An investigation of health decision-making skills among American Indian adolescents

The investigation examined the health and social decision-making skills of a sample of 44 seventh-graders (mean age = 12.6 years) of American Indian descent. The students were presented with 10 scenarios describing a young person in the act of making a decision and were required to identify the next step the youth in the scenario should take to make a "wise" decision. There were no differences in the students' efficacy in making decisions with a health or social focus. However, some interesting differential patterns emerged for making health and social decisions. These findings may be beneficial to school health curriculum specialists, school psychologists, health behavior specialists, and health personnel who interact regularly with American Indian adolescents.