Fighting, self-reliance and being the "Bigger Man": Native Hawaiian and Samoan girls' experiences and perceptions of peer violence

Abstract

In Hawai'i, while juvenile arrests decreased 35.6% from 1993-2003 and serious offenses decreased 47.5% from 1992-2002, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth are shown to be disproportionately involved with the juvenile justice system (Pasko, 2006). Another two-year study in Hawai'i found that Native Hawaiian juveniles comprised 50.5% of incarcerated youth despite Native Hawaiians comprising only 19% ,of the state population, and non-Hawaiian Pacific Islanders comprised 5.9% of incarcerated youth despite making up only 2.4% of the state's population. In this same study, non-Hawaiian Pacific Islanders were three times more likely to be involved in gangs than other incarcerated youth (61.7% vs. 20.5%) (Bradford & Perrone, 2001). When taking gender in to account, Native Hawaiian girls accounted for 45% of circuit court cases, followed by Filipinas (17%), Caucasians (15%) and Samoans (4%) (Pasko, 2006). This study contributes to the small but growing literature on girls' violence in disaggregated Asian I Pacific Islander ethnic groups by examining Hawaiian and Samoan girls' experiences and perceptions of peer fighting.