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."
I like the way you think.
I that case, I would like to tutor Salma Hayek.
Are Hispanics the most sexually active of all minority groups? Or is there some other group which leads them?
America has many cultural sub-groups. When Hispanics become Americanized, do they become Preppy? Or listen to Dwight Yoakum? Perhaps they listen to urban Hip Hop music?
In short, what are the primary influences on Americanized Hispanics, what culture do they follow, and would that influence perhaps lead them on to more frequent sexual experiences?
Salma needs a little help with her pronunciation.
It seems that the "Americanization" of Hispanic children has some health and social drawbacks that immigrant parents didn't realize when they came here for the "better life".
The only people who can say if it was worth it are those immigrants who made the sacrifices to get their children here.
While waiting at a traffic light, I was channel surfing the radio.
I happened on a Spanish language station, they were playing Hispanic Rap. Good Lord, it was worse than English language rap, hard to believe but true.
LOL! Ay, mami!
My guess would be that Spanish-speaking immigrants are still immersed in their original culture, which is rooted in more traditional values. Primarily English speaking hispanics, on the other hand, have grown up in the sub-cultures that have developed around second and third generation children of immigrants. Many of those subcultures do not promote healthy world views and thus lead to the higher sexual activity.
Just a theory, anyway.
That sounds about right to me.
Would throwing out the television set be a good start?
So should the new motto for English as the official langauge of the USA is now "Speak English, get laid?"
Look again.
It's talking about young girls - teens - is it not? The terms "children" and "adolescents" are used. Someone's daughter. Jr. High and High School.
The idea of teaching English to grown women is not relevant. By the time they are grown women, they have already either assimilated by learning English and other "norms", or they have continued in their Hispanic culture. There is a seeming divide there.
It is what it is, and these people are studying it.
Ah, reality; how sweet it is!
In the last couple of months I have gone out with 2 Latin women. Both in their mid-20's. One I met on my own and one I was set up with. In both cases, they waited until we were sitting down at dinner to let me know they had kids. And further, one told me she was CURRENTLY in a relationship, but that she was mad at the guy and hadn't talked to him in 3 whole days! The other one had gotten married when she was 17 and was divorced at 25. I have learned my lesson.
Salma no need no help...no no noooo. lol
I believe it has to do with the 'Hispanic culture' here in the US. It's more like the black culture than the Mexican or Central American culture. They've adopted the ghetto mentality, and in many cases are just not interested in education, and actively ridicule those who are. This attitude breeds hopelessness and a feeling of living for today, which will always increase sexual activity because they believe there's little else to live for.
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