Suicide Among Aboriginal People in Canada - Institut universitaire ...

Chapter 42) biological changes in nutritional status and exposure to communicable diseases;3) political changes, transforming or dissolving existing power structures, and subordinating them to thedominant society;4) economic changes in patterns of subsistence and employment;5) cultural changes in language, religion, education, and technical practices and institutions; and6) changes in social relationships, including patterns of inter- and intra-group relations.Berry (1976; 1985) described four different patterns of response to acculturation: integration, assimilation,separation, and marginalization. The choice (or emergence) of a particular response to acculturativestress is based on two variables:1) whether traditional culture and identity are viewed as having value and are therefore to be retained;and2) whether positive relations with the dominant society are sought.In general, integration and assimilation are viewed as positive outcomes by the dominant society—integration involves a form of biculturalism while assimilation amounts to abandoning one’s identificationwith one’s culture of origin for the dominant culture. In fact, active efforts to maintain traditional culturemay sometimes be protective against the disruption brought on by too rapid cultural change:Groups that have maintained separationist responses, such as many of the SouthwesternPueblos and the Navajo, have experienced lower suicide rates than other NativeAmericans faced with the combined pressures of modernization, technological change,and acculturative stress (Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, 1989:51).However, as these same authors note:Where traditional lifestyles and values have been eroded by displacement, disease,persistent unemployment, poverty, and religious and educational efforts to discourage“old ways,” separationist and integrationist adaptations tend to break down. ManyNative American groups have endured this situation for generations; with pathwaysto assimilation to the dominant society blocked, they have slipped or been forced intocultural marginalization. These groups have lost many essential values of traditionalculture and have not been able to replace them by active participation in Americansociety in ways that are conducive to enhanced cultural and psychological self-esteem.The feelings of loss, alienation, self-denigration, and identity confusion engendered bythis situation are reflected in the escalating rates of suicide witnessed in many NativeAmerican communities (Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, 1989:51–52).The increase in rates of suicide among many Aboriginal groups in recent decades has paralleled the increasein culture contact and acculturative stress. Some authors have suggested that higher rates of suicide are foundamong Native American groups in greater contact with the dominant society (Group for the Advancementof Psychiatry, 1989; Van Winkle and May, 1986). Increasing rates of suicide among Inuit and Athabaskanpeople have been associated with greater contact with southern culture and with access to alcohol (Krausand Buffler, 1979). However, this pattern may not be consistent across all groups. For example, among theNavajo, rates of suicide did not vary on different reservations with the degree of contact with the dominant62