Child socialization research among American Indians must account for tribal differences, examining gender roles in a given tribal culture, and employing studies of enculturation and acculturation, life histories, and ethnographies. Child socialization in the Teton Sioux or Lakota tribe can be used to illustrate these research techniques. The Lakota typified a mobile hunting/warring society with flexible, band-type social organization, strong emphasis on the extended family reckoned bilaterally, and definite and well-defined sex roles. Lakota children learned gender role behavior through precept and example, appropriate toys, and mimicry of adult activities. Role models, supernatural sanctions, and recourse to a value system were patterns for conformity. The destruction by white dominance of the warrior-hunter-provider role for males and the relatively unchanged female roles forced adjustments in the traditional role balance. What remains of the traditional balance is found in the sense of self and relationship with others and the world. Differences in cognition and behavior between white and native culture can be examined in such concepts as the actualization of "wakan" or power in Lakota women and the use of the wakan qualities of women to carry on the traditional socialization of children. (LFL)