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Heterogeneity in Risk and Protection Among Alaska Native/American Indian and Non-Native Children

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Abstract

Currently, little is known about patterns of co-occurring risk and protective factors among young children. Understanding variations in co-occurring risk and protective factors among children in Alaska is important as experiences of collective trauma may contribute to differences in the intersection of risk and protective factors between Alaska Native/American Indian (AN/AI) and non-Native children. Using data from the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage (ALCANLink) project, a linkage of the 2009–2011 Alaska Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey and administrative data sources, and the 2012–2014 Childhood Understanding Behaviors Survey, we conducted latent class analysis to identify classes of AN/AI (N = 593) and non-Native (N = 1018) children in terms of seven risk factors (poverty, maternal depression, maternal binge drinking, parental incarceration, intimate partner violence exposure, other violence exposure, child maltreatment) and four protective factors (father figure involvement, reading by adults, family meals, peer interactions) experienced prior to age 3 years. We identified two classes among AN/AI children: (1) high risk-moderate protection (29.1%) and (2) low socioeconomic status-high protection (70.9%). We identified two classes among non-Native children: (1) moderate risk-high protection (32.9%) and (2) low risk-high protection (67.1%). A test of invariance revealed that risk and protective factor probabilities differed significantly for corresponding classes of AN/AI and non-Native children. Overall, results demonstrate heterogeneity within and between AN/AI and non-Native children in early experiences of risk and protection and suggest that interventions will be more effective if tailored to the experiences and developmental needs of specific groups of Alaska children.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to recognize the individuals who provided feedback on interpretation of results. We would like to thank Kathy Perham-Hester (Alaska PRAMS coordinator) and Margaret Young (Alaska CUBS coordinator). We would also like to thank staff from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Alaska Office of Children’s Services, and Alaska Resilience Initiative. The findings reported herein were performed using data collected and maintained by the Alaska Division of Public Health. The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely those of the authors and should not be considered as representing the policy of any agency of the Alaska government.

Funding

Dr. Austin was supported by an award from the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49 CE002479), a training grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (T32 HD52468), and a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (R40 MC30757). Dr. Gottfredson is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K01 DA035153).

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Correspondence to Anna E. Austin.

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This study was reviewed and approved by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institutional (UNC) Review Board (IRB). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill IRB ruled that informed consent was not required given the use of secondary de-identified data.

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Austin, A.E., Gottfredson, N.C., Marshall, S.W. et al. Heterogeneity in Risk and Protection Among Alaska Native/American Indian and Non-Native Children. Prev Sci 21, 86–97 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01052-y

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