Posted on 03/08/2005 5:37:52 AM PST by Dog Gone
As Hispanic teens shed the language of their native countries and immerse themselves in American culture, they become dramatically more sexually active, a new study shows.
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A review of 7,300 Arizona teenagers' behavior, which should translate well to other states that border Mexico, including Texas, found that 31 percent of Hispanic teens who speak primarily English have had sex, more than twice the percentage of those who speak primarily Spanish, 14 percent.
The key question — why? — remains unanswered.
"I wish I knew," said the study's lead author, Dr. Mary Adam, a pediatrics researcher at the University of Arizona's College of Medicine. "This is certainly something we are continuing to explore."
The study, published in this month's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, adds evidence to the so-called healthy immigrant paradox, that Hispanics coming to the United States are healthier than second- and third-generation U.S. residents from the same countries.
Various research has found that less-Americanized Hispanic children have healthier diets, better immunization rates, fewer suicide attempts, and decreased use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs than more Americanized adolescents.
"The study certainly speaks to some of the risks we face in everyday life here," said Katharine Donato, a sociologist at Rice University who studies ethnic health disparities. "But I wouldn't quite say it's an indictment of our culture."
Some researchers have attributed the importance of family in Hispanic culture, and the high regard for parental roles, as playing a part in protecting health, as well as the social support from a large family. But there is not a broad consensus yet in the medical and sociological communities studying these questions.
A better understanding of the beneficial aspects of Hispanic culture, and the healthy components of U.S. culture could generate new approaches to address a host of public health issues, from obesity to smoking, said Dr. Glenn Flores, a pediatrician at the Medical College of Wisconsin, in an editorial that accompanied the research article.
"The discovery of a single unifying intervention that could reduce or prevent some or all of these conditions would be hailed as one of the greatest accomplishments of modern medicine," he wrote.
Dr. Peggy Smith, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and director of Ben Taub Hospital's Teen Health Clinic, said the trends in the study follow what she has observed.
Smith says as Hispanic girls become more immersed in U.S. culture, if they are unmarried when they become pregnant, they tend to be far less inclined to marry before or soon after the child is born.
That means the children are being raised in single-parent homes, which has financial ramifications, and studies have clearly shown that opportunities and outcomes for such children are far lower than compared to two-parent families, Smith said.
Smith believes she knows at least partly why Hispanic adolescents become more sexually active after living in the United States.
Hispanic children who come to this country become immersed in a culture that is more permissive about sex, Smith said — chaperones are not uncommon on dates in Mexico. Beyond that, because of an increasing focus on abstinence, there is less information available about birth control than in most other industrialized countries.
"As a culture, we have problems with openly discussing the whens and ifs of sex with our children," Smith said. "This is one of the outcomes of that."
Unless by Americanizing immigrants or first or second generation Americans from Latin American backgrounds happen to join one of the subcultures which have strong moral values regarding sexuality (e.g. protestant evangelicals, traditionalist Roman Catholics, traditional Orthodox Christians, Orthodox Jews) either by affiliating with their religious basis or falling heavily under their sway, whatever subculture of American culture they affiliate will will be more sexualized than traditional Latin American culture whether it's just plain folk out here in the plains, East Coast secularists, . . . or at the level of high schoolers the preppies, the jock, the goths, the ganstas, . . .
And perhaps those who do not learn the language are the product of a stricter household. If you are not allowed/not able to learn English, perhaps you are more likely not to be allowed to go out or mingle with others outside your family.
It would depend on where they are moving to.
Learning to speak English makes it easier to pick up white girls.
Yup, right up there with Pennicilin and a cure for cancer.
But seriously, I grew up in South Texas, many of my good friends were Hispanic. It was a strange paradox, one that I tried to talk to them about but could not get a straight answer. They were all Catholic, very devout in their practices. Always crossed themselves when passing the church, etc. They would not even contemplate the use of contraceptives or abortion. But, they were all having pre-marital sex like rabbits. Hence, many of the girls were pregnant at 16, and the guys would almost always marry them.
I would ask my friends why they followed all of these tennants of the Church, except that little one about not having sex out of wedlock, but I never got a good answer.
I dated Catholic girls in High School...nicest girls you've ever met. ;0
How about because they're here and watching the television? Sheesh.
"Catholic High School Girls In Trouble"...
Need I say more?
Well, Duh!
When you move to a new country, you can either keep the old ways or adopt the ways of your new country. If you keep the old ways, they will work as well as they always did to keep you healthy, happy, and help you prepare the next generation for a healthy, happy adulthood. If you adopt the ways of the new country, this will be, at best, an imperfect process. Therefore the ways of the new country that lead to happiness, health, and a well prepared younger generation will be imperfectly applied.
This is so obvious, it could only be surprising to an academic or a Social Worker.
You are right.
There's much better pick-up lines in English, than in Spanish!
They're NOT speaking English. Haven't you noticed all those little signs? Don't you hear the announcements, "Press one for English"?
I understand what you're saying, but then how does that explain Girls Gone Wild? You can either have sex because you have nothing else or you can have sex because you have everything.
It just so turns out that "So, do you come here often..." sounds like "I have a venereal disease..." in Spanish.
No puzzle here.
We should all take our young daughters, learn Spanish, and jump the border heading south...
I hate to break this to you, but this type of attitude is not unique to Latin women.
Sofia and I are likewise speechless..........
Vida Guerra is pretty but I can't put up any of her pics *LOL*
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