Native American Youth and Alcohol

Alcohol problems among Native Americans are severe and widespread. Statistics report that the rate of alcohol-related deaths is about eight times greater for Native Americans than for the U.S. population as a whole. This bibliography identifies the problems of alcoholism and alcohol abuse among Native American youth as a severe mental and physical health issue that deserves closer study, and it brings together in one volume most of what is known about the subject to date. The increasing amount of research that has appeared in recent years has created the need for a comprehensive reference focusing not only on anthropological and sociological concerns, but on questions more specifically relevant to Native Americans, such as child abuse and neglect, foster homes, school problems, dropouts, peer relation effects, family modeling response, fetal alcohol syndrome, developmental factors, and, most importantly, social deprivation. The authors maintain that the emerging literature on Native American youth's alcoholism is multidisciplinary in nature, suggesting that the subject in general has taken on greater significance in the social framework of this country.

Native American Youth and Alcohol makes a valuable contribution by emphasizing the current publications on Indian youth and alcohol in an accessible format that offers a broad spectrum of opinion and analysis. This timely work will be read by professionals in the human services field and by a variety of researchers, practitioners, and those who are currently engaged in health promotion and disease prevention activities.

MICHAEL L. LOBB is a Psychologist at HEB Psychiatric Associates in Texas. He is the author of many scholarly papers and has contributed articles to the Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, Animal Learning and Behavior, and Child Welfare.

THOMAS D. WATTS is a Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington. His earlier works include The Societal Learning Approach: A New Approach to Social Welfare Policy and Planning in America, and his essays, book chapters, journal articles, and book reviews have been widely published in professional journals, collections, and monographs.