New poll: Young Latinos need sex education, birth control

By Ruben Hernandez

In the healthy lifestyles of today’s Latino Americans, a positive sexual relationship plays an important role. In the coming months ArizonaLatinos will be exploring topics about sex as it relates to intimate, wholesome relationships between couples, and how it forms the foundations of happy families. These articles will include advice from top sexologists, institutes, religious and medical experts on this subject, as well as the sharing of personal experiences of our readers.  

In May, which has been designated National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, we take a look at a national poll detailing what Latinos think and believe about providing sex education to teens, and what we can do to prevent unplanned teen pregnancies.

In a new poll commissioned by the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health and Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a majority of Latinos gave top priority to providing sex education to teens and teen pregnancy prevention.

Nine out of 10 Hispanics believe sex education should be taught in U.S. high- and middle schools, and almost 90 percent believe teen pregnancy prevention is as important as getting good grades in school. In addition, more than 50 percent of Latinos in the survey believe controlling teen pregnancy is even more important for Latino teenager than for other ethnic and cultural populations. The national poll surveyed more than 1,000 Latinos over age 18.   

When it comes to education about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), about 96 percent said they thought high school students should be taught this information. About 91 percent said birth control and abstinence information also should be provided in high school.

Moreover, almost 87 percent of the Latinos polled said parents should do more at home to address these sexual issues. In addition, 78 percent said schools should do more, 63 percent said media should do more, 61 percent said religious groups should do more, and 68 percent said the government should do more.

About 33 percent of respondents think Latino teens have less access to birth control than other Americans, and more than 45 percent say Latino teens have less health care insurance coverage than other Americans.

The poll included a cross-section of English- and Spanish-speaking families.  

Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, co-director and professor of the CLAFH at New York University, said the poll showed “overwhelming support” for comprehensive sex education for young Latinos.

Teen pregnancy rates among Latino young women have declined sharply. From 2007 to 2011, these rates decreased by 34 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control. However, it’s estimated that four in ten Latinos will get pregnant before age 20. In addition, Latino teens are 1.5 times more likely than White teens to have a repeat birth.

In regard to the lack of insurance issues, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood said the Affordable Care Act  Congress has enacted will be “transformative” in increasing Latino access to health insurance, which will mean more access to birth control. Planned Parent will begin an awareness campaign on the ACA in summer. This will prepare Latinos for October, when health care exchanges are implemented.  Access to contraceptives makes a difference, said PPFA. According to a recent Guttmacher Institute study, all of the decline in teen pregnancies among 18-19 year old teenagers and 75 percent of the decline among 15-17 year olds was due to effective use of contraceptives. 

As part of National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, the Center for Latino and Adolescent Health has released a series of videos to accompany Families Talking Together (FTT), its family intervention program. FTT is designed to support communication between parents and teens about avoiding too-early sex or unsafe sex and to address social reasons that often lead teens to engage in these behaviors. Visit www.clafh.org to learn more about Families Talking Together.