Effectiveness of a Brief Home Parenting Intervention for Reducing Early Sexual Risks Among Latino Adolescents: Salud y Éxito

BACKGROUND

Teen pregnancy rates and related risks remain elevated among Latino teens. We tested the impact on youth sexual behaviors of a brief, culturally targeted, bilingual media intervention designed for parents of young adolescents.

METHODS

Salud y éxito (Health & Success) uses dramatic audio stories to model positive parenting practices. After completing classroom surveys, 27 urban schools in the Northeast and Southwest serving low-income Latino communities were randomized so that all families of seventh grade students were sent either: (1) booklets on healthy eating and exercise; (2) Salud-50, where families either received booklets or the intervention, or (3) Salud-100, where all families received the intervention. Postintervention follow-up surveys were conducted at 3- and 12-months. Multilevel analyses tested intervention effects, controlling for sociodemographics.

RESULTS

Compared with controls, at 12-months postintervention (8th grade spring), youth in Salud-100 report lower sexual risks (touching, AOR 1.46, CI 1.19-0.84, p < .001; lifetime sex (AOR 0.74, CI 0.61-0.90, p < .01); and sex intentions (AOR 0.78, CI 0.63-0.96, p < .05). Consistent with a dose-response, Salud-50 results are between those from Salud-100 and control schools.

CONCLUSIONS

Salud y éxito is an effective parenting intervention that can augment school-based health and sexuality education and help Latino parents support their children during early adolescence.

The Social Environment and Childbearing Expectations: Implications for Strength-Based Sexual Health Interventions for Latino Youth

In the United States, adolescent childbearing is disproportionately higher among Latino youth, a growing population facing substantial social exclusion. Exploring the relationship between the social environment and sexual health outcomes among Latino youth may offer insights into the development of novel interventions. In this study, Latino youth in partnerships were recruited from neighborhood venues in San Francisco and completed in-depth interviews. Youth reported a desire to complete higher education goals prior to starting a family to improve future opportunities and further personal development. Youth stated that social network members, family and partners, were supportive of their individual childbearing expectations. Social environment barriers tied to poverty, immigration status, and gang violence hindered educational attainment. Some differences were noted by gender and immigrant generation. Building on protective social ties and creating avenues in poor, urban neighborhoods for Latino youth to fully access educational opportunities may counter early childbearing and improve sexual health.

Opportunity Costs and Latinas’ Family Formation Attitudes

Cultural ideals and acculturation influence Latinas’ fertility-related attitudes and family size preferences within the context of the U.S. social and economic structure. In this context, there may be “costs” associated with enacting preferences favoring family building over other opportunities or demands. This article draws on data collected from focus groups conducted with college-educated Latinas in the Bronx, New York ( n = 16) to demonstrate a conflict between cultural values and opportunity costs. The voices of these women not only echo an awareness of opportunity costs associated with childbearing (especially at a young age or having many children) but also acknowledge the influences of culture on the attitudes and behaviors of Latinas. In this conflict, ethnic identities are challenged and signs of internalized racism emerge.

Sociocultural factors of teenage pregnancy in Latino communities: preparing social workers for culturally responsive practice

Despite gains in reducing teenage pregnancy during the past 20 years, disparities in teenage pregnancy rates persist: The teenage pregnancy rate in Latino communities is now nearly double the average rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States. Considering the significant risks teenage pregnancy and parenting pose to both the teenager and the child, and that social workers are already often working in communities with populations at risk, this is not only a major public health issue, but one that the field of social work is well positioned to actively address. This article synthesizes pertinent literature on some of the social and cultural influences important for understanding this phenomenon. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

Limited socioeconomic opportunities and Latina teen childbearing: a qualitative study of family and structural factors affecting future expectations

The decrease in adolescent birth rates in the United States has been slower among Latinas than among other ethnic/racial groups. Limited research has explored how socioeconomic opportunities influence childbearing among Latina adolescents. We conducted in-depth interviews with 65 pregnant foreign- and US-born Latina women (31 adolescents; 34 adults) in two California counties. We assessed perceived socioeconomic opportunities and examined how family, immigration and acculturation affected the relationships between socioeconomic opportunities and adolescent childbearing. Compared with women who delayed childbearing into adulthood, pregnant adolescents described having few resources for educational and career development and experiencing numerous socioeconomic and social barriers to achieving their goals. Socioeconomic instability and policies limiting access to education influenced childbearing for immigrant adolescents. In contrast, family disintegration tied to poverty figured prominently in US-born adolescents' childbearing. Limited socioeconomic opportunities may play a large role in persistently high pregnancy rates among Latina adolescents.

Contemporary Fertility Patterns and First-Birth Timing Among Mexican-Origin Women

This article examines first-birth timing among Mexican women in the United States over two birth cohorts. Currently, Mexican women are one of a small group that maintains above-replacement fertility in the United States, contributing to both Mexican population growth and overall national population growth. Yet, the fertility timing of Mexican women has undergone a significant transformation over the past 40 years. Using the 1988, 1995, and 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, this article employs first-birth probabilities and Cox proportional hazard models to show how Mexican fertility timing differs from that of other major racial and ethnic groups. The evidence suggests that the racial/ethnic, nativity, and educational diversity of the Mexican-origin population has led to the emergence of two distinct patterns of first-birth timing. The findings from this study point to the need to reconsider the role of Mexican fertility timing in important national discussions of women’s reproductive health and immigration/population polices.

Preventing rapid repeat births among latina adolescents: the role of parents

Latina adolescent parents are at increased risk for rapid repeat births (second birth ≤ 24 months after the first), sexually transmitted infections, and negative educational and social outcomes. Although several effective parent-based interventions have been developed to prevent Latino youths' sexual risk taking, little research has explored the development of interventions to prevent repeat births that involve the parents of these adolescents. Existing preventative interventions involving parents suffer from important methodological limitations. Additional research is needed to advance theories of behavior, identify the causal pathways of parental influence, and specify appropriate behavioral targets. Future parent-based interventions to prevent repeat births should target pregnancy intentions, age of partners, contraceptive use, integrated prevention of pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, educational attainment, and future orientations.

Latina adolescents' perceptions of their male partners' influences on childbearing: findings from a qualitative study in California

Teenage births among Latina women living in the USA remain higher than any other racial/ethnic group. This study explored the role that male partners play in the occurrence of pregnancy and their influence on teenage mothers' future plans in a sample of women pregnant with their first child. Qualitative analysis revealed that partners played a significant role in the use of contraception, timing and desire for pregnancy and young women's post-pregnancy plans for education, work and childrearing. Men's older age, concerns about contraceptive use and fertility, reluctance to use condoms, and readiness for parenthood put their partners at increased risk for pregnancy. More acculturated men were supportive of young women's educational goals in many cases, whereas less acculturated males subscribed to more rigid gender roles which required that their partners remain at home after the birth of their child. These findings have important implications for programmes that seek to reduce teenage pregnancy in the US Latino population.