Josiane Thompson Ethnics: Mexican American Culture Class Final Project

Teen Pregnancy
Teen pregnancy is a huge issue here in the United States but its a bigger issue in the Hispanic culture. It is a serious problem in many of our communities. Many adolescents choose to be sexually active before they are prepared for the commitments of loving relationships. Of those who are sexually active, many do not use contraceptives, exposing them to the risks of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. However, there are many factors that contribute to this problem because it is said that Hispanic teens are facing challenges that make preventing teenage pregnancy harder. Some of the reasons for this are because they live in poverty, they dont have insurance to pay for contraception, and also their immigration status prevents them from accessing contraception. With these factors Latinas will often skip out on taking birth control because of the costs and without insurance those teens will most definitely have trouble getting access to it. Other factors include having parents with low

education, or growing up in a single-parent family, and not doing well in school are all factors that make it harder for a Latina to be able to prevent pregnancy. This leads to things such as not graduating or continuing education and her prospects for education and employment are greatly reduced having the government pay for the food stamps, housing and other needs. The numbers of Hispanic teenage girls that are getting pregnant are really high. Although there has been seen a significant decrease, it is said that 1 in 5 Latina teens who have a baby will have at least one more child before they turn 20. Because of all these teenage pregnancies we are all having huge economic and social costs. This

affects the baby also because most of the time they are born premature or way too small causing more health problems for that child. Also the teenagers arent finishing up their education or even continuing it. It is said that the Hispanic population is the largest minority group and growingestimating that 1/25 of teens will be Latino by 2020, and the girls are not finishing high school. Evidence has shown that parents and other trusted adults play a big role in helping teens make healthy choices about relationships, sex, and birth control. I have chosen to conduct an interview with a Latina teenage mother. She leaves on my neighborhood and I have watched her grown since she was seven years old. Lolly (her given nickname for privacy manners) is currently 17 years old she is supposed to be a senior in high school this year, and instead of being able to spend it like any other senior, she has a child to take care of it. She works at a Lagoon making minimum wage. Although, She did graduated high school early, but she is not enrolled in college because she wants to be financially secure first. I believe that all the teen mothers think on the same way; just because this is not the first time I heard this conversation. Lolly got pregnant at the age of 14. She said that she was sexually active even before got pregnant at the age of 13 without using contraceptives at all. I asked her why not for birth control? She said that she didnt know what to do or even how start to look for this type of information, because family and friends were around all the time on her free time. Then the time came where her relationship with her boyfriend got a lot of steam and her need of just do it overcame her good consciousness. She said You know when you are in love you dont think on anything else besides you and him! I was there just listening and upset at the same time for be incapable of doing something about it. I am not aloud to teach this kid, because I am not as part of the family or even a close relative! She also said that there was no information in the school to teach her about contraception. The only thing she heard in school was to stay safe and free of drugs. There was also no communication with the parents about it, because of the traditional Latino beliefs. In the Hispanic culture you dont talk about sex or contraception. I understand it completely because my brother in law has a teenage daughter and he doesnt want to talk about sex with her. With Lolly, both of her parents

were very strict on her and very much against her ideas, so she wanted her freedom. She said that because she wasnt given the freedom she would find a way to get it somehow by sneaking out or staying out late while her parents were working. Her mother work all day and her father even has two jobs to support the family. Like everyone else she never thought that it would happen to her because she just wanted to have fun and she didnt worry about this type of thing. She explains that what went wrong was that in high school she was more liberated and was being treated as an adult. She thinks that what couldve helped her was having someone in her family who knew her to talk about this stuff. It would clarify some of my responsibilities she said I had also an interview with the Vice President of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, Penny Davies. From many contacts, she was the only one that I actually could talk. This interview was done over the phone because this was the best way to get hold of her. She was able to give me Hispanic numbers (following bellow) about the girls that go in there, what girls are already pregnant, how many go inn and ask about contraception, ect. With this interview I was able to create my data, but also get a perception of what is missing in our society about why there is still such a high number. She does support any program that could help recruit more Latinas into Planned Parenthood. Penny Davis also told me that the Latino population is in need of other non-expensive ways to make sure that that they are protected from teenage pregnancy. In a study that was done in 2012 they had shown that most of the people that come into the clinic are uninsured. She gave me the details about the demographics on the patients that go inn. With the data that I collected I saw that we still have the problem as a big number into our community. Although there have been times where some years it goes up and the importance of Prevention is in need. We got to do something. We need to come up with a better way to prevent parenthood for teens. The prevention of Teen Pregnancy can help resolve the problem of Hispanic and Latin drop out rates, as well as increase

the number that go to college. Not only will we help that but also it will help the children of the teenage mothers. Statistic shows that the children have lower school achievement, drop out of high school, be incarcerated at some time during adolescence, and give birth as a teenager too. National Conference of State Legislatures (2013) conducted a survey in 2011 where they found that about 3.2 million adolescent females are infected with at least one of the most common STIs. Human papillomavirus is the most common STI among teens; some estimates find that up to 35 percent of teens ages 14 to 19 have HPV. Girls age 15 to 19 have the highest rates of Gonorrhea and the second highest rate of Chlamydia of any age group. Young males also get STIs, but their infections often are undiagnosed and unreported because they are less likely to have symptoms or seek medical care. My Strategy solution is called B12A+. It is a work chop class that it would be implemented in Junior High schools and it would work as a credit for College School. It would be for six months long, every Monday (for girls), Wednesday (for boys) and Saturday (for the parents only). The plan is to being teaching the girls, boys and parents about their nature, culture, and what type of problems that they would be possibly facing ahead in their lives. The people involved would be the school counselors in that particular school, Social Work teacher, Social Work college students for mentors, students who would like to volunteer and could do some community service through it, and also parents that have had the experience of raising kids in two different cultures. It would begin with: Educate the teen girls and teen boys about their every day challenges and how to apply personal responsibilities into their lives and grow from it. Educate the parents

