Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance
First Nations children are over 17 times more likely to be removed from their families and placed in the child welfare system (CWS) than non-Indigenous children in Canada. The high rates of parent-child separation have been linked to discriminatory public services and the Indian Residential School (...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9180563 2023-05-15T16:14:03+02:00 Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance McQuaid, Robyn J. Schwartz, Flint D. Blackstock, Cindy Matheson, Kim Anisman, Hymie Bombay, Amy 2022-06-04 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180563/ https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116877 en eng MDPI http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180563/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116877 © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). CC-BY Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116877 2022-06-12T01:04:34Z First Nations children are over 17 times more likely to be removed from their families and placed in the child welfare system (CWS) than non-Indigenous children in Canada. The high rates of parent-child separation have been linked to discriminatory public services and the Indian Residential School (IRS) system, which instigated a multi-generational cycle of family disruption. However, limited empirical evidence exists linking the IRS to subsequent parent-child separations, the CWS, and mental health outcomes among First Nations, Inuit, and Métis populations in Canada. The current studies examine these relationships using a nationally representative sample of First Nations youth (ages 12–17 years) living in communities across Canada (Study 1), and among First Nations and Métis adults (ages 18+ years) in Canada (Study 2). Study 1 revealed that First Nations youth with a parent who attended IRS had increased odds of not living with either of their biological parents, and both IRS and not living with biological parents independently predicted greater psychological distress. Similarly, Study 2 revealed that First Nations and Métis adults with familial IRS history displayed greater odds of spending time in the CWS, and both IRS and CWS predicted elevated depressive symptoms. The increased distress and depressive symptoms associated with parent-child separations calls for First Nations-led interventions to address the inequities in the practices of removing Indigenous children and youth from their families. Text First Nations inuit PubMed Central (PMC) Canada Indian International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19 11 6877 |
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Article McQuaid, Robyn J. Schwartz, Flint D. Blackstock, Cindy Matheson, Kim Anisman, Hymie Bombay, Amy Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance |
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First Nations children are over 17 times more likely to be removed from their families and placed in the child welfare system (CWS) than non-Indigenous children in Canada. The high rates of parent-child separation have been linked to discriminatory public services and the Indian Residential School (IRS) system, which instigated a multi-generational cycle of family disruption. However, limited empirical evidence exists linking the IRS to subsequent parent-child separations, the CWS, and mental health outcomes among First Nations, Inuit, and Métis populations in Canada. The current studies examine these relationships using a nationally representative sample of First Nations youth (ages 12–17 years) living in communities across Canada (Study 1), and among First Nations and Métis adults (ages 18+ years) in Canada (Study 2). Study 1 revealed that First Nations youth with a parent who attended IRS had increased odds of not living with either of their biological parents, and both IRS and not living with biological parents independently predicted greater psychological distress. Similarly, Study 2 revealed that First Nations and Métis adults with familial IRS history displayed greater odds of spending time in the CWS, and both IRS and CWS predicted elevated depressive symptoms. The increased distress and depressive symptoms associated with parent-child separations calls for First Nations-led interventions to address the inequities in the practices of removing Indigenous children and youth from their families. |
format |
Text |
author |
McQuaid, Robyn J. Schwartz, Flint D. Blackstock, Cindy Matheson, Kim Anisman, Hymie Bombay, Amy |
author_facet |
McQuaid, Robyn J. Schwartz, Flint D. Blackstock, Cindy Matheson, Kim Anisman, Hymie Bombay, Amy |
author_sort |
McQuaid, Robyn J. |
title |
Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance |
title_short |
Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance |
title_full |
Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance |
title_fullStr |
Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parent-Child Separations and Mental Health among First Nations and Métis Peoples in Canada: Links to Intergenerational Residential School Attendance |
title_sort |
parent-child separations and mental health among first nations and métis peoples in canada: links to intergenerational residential school attendance |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180563/ https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116877 |
geographic |
Canada Indian |
geographic_facet |
Canada Indian |
genre |
First Nations inuit |
genre_facet |
First Nations inuit |
op_source |
Int J Environ Res Public Health |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180563/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116877 |
op_rights |
© 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116877 |
container_title |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
6877 |
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1765999878300762112 |