Latina tradition hits target Effort one of good ones to reduce teen pregnancy
June 30, 2004
Teen pregnancy affects us all.
Whether the teen mom is our daughter, our student, neighbor or friend, having a baby before she’s economically, emotionally or physically prepared means her life and the life of her child will be less productive than they might have been had their lives embarked upon a different route.
We featured a story recently on a Quinceaara program that encourages abstinence. Weld County could certainly use more such programs, given its statistics for teenage pregnancy.
The most recent numbers available say 38 of every 1,000 girls aged 15-17 in our county will give birth. Thankfully, that number is down from the previous year’s 46.
The likelihood the mother will finish high school, let alone go to college, are lower than her peers who don’t have babies. The likelihood that her baby, particularly if mom is single, will achieve a college education is slim.
And sadly, the mother’s chances of having another baby before she leaves her teen years is significant.
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Most research on teen pregnancy prevention, whether targeting abstinence programs or safe sex, say the most important factor isn’t which program is utilized, but rather that the program targets its audience and uses peers to help teach others their age.
Many factors affect pregnancy rates: Ethnicity, race, religious background, socio-economic status, parental involvement and more.
Effective programs should address issues specifically challenging the youths they seek to influence, which is why we find Weld’s Quinceaara program so intriguing.
The program, which will launch at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Greeley, includes an instructional video starring Greeley West High School sophomore Leisa Zamora. Zamora recently had her Quinceaara.
The program takes a tradition, which used to symbolize purity but has become somewhat of a sexual rite of passage, and steers it back toward its original goal of celebrating a girl’s commitment to remain pure.
Such a program is, obviously, not for everyone. And it isn’t intended to be a cure-all. No single program can effectively curb teen pregnancy. Young males respond much differently to information than do young females. Break that down by ethnicity, social status and whether the teen is already sexually active, and the need for programs with a narrow focus becomes painfully obvious.
Telling a teen who’s practicing sex already that abstinence is the only route seems pointless. And since statistics say one in five youths have had sex by age 15, the need remains for programs that also teach them about safety and pregnancy prevention.
No one-size-fits-all pregnancy prevention program exists anywhere. Realistic educators, parents, public health officials and the public need to resign themselves to that fact.
Weld’s Quinceaara program does exactly what we think all programs should attempt to do: It targets a specific population with a specific message designed specifically for the culture, the ethnicity, the age group and the religion of the girls it serves.
We think it’s a positive step toward dropping the number of teen pregnancies even lower. And that’s something we can all appreciate.