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."
Maybe they didn't really like you, but just wanted a free dinner...
Hey, it's some kind of record - it took five whole posts for someone to say that Hispanics start acting like blacks and are thus messed up.
I don't think I've ever seen it take that long before!
Demand English only in school and demand respect for teachers no matter what...require a dress code that reflects respect for the person, teachers included.
Hey you're right *LOL*
I think you've hit the nail on the head. My wife teaches in an inner-city middle school that is one-third black, one-third hispanic and one-third southeast asian. Despite being very passionately anti-illegal alien her favorite classes are the ESL hispanic classes. The black kids are generally thugs and "hos" as are the assimilated hispanic and southeast asian kids. You can't threaten those kids by saying that you'll tell their parents about their behavior because their parents (or mother I should say) doesn't care.
But the ESL kids are different. The parents are involved. She had the younger sister of a previous student and she told that student that her sister was always talking in class. "Jessica bad?" the ESL girl asked in her halting english. "Yes, Jessica bad," my wife responded. "OK, I tell my father. She not bad anymore," the girl answered.
There seems to be an easy answer for me. In the 3rd world countries of Latin America the money to buy the cigarettes, booze and drugs is not there for the average family, nor are the jobs there for teens to put the money together for the same. My experience as a kid here in the U.S.A., was in that order the next step is promiscuity.
Not that there aren't many exceptions to that trend, like good church going kids ending up getting pregnant without the benefit of partying, etc.
In the same manner, the convenience and extreme poor nourishment of fast food is not so prevalent in their native countries, as well as that the physical effort required to survive prevent a sedentary lifestyle.
…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.
"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.
That just might work!
Ghetto mentality... that's rich, I'll make sure that Hispanics like me and my girlfriend buy our third house on the beach in the local ghetto. Ignorant-flat out.
It must have been the uniforms and heels...
My theory: TV, MTV.
Your are right. Too bad it ain't never gonna happen.
My kid and yours have a great advantage in that their parents don't put up with any guff.
TS
The very-Hispanic comedian Paul Rodriguez gets big laffs when he gets to the part of his act where he describes Mexican Males as the most sexually irresponsible group on Earth.
As to mexican boys, I've never met one who did not claim to be wildly active at about eleven or so.
"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."
We need to set aside at least one state where rap is not allowed, anyone who listens to rap would have to move out, I nominate South Carolina.
Lack of parental supervision (because both parents, if there are two are working), lack of some other adult supervision, immersion in highly-charged MTV culture. Add them together, and traditional mores go out the window whether the teen is hispanic or not.
There is also a missing negative feedback loop in the US - a comprehensive social safety net makes bad decisions far less inconvenient than they would in their home country.
Should be no surprise.
Who is THAT?
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