The Importance of Historical Trauma & Stress as a Factor in Diabetes and Obesity Prevention among American Indian Adolescents

Abstract

For the last forty years, the federal government and tribal governments have developed and administered programs to lower the obesity and diabetes rates among American Indian populations. Despite these joint efforts, a diabetes epidemic continues to ravage Indian country with rates ranging from 16% to 40% to 70%, depending upon the community, while rates for non-Indians are approximately 8%. This thesis argues that one of the reasons that existing programs have failed to lower diabetes rates is due to their failure to address an unresolved grief labeled historical trauma and socio-political factors that may be even more fundamental to diabetes causation among American Indians. Poverty, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, microaggressions, violence and traumatic events, exacerbated by historical trauma, contribute to a heightened level of stress among American Indians that is unparalleled. Given that research has linked stress and trauma to the onset of diabetes, exposure to these risk factors for American Indians is an overlooked factor. Health behaviors and trajectories set for a lifetime during adolescence make this an extremely vulnerable period of life for American Indians. The thesis suggests American Indian diabetes prevention programs that target adolescents, explore the impact of colonization and continued oppression of American Indian people on the deterioration of their health, and continue to promote the benefits of healthy diets and exercise may help to slow the prevalence of obesity and diabetes in these communities.