It’s Your Fault Your Lateena Is Pregnant, Mom

By now, we’re all well-aware that, like, 10 out of 5 teenage Latinas in this country are pregnant. But we still don’t know who, exactly, to blame for it. Is it the media, with it’s bullheaded insistence that Diablo Cody’s Oscar win wasn’t some sort of mean trick? Can we blame teachers? Pastors? Gay communist cat people? Luckily, a new survey commissioned by the National Council of La Raza and The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy lets us know who and what is acting as an influence when it comes to Latino teens and sex. The survey’s findings may surprise you, especially if you’re the parent of a Latino teen.

See, get this, 49% of Latino teens say their parents act as the factor that most influence their decisions about sex. Additionally, of the teenagers surveyed, a scant 14% named their friends as most influential, 6% named family members other than their parents, 3% cited religious leaders, 2% named teachers and a mere 2% more named the media as most influential. 

An earlier study regarding the sexual tendencies of the Latinius Teenagerus echoed this point and seemed to imply that maybe it isn’t necessarily the act of sitting on your teen daughter’s bed to talk to her about how sex is performed, why she might consider waiting, why birth control and contraceptives are important, and how men can and will try to skeet slap you that forms young Latinas’ attitudes on sex. Maybe it’s also the decision to de-emphasize sex in general and focus more on other issues, like education:

The study also revealed a high correlation between a young Latina’s decision about when to first initiate sexual activity and her family’s expectations.

“Both personal control and family expectations had a very important role in delaying early initiation of sex,” said study author Melissa Gilliam, MD, MPH, section chief of Family Planning at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “If the daughter perceived that her family felt her education was important, then it led her to delay sex.”

So don’t feel discouraged, moms and dads. There’s a good indication that your child is listening to you. And, more importantly, they happen to be looking to you as a guide. So maybe less watching porn in the family den and smacking mom’s ass in the kitchen and more expecting good grades and warning you kid about the real dangers of skeet slapping.

Latino Teens Say Parents Most Influence Their Decisions About Sex [International News]