Latinos in American Society by Ruth Enid Zambrana

Author:Ruth Enid Zambrana [Zambrana, Ruth Enid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, American, Hispanic American Studies, General
ISBN: 9780801461521
Google: 66k4plOyrTsC
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2011-06-15T04:27:28+00:00

Safe sex practices are necessary to both prevent pregnancy and protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). About one-third of Latino and 30 percent of NHW youth are sexually active in ninth through twelfth grades—compared to about half (51.3 percent) of NHB males, and 43.8 percent of NHB females. Non-Hispanic Black males are the most likely to use condoms followed by NHW and Latino males. Over 50 percent of Latino and about fifity-five percent of NHW females use condoms, with NHB females being the most likely to use condoms. A study of Mexican American college students found that the expectancy of enhanced sexual performance and experience were associated with involvement in sexual risk behaviors due to drinking (Zamboanga 2005). Abstinence rates among fifteen- to seventeen-year-olds show Latino males were much less likely to be abstinent than Latino females. NHB males had the lowest rates of abstinence at 47 percent and NHWs had the highest rates of abstinence at 75 percent (Mosher et al. 2005). Early age engagement in unprotected sexual activity all too often contributes to early childbearing. Additional responsibilities of parenting at a young age in distressed economic circumstances combined with other health behavioral risks capture a profile of Latino youth under psychosocial distress.

Multiple factors affect the mental health status of Latino youth. Interfamily tensions, racism based on language accent, intergenerational differences, fear in their neighborhoods and schools, community violence, and unwelcoming environments in the schools contribute to a sense of not belonging (see chapters 5 and 6). Interfamily tensions have been attributed to several factors: Latino youths’ ability to acquire English language proficiency at a much faster rate than their parents and to their exposure to different values and behaviors of peers and those of American society through English media. These differences in family members’ “level of assimilation can become a significant source of intergenerational stress that undermines family relationships” (National Research Council 2002, 19) and can be exacerbated by worries about their parents’ health and economic situation (Zambrana and Silva Palacios 1989).

Table 7.3. Mental Health Indicators for Children and Adolescents (< 18 Years of Age) by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

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