Teen Pregnancy in a Latino Community

Throughout the years, the teen pregnancy rate has declined in the United States, the Latino teen pregnancy is higher than other ethnic groups. According to the article, “About 53% of Latinas in the United State become pregnant before the age of twenty” (Rocca, Doherty, Padian, Hubbard, Minnis. 2010, p. 186). They are also in risks of STDs. Latinas have a bigger desire to be pregnant plays a huge role in teen pregnancy. There are multiple predictions why teen pregnancy is very high, Rocca al et.

(2010) states, “favorable attitudes towards pregnancy; these include older age, lower socioeconomic status, having low educational aspirations or not being in school, and having a partner who is older or controlling” (p.186).

The cultural, household, and individual components that contribute to Latina’s pregnancy intentions. Pregnancy intentions are defined “whether a woman is planning or wants a pregnancy, and how happy or disappointed she would be if she became pregnant” (Rocca al et. 2010, p. 187). In the Latinos cultural, the needs of the family are more important than the individual of the family. Majority of the time, the Latino community are supportive of teens becoming pregnant. Rocca al et. (2010) mentions that “Latinas feel that they will gain respect from their families and communities by becoming pregnant” (p. 187). Other aspects that make teens believe it is acceptable is having low parental monitoring or also being a child of a teen mom.

In order to see if they predictions of pregnancy intentions are accurate, Mission Teen Health Project recruited 555 teen males and females in a Latino community, who aren’t going to school or aren’t getting any clinical serves (Rocco al et. 2010, p. 188). They were needed to answer a questionnaire. The females didn’t need to be pregnant but were asked if they were pregnant in the last 6 month and tested. Males were used to study if they were sexually active or also had pregnancy intentions. They used two methods to test pregnancy intentions by asking the females if they wanted to get pregnant in the next six month and if they would be happy, they were to get pregnant. They also asked for multiple information of the participants household, a sexual partner from the last 6 months, and activities are done in school. The questions were asked repeatedly between the six months and the responses changed.

In conclusion, the observation lasted for about two years. A total of 46 teenagers lasts, and there was a total of 53 pregnancies. 70% of the pregnancies occurred to the female who stated they didn’t want to be pregnant. Students who were involved and attending school were less likely to become pregnant. The need to wanting a family at an early age is correlated to the happiness of being pregnant. In the Latino community, having a high pregnancy intention are a risk for teen pregnancy and should be considered as an independent factor for pregnancy.

Overall, the article was very informative. Being part of the Latino community, it relates to my hometown. In high school, the majority of teen pregnancy in my class were Latinas. Recently, I found out that my 16-year-old sister is pregnant. For my sister situation, it contradicts what the article says. In my hometown, the need for wanted a humongous family is more important than focusing on their child. In my household, we are a large family, but my parents never wanted my siblings and I to start having children at such a young age. In their results, they mentioned that there was a less chance for someone to be pregnant if attending school and being involved, my sister was involved and did sport year-round. However, the article does a great conclusion that matches with friends of mine who did get pregnant in their teens.

Reference

1. Rocca, C.H., Doherty, I., Padian, N.S., Hubbard, A.E., Minnis, A.M. (2010) Pregnancy intentions and teenage pregnancy among Latinas: a mediation analysis. JSTOR. 42(3): 186-196

Did you like this example?

537

28