To each parent, upbringing a child is a daunting task and even a harder undertaking to parents belonging to minority communities such as Native American women due to derailing issues such as stereotyping, discrimination, and limited opportunities provided by the society. The purpose of this research study is to review the plight of Native American mothers as well as other marginalized women populations who need support while raising children outside the reservation. Many Native Americans prefer to live on the reservation because they consider outside life as full of uncertainty. Notably, 22 percent of both Alaskan Natives and American Indians live on the reservation. In reality, however, minority communities such as Native Americans do not live in isolated areas, and thus they are forced to adapt to the rules made by dominant cultures. Mainly, Native Americans including women leave reservations due to the hardship of life. Statistically, the malnutrition rate, alcoholism rate, and infant mortality in the reservation are 12 times, 9 times, and 7 times the national rates respectively. Outside reservation, many Native Americans are not ready for urban life in terms of technology and progress.
Mainly, prior studies on Native American women have yielded several findings. For instance, some studies have shown high dropout rates among Native American women than other women in the United States with the leading causes being identified as alcoholism, domestic violence, unemployment, poverty, teenage pregnancy, and drug use. Again, other studies have shown that Native American women do not value education like their peers. Further, Native American women encounter gender inequality in society given that they are regarded as inferior to men. In this regard, Native American women lack fundamental aspects of raising children and at the same time instilling them with prerequisite values to be responsible adults.
The research study will use both qualitative and quantitative analysis. On qualitative analysis, a review of literature will provide the research with existing theories and practices as well as knowledge of experts and previous findings on Native American women. Hence, qualitative analysis will provide a good foundation and constructs relating to the study. To understand the current situation of Native American women, the study relies on four theories namely historical trauma theory, systems theory, acculturation theory, and strengths perspective theory. In particular, these theories examine the strengths and struggles of Native American women as individuals and as part of the society. Historically, the negative experiences relating to relocation from ancestral land has traumatized Native Americans from one generation to another. Again, the research study will rely on a phenomenological approach to gain a precise standpoint of what Native American women undergo in particular situations.
On quantitative analysis, the research study will rely on interviews (fully structured, semi-structured and unstructured) carried out on Native American mothers. Particularly, interviewees will be Native American women who grew up on Indian reservations, who are currently enrolled in the federally recognized Crow Tribe of Montana, who have willingly left the reservation and who are raising child/children outside the reservation single-handedly, with spouse/partner or a member of the family. Notably, an interview per participant will take one to two hours depending on the openness and willingness of each interviewee to answer questions relating to their lives as Native American women living on the reservation. The participants of the study will be identified through referrals from local universities and agencies that pursue Native American interests.