Traditionalism or Low Self-Control?: Explaining the Health-Risk Behaviors of American Indian Youth

Using a sample of American Indian high school students, we test self‐control and Native traditionalism as predictors of their health‐risk behaviors. Regression analyses found self‐control to be a significant influence on all seven health‐risk items as well as the health‐risk composite. Traditionalism by and large fails to influence these behaviors. However, the traditionalism measure serves a second purpose as a means of controlling for cultural variation while testing the influence of self‐control. In doing so, self‐control remains a robust predictor. By controlling for cultural variation and examining behaviors that transcend cultural definitions of deviance, we believe these results support the cultural invariance thesis of self‐control. Implications for refining traditionalism, testing the cultural invariance of self‐control, and considering new directions in understanding the health risks among American Indians are discussed.