A University of Illinois researcher advises caution when trying to characterize gender roles and sexual behavior among this country’s Latino adolescents and young adults.
“When a recent documentary about U.S. Latinos featured two teen mothers in a 90-minute program, the Latino students in my classes thought it was an unbalanced portrayal of their community—and they were right!” said Marcela Raffaelli, a U of I professor of human and community development and co-author of a recently published chapter on Latino teen sexuality.
National surveys do show that Latino young people as a group are less likely than their non-Latino peers to use condoms and birth control and are more likely to become pregnant and have a child. But these statistics hide a much more complicated picture, she said.
For one thing, Latinos represent more than 20 different groups, and they live in very different situations in the United States.
“For example, Continue reading ‘Latino Teens = Sexual Adventurers? It’s Complicated Says Researcher’
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