The role of biographical data, personality, self-esteem, locus-of-control, and alcohol use in success in the Job Corps Program for Native American students.

Abstract

Native American adolescents tend to have problems within the educational system of the majority culture. Manpower programs such as the Job Corps Program have been developed in an attempt to provide remedial training for Native Americans and other groups who experience similar problems. The effects of training have been hard to determine in the past, due to confounding effects of history and other factors involved in trainee's personal lives. The current study surveyed the biographical, social and personal histories of 104 Native American male adolescents, and 46 Native American female adolescents in an attempt to develop predictors of success or failure in a Job Corps Program for Native American youth. It was found that family factors and present circumstances had the greatest effect on success or failure in the program. Few differences were found between male and female subjects, partly due to the small sample sizes involved.