Underserved Youth in Communities of Color

Seventy percent of children in communities of color live in extreme poverty and children in these communities of color are more likely to live in poverty than their Caucasian counterparts. In fact, the Poverty Rates for Youth (PRYs) between 6 and 17 years of age is 41.9 percent in the African-American population and 35.2 percent in the Latino population. In stark contrast, the PRY for Caucasian youth this age is 14 percent.1

These realities--as well as the recent movement of government assistance from the federal to the state level and the reform of welfare programs--have direct repercussions in the provision of services to these young people. Efforts to teach comprehensive sexuality education to these youth is just beginning in many of these underserved communities. Yet, at the same time, abstinence-only education has become a federally supported program. Even though abstinence is a viable option for these young people, research has shown that such fear-based programs will not provide these young people with the tools they need to make responsible, realistic decisions about sexuality. It is crucial that these young people receive comprehensive sexuality education to help them make responsible decisions on issues of abstinence; intimacy; sexual limit setting; resistance to social, media, and peer pressure; and pregnancy and STD prevention without depriving them of knowledge or threatening them with fear.

SEXUAL INTERCOURSE

• Seventy percent of high school seniors have engaged in sexual intercourse by the time they graduate. 2
• Among males aged 15 to 19, 81 percent of African American, 60, percent of Latinos, and 57 percent of Caucasians have had sexual intercourse. 3
• Among females aged 15 to 19, 59 percent of African-American, 45 percent of Latinas, and 48 percent of Caucasians have had sexual intercourse. 3
• Sixty-five percent of male and 56.6 percent of female Native-Americans have had sexual intercourse by the 12th grade. 4
  

HIV/AIDS AND OTHER STDS

• Over 3 million adolescents are infected yearly with an STD. 5
• Young people aged 15 to 19 have the highest rates of gonorrhea infection in the United States. The rates are particularly high for African-American adolescents. In 1995, African-American women in this age group had 4,433 cases per 100,000 population and African-American teenage men had 3,267 cases per 100,000 population. These rates are 27 percent higher than those of Caucasian adolescents. 6
• African-American and Hispanic youth aged 13 to 19 account for 65 percent of teenage AIDS cases and 70 percent of HIV-infected teenagers in the United States. 7
• AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death in African-American females aged 15 to 24. It is the fifth leading cause of death among their male peers. 8
• Latino adolescents comprise 18 percent of reported AIDS cases among youth aged 13 to 19; 21 percent of AIDS cases among affected Latino adolescents are among females. 9
• Among Asian/Pacific Islander and Native-American adolescents, AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death. 10
  

PREGNANCY

• Fifty-four percent of African-American and Latino youth aged 15 to 19 use contraception at first intercourse compared to 69 percent of their Caucasian peers. 11
• The 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance reported that 45.6 percent of sexually active teenagers in grades nine through 12 had not used condoms during their latest sexual intercourse. The report found that 66.4 percent of African-American male teenagers reported condom usage as compared to 52 percent of Caucasian teenagers and 44.4 percent of Latino teenagers. 12
• In 1994, the teen birthrate dropped slightly among African-Americans, stayed the same among Caucasian teens, and rose slightly for Latinas. The birthrate for Latina and African-American teens is 108 per thousand females aged 15 to 19 compared to 40 births per thousand for Caucasian females aged 15 to 19. 13
• One in five African-American teenagers and one is six Latina teenagers become pregnant each year. 14
• Native-American adolescents have major concerns about pregnancy. Over 46 percent of sexually active males, and 42 percent of sexually active females worry about pregnancy. 15
• Among Native-American mothers, 41 percent had their first child before the age of 20 as compared to 23 percent of all mothers in the United States. 16
• There is a direct relation between poverty level, education of parents, and pregnancy rates in communities of color. Young people who live in extreme poverty with parents who have low levels of education have higher rates of pregnancy than youths who live in better socio-economic conditions. 17
• Women who bear children at an early age tend to earn less money than women who wait until adulthood to become mothers. Children living with teenage mothers are more likely to live in extreme poverty. Early child-bearing among Latino teens may be strongly related to perceived notions of limited options. 18
  

References and Additional Information

1. One in Four: America's Youngest Poor, (New York: Columbia School of Public Health, National Center for Children in Poverty, 1996), 35-53.
2. "Sexual Behavior Among High School Students: United States, 1990," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 40, no. 50 (1990).
3. "Teenage Sexual and Reproductive Behavior," Facts in Brief, (New York:The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1993).
4. The State of Native American Youth Health, (Minneapolis:University of Minnesota and Indian Health Services, 1992), 35-42.
5. "Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Youth," Fact File, (New York:Hetrick-Martin Institute, 1993).
6. Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, 1995. (Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996), 11.
7. "U.S. HIV and AIDS Cases Reported Through June 1996," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 8, no.1 (1996).
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. "AIDS Among Racial/Ethnic Minorities--United States, 1993," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 43, no. 35 (1994).
11. C. Brindis, "Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention for Hispanic Youth: The Roles of School, Families, and Communities," Journal of School Health, 62, no. 7 (1992).
12. "Youth Risk Behaviour Surveillance - United States, 1995," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 45, no. SS-4 (1995).
13. "Child Trends," Facts at a Glance (Washington: Child Trends, Inc., 1996).
14. S. J. Ventura, S. M. Taffel, W. D. Mosher, et al, "Trends in Pregnancies and Pregnancy Rates: Estimates for the United States, 1980-92," Monthly Vital Statistics Report, vol. 43, no. 11, (1992).
15. The State of Native American Youth Health, (Minneapolis:University of Minnesota and Indian Health Services, 1992), 35-42.
16. "Advance Report of Final Natality Statistics, 1987," Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 38, no. 3 (1987).
17. One in Four: America's Youngest Poor, 35-53.
18. Ibid.

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