Sexual risk during initial months in US among Latina young adults

Abstract

Latina young adults are disproportionately at risk for sexually transmitted infections (e.g., HIV). However, little is known about social and cultural factors contributing to sexual health disparities among young adult Latina recent immigrants. The present study examined social and cultural factors contributing to sexual risk behaviors among 530 Latina women (ages 18–23) who immigrated to Miami-Dade County, Florida, approximately 12 months before assessment. At the cultural/macrosystemic level, participants who reported more sexual risk behaviors tended to (a) be less acculturated; (b) use less positive religious coping; (c) endorse to a greater extent the marianismo belief that Latinas should be the pillar of the family; and (d) endorse less of the marianismo belief that Latinas should be virtuous and chaste (i.e., abstain from premarital sex). As for individual-level factors, participants who reported more sexual risk behaviors also indicated (e) older age, (f) being married/partnered, (g) being employed, (h) living in the US longer, and (i) drinking more alcohol. Findings indicate areas for HIV/STI prevention for this underserved population.

Representation of gender in migrant health studies – a systematic review of the social epidemiological literature

“…The other European studies encompassed populations that migrated from Latin America ( n = 2) [ 61 , 62 ], Africa (n = 2) [ 61 , 96 ] and the Dutch Antilles ( n = 2) [ 78 , 96 ]. In contrast, the US study populations were predominantly (first and second generation) migrants from Latin America ( n = 20) [ 63 , 65 , 66 , 70 – 75 , 82 – 84 , 87 – 92 , 95 , 97 ]. The second largest region of origin is Asia and the Pacific ( n = 7) [ 69 , 79 , 81 , 94 , 98 , 99 , 102 ], one study referred to East and Western African migrants [ 93 ].…”

“…More differentiated analyses of the migration experience, e.g. by comparing first and second-generation migrants [ 69 , 77 , 79 , 96 ], or taking into account mother tongue [ 66 , 75 , 82 , 83 , 92 ] and language competencies in the country of residence [ 63 , 65 , 70 , 72 , 75 , 82 , 83 , 86 , 88 , 92 ], residence status [ 70 , 71 , 76 , 92 – 94 , 101 ] or reasons for migration [ 84 , 86 ] were less frequent.…”

“…One additional study recruited men without any reference to their sexual orientation [ 89 ]. In contrast to 20 studies solely focused on men’s health, we identified 8 studies on women only (none on gender and sexual minorities) [ 70 , 71 , 75 , 76 , 92 , 101 – 103 ], which were again predominantly located in the US. The rest ( n = 16) included men and women in their analyses [ 61 , 62 , 64 , 66 , 69 , 74 , 77 – 81 , 94 , 96 – 98 , 100 ].…”

“…The qualitative synthesis of the gender effects on health outcomes indicated as expected that stronger adherence to traditional gender norms [62,66,70,71,77,78,81,92,94,102], higher levels of gender inequality [64,100,103], gender-based discrimination [63, 65, 67, 76, 82-88, 91, 93, 95] or gender-based violence [61,77,98] are associated with adverse health outcomes. Four studies showed that gender effects only manifested in interaction with other variables.…”

“…In 22 studies analysing gender roles and norms, we identified 20 gender measures in total, of which 6 measures assessed gender norms toward men (patriarchal beliefs, Machismo, notions of masculinity) [66,70,71,74,78,79,89,91], 2 toward women (Chastity [79] or attitudes Fig. 1 Flowchart of study selection process toward women [66,69,98]), 7 toward men and women (e.g.…”