The effects of parental modeling on the health-related behaviors of American Indian adolescents: A culturally specific investigation of social learning theory

Health-compromising behavior (e.g., smoking) is a leading cause of death among American Indian (AI) adolescents. Theories that predict which AI youth are most at risk for executing these behaviors are needed.; Social learning theory (SLT) has shown adolescents' behaviors are correlated with their parents' behaviors across different ethnic groups, but AIs have not been routinely included.; The present study attempted to determine if SLT was applicable to AI adolescents with regard to four health-related behaviors: cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, seatbelt use, and religiosity. The first three were chosen because of the high number of AI adolescent deaths associated with them, while religiosity negatively correlates with health-compromising behaviors. Partial support for SLT was found when applied to AI youth. Little support was found for SLT with regard to alcohol consumption, except when daughters were correlated with fathers. There were strong correlations between parents' seatbelt use, smoking, and religiosity.