Garcia, who conducted the two-year study through a partnership with four community organizations in Chicago, details findings from interviews with more than 40 young Latinas and their mothers. The girls, ages , identified themselves as sexually active and did not have children. Online resources, and conversations with trusted friends and adults, often provide the girls with assistance in their attempts to navigate safe-sex lessons. Latina girls develop specific strategies to communicate to partners about taking precautions, such as heterosexual girls drawing on notions of masculinity, Garcia said. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more information about UIC, please visit www. Contact Brian Flood bflood uic. Faculty , Research. Latino , sexuality.
Where teens learn about sex matters
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Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. Latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority youth group in the United States. Currently, Latino adolescents experience higher rates of teen pregnancy compared to any other racial or ethnic group and have disproportionately high levels of sexually transmitted infections and HIV. Latino teens are also affected by a number of social problems such as school dropout, poverty, depression and limited access to healthcare, which contributes to disparities in reproductive health outcomes for this population. Relatively few intervention research studies and programs have been dedicated to reducing sexual risk among Latino youth, despite their particular vulnerabilities in experiencing negative reproductive health outcomes. We provide recommendations for identifying the unique reproductive health needs of Latino youth and specific applied strategies so that agency-based social workers and other providers can develop family-based interventions that improve adolescent Latino sexual and reproductive health. The reproductive and sexual health outcomes of Latino adolescents in the United States indicate that they are disproportionately impacted by unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections STIs and HIV CDC a. Compared to other major racial or ethnic groups, Latino teenagers have the highest rates of pregnancy in the country
Introduction
The program has had a particular impact on Latina students -- many of the pilot schools are located in areas with high Latino populations, including Queens and the Bronx. The pilot program, in which school nurses and physicians are allowed to distribute the morning-after pill, is the first of its type in the city, and its effectiveness in decreasing high school pregnancies has yet to be determined. By most estimates, teen pregnancy rates have fallen dramatically in recent years, both nationally and in New York City. Latina teenagers, a group who have had the highest rates of pregnancy in the last decade, have seen the most significant drop across the country, according to a recent study by the U. Department of Health and Human Services. The largest decrease in teen pregnancy in New York City was seen in the Bronx -- a borough that is more than half Hispanic. The Bronx experienced a 34 percent fall in teen pregnancy rates between and , according to Kaplan. According to Perez, it is a common misconception that Latina teens have higher rates of pregnancy because they more sexually active than non-Latinas. In truth, Latina teens are not able to access birth control at the same rate," Perez said.
The sponsors had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; or in the writing of the research article. The study was conducted while both authors were at the Public Health Institute. The U. But there are disparities among groups of teens. Latina teens have the highest teen birth rate of any racial or ethnic group. Latino teens are also more affected by STIs — particularly chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea — than their white peers. Sexually active Latino teens are also less likely to use condoms and other forms of contraception. Sexual exploration during adolescence is normal and healthy. These disparities are a sign that many Latino teens have unmet needs when it comes to information about sexual health and relationships. And today teens get information about sex from a variety of sources , including their parents, peers, school and digital media.