Severe Emotional Disturbance Rates in a Northern California Native American Tribal Community

ABSTRACT\ud SEVERE EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE RATES IN A NORTHERN\ud CALIFORNIA NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL COMMUNITY\ud by\ud David Russell Hazard\ud Master of Social Work\ud California State University, Chico\ud Spring 2011\ud This thesis involved an exploratory study of severe emotional disturbance\ud rates among youth in a predominantly Native American tribal community in northern\ud California. Secondary data was collected from surveys of 93 local youth attending\ud community events in 2009 and 2010. Analysis sought to identify potential youth with\ud severe emotional disturbance as measured by inordinate frequencies of heightened\ud emotions and behaviors in response to anger. Mitigating factors such as gender, ethnicity,\ud cultural engagement, substance abuse, and the number of parents in the home were\ud examined. This study found that tribal affiliation, gender, Native American ethnicity, and\ud cultural engagement were factors associated with differences in severe emotional\ud disturbance indicators. The survey measures were unable to be compared with existing\ud normed assessments for severe emotional disturbance. This study was limited by these\ud untested measures, small sample size, and convenience sampling methods.\ud Recommendations for the community are to support culturally appropriate activities for\ud all ethnicities and genders, particularly females, and to assess community youth with\ud thorough, normed assessments for severe emotional disturbance indicators.CSU, Chic