1 Department of Pediatrics, University of Oregon Medical School, Portland, Oregon 97201
Oakland and Kane's1 failure to find a correlation between employment of Indian mothers and child neglect should help clarify misconceptions of professionals dealing with Navajo Indians. Undoubtedly, perpetuation of such misconceptions is closely related to Indian health problems subsequently defined by Mortimer2 and Kemberling.3 It should be appreciated that since Indian tribes vary widely in their life style, statements applying to Navajos are not necessarily uniformly applicable to all Indians.
Misconceptions such as "out-of-home employment leads to abuse and neglect" help explain why progress has been slow in dealing effectively with this major social problem.