4.3 Aids prevention among latino teens: the role of family  (Page 3/9)

The situation of reproductive health of latino teens and young people

The average of the sexually active Latino students in high school was 36% in 1999 as opposed to 33% of non-Latino and 53% African-American. According to the CFOC organization (Campaign for Our Children), 6 out of 10 female Latino teens are pregnant at least once before turning 20, whereas the rate among white non-Latino females is 4 out of 10. The national rate of pregnant teens was, in 1997, 97 per 1,000, whereas that of Latino teens was 165 per 1,000.

According to the preliminary data in 2000, the birth rate of Latino teens was the highest of all other ethnic groups. Among 15 to 19 year-old teens, the rate was of 94.4 per 1,000, double than the national rate of 48.7 per 1,000 births.

Puerto Rican women have changed the most in the last 30 years. They are the ones that marry the least, those that become head of the house, and that have more children at a younger age and before marrying. However, the Mexican-American and Cuban women marry most frequently and, therefore; they are heads of the household less frequently than Puerto Ricans. In general, families headed by women are the poorest. Poverty, the lack of sanitary attention, and the dependency on welfare institutions among teen mothers and their children is even more frequent. At the same time, the limited access to health services and the shortage of culturally adapted pregnancy prevention programs and sexual education seem to be partly responsible for that high birth rate among Latinos.

An interesting study of Anenshensel and cols. (1990) showed that Mexican-Americans born in Mexico had the lowest level of early sexual relations, but ended up pregnant more frequently when they did have intercourse because they opted less often for abortion. Therefore, their fertility rate was the highest. Mexican-Americans born in the U.S. occupied an intermediate position between those born in Mexico and non-Latino Whites. On the other hand, Anenshensel and cols. (1990) would want to diminish the fertility rate of Latino teens because it is associated to social, economic, and sanitary problems. For this, they propose that contraceptive methods be facilitated. Leo Chavez, a Mexican-American professor, indicates the relative character of that evaluation of fertility and the policies that try to reduce it among Latinos since, in his opinion, non-Latino White women in the U.S. are characterized to have comparatively low fertility rates that can lead to demographic changes and an increasing demand of immigration. In this clash of positions, what is in play is, on one hand, the fact that demographic considerations are not enough. It is necessary to weigh the cultural and social factors. That is to say, the values of Latinos are also in play without forgetting that the economic and social constrictions limit the field of free choice. Therefore, it would be necessary to modify the conditions of poverty and limited access to sanitary services of many Latino young people so that they could decide with a greater freedom margin.