Session: Family Factors and Prevention for Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) Youth (Society for Prevention Research 24th Annual Meeting)

SESSION INTRODUCTION: The goal of this symposium session is to highlight how family factors, such as relational harmony and emotional support among family members, influence prevention research focused primarily on Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPIs). This symposium has implications for understanding the common pathways to and impact on disease prevention and health promotion for NHOPIs, as well as examines the development of Hawaiian-specific interventions within the prevention cycle. This symposium brings together researchers from multiple research teams and institutions in the state of Hawai‘i who have actively been pursuing indigenous prevention science over the past decade.

The first presentation, “Parental Support and Substance Use of Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Youth: A Test of Stress-Buffering Effects,” provides the foundation and justification for the development of family focused prevention interventions for NHOPI youth. Using a self-report questionnaire with a large representative sample in Hawai‘i, both emotional and instrumental parental support were found to have significant buffering effects on gateway substance use. For NHOPI youth, emotional parental support buffered the use of tobacco and marijuana, while parental conflict was related to increased use of all substances.

The second presentation, “The Role of Relational Harmony in the Use of Drug Refusal Strategies of Rural Native Hawaiian Youth,” describes how the role of maintaining relational harmony among family members influenced the selection and use of drug resistance strategies for rural Hawaiian youth. Using gender-specific focus groups, this study explores how rural Hawaiian youth balance drug offer refusal strategies with maintaining relational harmony with family members, and how the selection of these strategies varies by gender.

The third presentation, “Family and Culture as Intervention: Developing Evidence-Based Drug Prevention with a Native Hawaiian Community,” describes the development of a culturally grounded prevention program using a Hawaiian epistemological framework and community- and indigenous-based research principles and practices. Cultural and familial influences (e.g., interdependence of family) and their impact on the development of the curriculum are highlighted in the presentation.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the discussant will summarize the presentations and facilitate a discussion between the presenters and the symposium attendees. This symposium will attract prevention researchers with an interest in the development and testing of empirically based prevention interventions for NHOPI youth and families, and contributes to NIH’s overall goal of eliminating health disparities.