Young Adult Migration from a Northern Plains Indian Reservation: Who Stays and Who Leaves

Popul Res Policy Rev (2009) 28:641660

DOI 10.1007/s11113-008-9123-4

Calvin D. Croy Marjorie Bezdek Christina M. Mitchell Paul Spicer

Received: 2 April 2008 / Accepted: 15 December 2008 / Published online: 6 February 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Abstract We evaluated how ambitions, community ties, monetary sufciency, employment, and alcohol consumption related to whether young American Indian adults had moved from their Northern Plains reservation. Of 518 Northern Plains reservation residents in 1993, we located 472 in 20032005 and found that 89 lived more than a four-hour drive from the reservation. Coding the 472 as to whether they had stayed on/near the reservation or moved away, we ran logistic regressions on data they reported in 1996 to determine which demographic and attitudinal variables were associated with having moved. We found ambitions and goals were more associated with moving away than were ties to the community, which in turn were more related than monetary and personal characteristics that promote independence and prosperity. The more importance they placed on getting a good education or carrying on the tribes traditions, the more likely they were to have moved away. We found too that the odds of moving away decreased with greater alcohol consumption. Tribal council members and college administrators therefore may wish to promote policies that increase opportunities for young adults to achieve higher education goals while remaining on reservation to carry on tribal traditions. Benets

C. D. Croy (&) C. M. Mitchell

Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado Denver, Mail Stop F800, Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building, 13055 E. 17th Avenue, Aurora,CO 80045, USAe-mail: [email protected]

C. M. Mitchelle-mail: [email protected]

M. Bezdek1416 S. Newport Street, Denver, Colorado 80224, USA e-mail: [email protected]

P. Spicer

Center for Applied Social Research, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, USA e-mail: [email protected]

Young Adult Migration from a Northern Plains Indian Reservation: Who Stays and Who Leaves

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may also come from encouraging and assisting reservation members studying off-reservation to return after completing their education. These ndings would argue too for greater investment in alcohol services for reservation-dwelling populations.

Keywords American Indian Reservation population Young adult

Migration Mobility Movement Residence Goals and ambitions

Education Alcohol consumption Tribal policy

Introduction

Cornell and Jorgensen (2007) have pointed...