Investigating enculturation and assessing the impact of Hawaiian cultural affiliation on mental health among Native Hawaiian youth

Abstract

This dissertation integrates four studies focused on Native Hawaiian youth, aiming to develop an enculturation framework and validate the Hawaiian cultural scale for adolescents to assess mental health outcomes. The first study, a scoping review, identified a significant gap in research concerning enculturation frameworks for Native Hawaiian youth, emphasizing the urgent need for foundational research in this area. The second study attempted to validate a theoretical model of enculturation but faced challenges due to data constraints, leading to a revised focus solely on Hawaiian cultural affiliation instead of a broader enculturation model.The third study successfully validated the Hawaiian Cultural Scale for Adolescents (HCS-A) through rigorous confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses, refining it into a robust four-factor model that measures various aspects of Hawaiian culture. The fourth study employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationship between components of Hawaiian cultural affiliation and three different mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and self-esteem. Findings suggest that stronger engagement with activities associated with the Customs/Beliefs & Hawaiian Activities/Social Events subscale, in particular, may serve as a protective factor against depressive symptoms and anxiety. Overall, this dissertation highlights the critical role of cultural connectedness in promoting mental health among Native Hawaiian youth and emphasizes the importance of incorporating culturally sensitive frameworks in health research and interventions to better support Indigenous youth well-being.