Latino sexual styles: developing a nuanced understanding of risk

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2008 by Beth Bourdeau, Volker K. Thomas, Janie K. Long

Within the next 50 years, Latinos are predicted to make up 25% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census, 2000a). It is estimated that Latino youth numbers are growing even faster, reaching 25% of the youth population in less than 25, not 50, years (U.S. Census, 2000b). Despite the increase in overall population percentage, Latinos still have disproportionately high incidence rates of human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Although the rates are not as high for Latinos as they are for African Americans, they are still significantly higher than rates for Whites (CDC, 2000; Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001). Many Latino youth have reported that they do not consider themselves at risk for HIV (Flores-Ortiz, 1994; Sneed, Morisky, Rotheram-Borus, et al., 2001) despite the use of contraception being rather low for Latino adolescents. Latino males were less likely to use condoms than their White or African American peers, and Latinas have declined in their use of birth control over time (Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001; Gurman & Borzekowski, 2004). Only half of Latino youth have reported using condoms (Taylor-Seehafer & Rew, 2000; Ventura, Mosher, Curtin, Abma, & Henshaw, 2001).

Indeed, Latinas have a high rate of teen pregnancy, lower than Blacks but higher than Whites, showing the slowest rate of decline for all groups over the past few years (Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001; Kenney, Reinholtz, & Angelini, 1997; Martin, Hamilton, & Ventura, 2001). Specifically, the risk seems concentrated among Latino groups: The rates for teen births are highest in Mexican Americans (Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001). Among ages 15-18 years, U. S.-born Latinas were most likely to have been pregnant, while among ages 19-24 years foreign-born Latinas were most likely to have been pregnant (Minnis & Padian, 2001). The study also found that the U. S.-born Latinas were more likely to have had an abortion or have contracted chlamydia than foreign-born Latinas. Taken together, the increase in the number of Latinos born and living in the United States and the high rates of teen pregnancy and STIs among this population indicate that there is a great need to understand the mechanisms underlying risk behavior to better inform prevention programming.

Latino Cultural Values

Crucial to our understanding of Latino sexual identity are several cultural values held by many Latino ethnic groups, including familism, marianismo, verguenza, and machismo.

Familism is the strong attachment and loyalty to immediate and extended family (Villarreal, Blozis, & Widaman, 2005) and is evidenced in adolescent sexuality in two ways: first, in the impact of families on adolescent sexuality, and second, in the expectations and anticipated life trajectories of adolescents. In Latino cultures, the family plays a strong role in sexual socialization and has consistent links with adolescent sexual behavior. As a result, there is an increased emphasis on respeto or respect for one's parents and other elders (Pavich, 1986). Girls in particular are influenced by their mothers and communities (East, Felice, & Morgan, 1993; Liebowitz, Castellano, & Cuellar, 1999), though there is evidence that these factors may also impact boys (Fasula & Miller, 2006). In addition, for girls, living with both parents, having recently immigrated, and living in an area with a high density of Hispanics decreased initiation into sexual activity (Upchurch, Aneshensel, Mudgal, & McNeely, 2001; Upchurch, Aneshensel, Sucoff, & Levy-Storms, 1999). Familism also distinguishes Latino youth and other groups in their expectation for life trajectory. Of all groups, Latino males had the highest desire for marriage (South, 1993). More often than Blacks or Anglos, Latino youth anticipate being married and/or pregnant at a younger age (East, 1998; South, 1993) and most Latinos hold views opposing abortion (Ellison, Echevarria-Cruz, & Smith, 2005). Generally, a lower percentage of Latinos say they are waiting until marriage to have sex than Anglos (Moran & Corley, 1991), and Latinos tend to have a large discrepancy in the ages of the partners with females being much younger than their male partners (Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001; Marin, Coyle, Gomez, Carvajal, & Kirby, 2000; Taylor, Chavez, Adams, Chabra, & Shah, 1999), resulting in a large relational power differential (Gowen, Feldman, Diaz, & Yisrael, 2004) and encouraging the traditional gender roles often promoted in Latino cultures.

The most prominent value for females is marianismo, which is embodied by women who are submissive, chaste, and relationship-oriented (Denner & Dunbar, 2004; Pavich, 1986). This value is associated with the attributed characteristics of the Virgin Mary (Wood & Price, 1997); morally superior and spiritually stronger than men, she is pure and asexual, ignorant of knowledge about sexuality or contraception. Paramount is virginity (Barkley & Mosher, 1995), while at the same time there is a reverence for motherhood, requiring a loss of virginity (Driscoll, Biggs, Brindis, & Yankah, 2001; Pavich, 1986; Villarruel, 1998). Interviews with Latinas aged 18 to 51 years (Davila, 2005) highlighted the additional role of verguenza, defined as sexual shame and lack of sexual knowledge (Sugar, 1995). Many women said that they were unable to speak about sexuality during their adolescence in their home and then later with their partners. These women "found it easier or less embarrassing to engage in an unwanted or unprotected sexual encounter than to openly discuss their sexual desires or preferences" (p. 364). Indeed, Hispanic female adolescents have been found to have lower sexually assertive beliefs than Anglos (Rickert, Sanghvi, & Wiemann, 2002), a factor which has been significantly predictive of condom use (Villarruel, Jemmott, Jemmott, & Ronis, 2004). However, some Latina mothers describe attempting to curb the influence of verguenza with open communication with their daughters (McKee & Karasz, 2006; Nadeem, Romo, & Sigman, 2006; Raffaelli & Green, 2003).