about adapting to a different society and culture and how difficult it is for their childrens world is like outside of their homes. Also helping them to develop a

parenting communication with their children about sex and technology (Internet, cell phones, Skype and games) and how much that has a role in their childs sexuality. This will make parents be more aware of what their child is doing online. This also will be taught by having teen volunteers who can share their personal stories. It will lead to giving a more realistic talk about sex and how to protect them. The Being in a marriage relationship for eleven years, I see that communication is the main rule of understanding and happiness on a relationship, so I created this solution with the evidence of my neighbor teen friend which said: I would love to have more parental involvement and conversations about sex, it could help me prevent this problem that I am facing now. So, she hates the idea of calling her baby a problem. All these facts are what lead to teen pregnancy. It gave me the inspiration of create this solution. My program goals would be to reduce the rates of teen pregnancy in not only Hispanics but also multi types of cultures. If implemented correctly and efficiently, the outcomes in Hispanic youth would be reduced teen pregnancy rates in those communities. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (2013), SB 39 Requires the State Board of Education to offer training to parents regarding health education, including human sexuality, for their children. Requires the State Board of Education to develop and offer training to parents with information on health education and human sexuality; and requires the State Board of Education to: develop a training curriculum, including materials parents may use to educate their children; and report on the program to the Education Interim Committee. So with that in mind, my solution could be funded with theses funds that are not being used by Utah. It would be a health education program that would divide evenly between school and parents. Although it would be only for Hispanic and Latin people most. Just because it is where the problem is. The possible areas on the State of Utah for the B12A+ program be implemented are;

Rose Park Glendale DT Ogden South of SLC Midvale

So, the cost for the B12A+ Program is: * Social Work annual salary in Utah is from $42,000 to $73,0000 (accordingly to endeed.com). * The monthly paper (flyer papers) cost S15. Plus sponsors that would donate paper Deluxe Corp. * College Social Work Students Volunteers no cost (They would work for extra credit plus they would have an excellent opportunity to have experience in Social Services in their Resume) * Volunteer students in general no cost (experience in community services) * Rental Business Place: No cost. We would use College Campus, Elementary School, High Schools and Library to implement the B12A+ Workshop. Even so, it would cost a lot less than 10.9 billion dollars that tax payers are paying for those teens that get pregnant.

There are some places that would have resistance East and North of Salt Lake City - because there is not a high rate of Hispanic or Latin teen pregnancy. Families - because of their costumes and way in how they live their religion makes it very hard to get through their children.

All we would be doing is encouraging it but studies have shown that the more the teen knows about sex, the better decisions they will make about it. Although the population of Hispanics in Utah is growing, it will be something they will have to take into consideration in the future. In places like California and Texas where there is more of a Hispanic population I think a program like this would be much embraced. Ultimately I think a program like this would work because there are many academic levels involved on it. Is important that Latinos receive better sexual education so that they may be properly informed about protecting themselves from unwanted pregnancies. Works Cited "About NLIRH." National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Planate Technology, n.d. Web. May 22 2013. <http://latinainstitute.org/about>.

Davies, Penny Personal Interview. Tuesday, May 28 2013 Lolly (The Friend) Personal Interview. Friday, May 31 2013. "Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: 20102011." Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: 20102011. American Academy of Pediatrics, 7 Dec. 2012. Web. May, 23 2013. <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/02/05/peds.20123769.full.pdf%20html>.

 "National Campaign Actions." 2008 Teen Birth Data. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, n.d. Web. May 22 2013. <http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources/birthdata/actions.aspx>. "Office of Adolescent Health." Office of Adolescent Health. Office of Adolescent Health, May 24. 2013. <http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-healthtopics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html>.

"Preventing Repeat Teen Births." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 23 2013. <http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/TeenPregnancy/index.htl>.

"State Policies on Sex Education in Schools." State Policies on Sex Education in Schools. National Conference of State Legislatures, 13 Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. <http://m.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/state-policies-on-sexeducation-in-schools.aspx>.

http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Social+Worker&l1=Utah, Jun/04/20123

Conclusion:
I believe the implementation of this program would be effective because it relates to teenagers on a personal level. Teens are experiencing many developmental changes and raising a child at the same time can be overwhelming. A lot of them face major money issues because first they drop school. Second, they cannot hold a job while raising their child. Definitely they are not thinking about the consequences they will encounter in the long run, is lack of information or education perhaps. Although, there are people out there who are putting forth effort to help the social problem. Countless organizations are beginning to show up and attempt in helping these teens. As a mother of two children, my personal views on this topic are that young students shouldnt be having children; its as simple as they have more important things to worry about. Such as passing school, sorting out and planning their future; generally being teenager is taking step-by-step, understanding their challenges e responsibilities. It is important for parents and community support to encourage these teens to set realistic goals for their life and give them something to look forward to. It is also important for them to know that this is not the end of the world and that they can make it and go far with the love and support of their family.