québec, were initially analyzed. The data from the other students were excluded because those students did not attend school for a sufficient number of days to complete the requisite questionnaires. Three of the 65 students identified both their parents as white and their data were also excluded from the study. Accordingly, the data of the 62 (36
Correlations
The correlations among cultural identity (M = 40.09, SD = 5.28), physical aggression (M = 7.37, SD = 9.53), and relational aggression (M = 13.68, SD = 11.24), and the factors associated with them, including gender (1 = male, 2 = female), age, prosocial skills, peer social skills, externalizing (acting out in class), and internalizing behaviors (depression and anxiety) are presented in Table 1.
Two-tailed Pearson Product Moment Correlations were performed. Cultural identity was negatively related
Discussion
The increased statistical risk for acts of aggression among many groups of minority youths in North America suggest that tension between one's ancestral culture and the majority culture may be related to the development of aggressive behavior [6]. This may be particularly exacerbated among Aboriginal students who both display and are victims of aggressive behaviors at rates considerably higher than those of other minority groups in the United States [3]. To begin the process of understanding
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the students, teachers, and administrators of the Jimmy Sandy Memorial School for their participation in this study. They thank the members of the Naskapi Band Council and elders for their continued support of this program of research. They thank Drs Cheryl Klaiman, Beth Randolph, and Catherine Zygmuntowicz for their roles in the data collection, and Ruby Sandy for her assistance in the development of the study. This study was funded by the Central Quebec School Board and the
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