Urban American Indian Youth Religion, Native Spirituality, and Well-Being: A Latent Class Analysis

Most American Indians (AI) in the United States now live in urban rather than tribal areas yet little is known about their interconnected spiritual, religious and cultural worlds. This presentation documents ways that urban AI middle school students were involved with religious institutions and Native spiritual and cultural practices, and assessed how these differences related to cultural identities and risk and pro-social behaviors.  Data come from AI youth (n=205, mean age 12) in five urban middle schools in a southwestern USA metropolis. Latent class analysis identified distinctive groups of youth according to religious affiliations, attendance at religious services, adherence to Christian and traditional spiritual beliefs, sense of Native spirituality, and involvement with spiritually significant Native cultural practices. Five classes emerged. There were two Christian groups, one attending Christian churches and following Christian beliefs, but uninvolved with Native beliefs, spirituality, or cultural practices, and a nominal Christian group affiliated with but not attending church, and relatively unattached to belief systems.  Two groups followed Native beliefs and spiritual practices, one affiliated with the Native American Church (NAC) and another unaffiliated with any church. The fifth, non-religious group, was unaffiliated, followed neither Christian nor traditional beliefs, and was uninvolved in Native spirituality and cultural practices.  ANOVA indicated that the two Christian groups were higher in SES, had lived longer in the urban area, and reported more pro-social behaviors and better decision-making but also the most substance using friends. The two groups embracing AI spirituality (NAC, and non-NAC) had better school grades, more enculturation in tribal language and strong AI ethnic ID, and the strongest bicultural orientations. The non-religious group had the lowest scores on parental monitoring, closeness, and supportiveness. Findings increase understanding of different ways that urban AI youth blend Native and Christian religious beliefs and spiritual practices, and their consequences for well-being.