Positive parenting may decrease violence among Samoan youth in American Samoa and Hawaii, suggests the results of a study out of the Asian Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVP) at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

The study, carried out by UH researchers Pavela A. Fiaui and Earl S. Hishinuma, both of the APIYVP, under the Department of Psychiatry at UHM includes “self-reported” information from 339 youth in American Samoa and Hawaii.

“The present study’s findings...suggest that positive parental discipline (e.g. encouragement, constructive communication), rather than more negative parental discipline, may decrease youth violence perpetration for both [Samoan youth in American Samoa] and [Samoan youth in Hawaii],” states the study.

One of the first studies to examine Samoans exclusively and compare the differences between Samoan youth residing in Hawaii and American Samoa, it notes that youth violence remains “a major public health issue with the US having one of the highest rates of violent crime among industrialized nations.”

“Although progress is being made on studying minority adolescent populations in the field of youth violence...Samoan youths remain a substantially under-studied ethnic group,” the study says.

In Hawaii, the data was collected from three public high schools  between 2003-2004. The schools were selected based upon their high proportions of one of three targeted ethnic groups which have been over-represented in Hawaii’s juvenile system or in youth gangs.

Hawaii students were surveyed on school campuses and “a Samoan” was defined as an interviewee who self-reported any Samoan ancestry, but no Hawaiian ancestry.

In American Samoa, adolescent participants were from two high schools (grades 9 and 12). A shortened version of the survey used in Hawaii was used for local data collection between 2004-2005. Students were interviewed one-on-one in and outside of school.

The study sought to gauge the acculturative processes of adolescents in the territory and Hawaii by comparing self-reports from students on violence, substance abuse, grade-point-average, scholastic aspirations, importance of religion, ethnic identity, parenting discipline style, and family support.

(Acculturative processes refer to changes in culture; language, socio-cultural values and activities, religious beliefs, education and wage-based income.)

The UH study also set out to add to the scientific literature first provided by the Youth Risk Behaviors Study (YRBS) on the similarities and differences between Samoan youth residing in American Samoa (SAS) and those residing in Hawaii (SH) and to discuss the implications of the new results. (Samoa News published a story on the YRBS in 2007).

Findings from the YRBS indicated that, aside from alcohol and marijuana use not on school property and being offered or obtaining illegal drugs on school property — local youth (SAS) were overall at higher risk that Samoan youth in Hawaii (SH) — in violence victimization and perpetration, in substance use, and in depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

Contrary to the YRBS results, the UH study found that SH had a higher suspension rate and greater involvement in youth violence on one of the items —”attacked someone” — than SAS.

However, consistent with the YRBS findings in substance use, SH had higher levels of overall alcohol and marijuana use when compared to SAS.

Generally, the study found that Samoan students who did not self-report engaging in violence had higher rates of protective factors as compared to those who indicated engaging in violence.

In comparing the two groups, analyses of “risk and protective factors” show that local youth have higher levels of protective factors (such as importance of religion, especially for girls; affirming and belonging ethnic identity; ethnic identity achievement and family support).

Samoan youth in Hawaii, however, had higher scholastic aspirations than local youth studied. SH also had lower levels of the importance of religion; affirming and belonging ethnic identity; ethnic identity achievement and family support.

The study revealed those who did not report any violence had higher scholastic aspirations and ethnic identity achievement and lower levels of more negative means of parent discipline such as yelling, scolding, slapping and using shame.

In addition, the study notes that the Samoan community consists of three major factors that are practiced everyday: aiga (family); lotu/ekalesia (religion) and aganu’u (culture), when out together called the ‘fa’aSamoa.’

“Without these three factors working together, it would be difficult for a Samoan community to survive,” the study states, noting that parents are the first teachers to socialize their children about the fa’aSamoa — the parents teach their children to practice fa’aSamoa in school, church, family and anywhere they go.

It says “parents need to spend more time with their children for the role of fa’aSamoa to be learned and practiced throughout the youths’ lives.”

“The results of this present study suggested that SAS had higher levels of all three aspects (religion, culture, family) as compared to SH,” the study says.

“Assuming these three variables serve as protective factors and the SAS youths are immersed in their culture throughout their daily lives, this would be consistent with SAS having lower levels than SH of overall alcohol and marijuana use, and fewer school suspensions and self-reports of attacking others,” it explained.

It also suggests that “positive parental discipline may decrease youth violence perpetration for both SAS and SH.”

The study notes that “Samoan youths are critically under-studied in research on youth violence prevention and adolescent development” and adds “when Samoan adolescents are included in research investigations, they are typically obscured into the much larger aggregated categories of ‘Pacific Islanders’ or ‘Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders’.”

The study notes that colonial influences on American Samoans began in the late 1830s with the missionaries, followed by the US military, thus beginning the changes in language, values and so forth. It says the Samoan language is spoken in the homes of most American Samoans, with the second language being English.

In Hawaii, the study says that 16,166 people indicated Samoan as their only race and 28,184 indicated Samoan as their race (either alone or in combination with other ethnicities). It states that, according to Hawaii Dept. of Education 2007 statistics, 3.5 percent of the students are of Samoan ancestry.