Concern over the negative effects of modernizing social change on the well-being of indigenous
peoples is a mainstay in anthropology since the 19th century. Many of the 19th century
explanatory tropes have come under sharp criticism in anthropology, suggesting a need to rethink
how we understand the relationship between processes of modernizing social change and local
resiliencies and vulnerabilities to them. But how often does this needed theoretical reformulation
take place? Drawing on a large corpus of studies of the apparently worsened mental health
among youths in many parts of Oceania that is associated with the rapid intensification of
modernization and globalization processes over the past several decades, I argue that much of the
contemporary literature uncritically reproduces universal social change narratives inherited from
the late 19th century. After reviewing the available evidence for two sites regions (Samoa and
the Micronesia), I suggest that the variation in the risks and resiliencies that emerge in the face of
modernizing social change are a product of the selective local appropriation of elements among
globalizing flows are integrated into local social relations, routines, and repertoires. As a result,
these mental health consequences will be highly variable from one context to the next