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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer among Latinos; screening can reduce mortality from CRC. The aims of this study are; to assess the current compliance with free [...]

The purpose of this study was to investigate Latina, Black, and White women's conceptions of beauty and perceptions of cultural standards of beauty, as well as whether or not the participants were engaging in similar social comparison processes, specifically, the denial of personal disadvantage. One hundred and fifty-seven college women participated: 48 Latinas, 52 Black women, 51 White women, and 6 'Others.' Results indicate that there are significant differences in Latinas', Black women's, and White women's relationships with their bodies, and their relationships to dominant cultural standards of beauty. In addition, there were differences by race in the tendency to engage in the denial of personal disadvantage response. These findings contribute to the understanding of how racial identity affects, or interacts with, the experience of beauty standards among Latina, Black, and White women. KEY WORDS: beauty; body; comparison; weight; race.

This study examines the relationship between acculturation and sexual activity, contraceptive use and attitudes toward self. The sample consisted of 290 Latinas participating in a statewide adolescent pregnancy prevention program funded by the California Department of Health Services. Respondents were divided into three groups for purposes of analysis: those born outside the United States, those born in the United States who spoke primarily Spanish in the home, and those born in the United States who spoke primarily English in the home. Results indicated that less acculturated adolescents were less likely to engage in sexual activity. Place of birth was the most important predictor of differences in reproductive attitudes and behavior; language spoken in the home was not a predictor of sexual activity. There were no significant differences in contraceptive use among the sexually active respondents in the three groups. Respondents born outside of the United States had more negatives attitudes toward self on one measure; respondents born in the United States who spoke primarily Spanish in the home were more likely to plan to attend college, and to delay sexual activity because their parents would be upset, than the other groups. The authors suggest factors that may explain these differences in attitudes and behavior among the three groups. KEYWORDS. Latina, acculturation, sexual activity, contraception

Objective. This paper examines the abortion decisions of Hispanic women who reside in the Texas counties that border Mexico. We hypothesize that ethnicity as well as geographic location may capture differences in assimilation to the U.S. culture that, ultimately, influence fertility-control decisions. We concentrate on the connection between the abortion decision and provider availability as measured by distance to the nearest abortion provider. Methods. The empirical model uses a logit specification to compare the abortion decisions of border Hispanics to both Hispanic and Anglo women residing in nonborder regions of Texas. The data consist of all births and abortions for women 20 years old and older for 1993 in Texas. Results. We find characteristic differences among the abortion decisions of Texas women by ethnicity and geographic location. In particular, Hispanics along the border region are quantitatively more responsive to variations in the availability of abortion providers, poverty rates, female emplo yment rates, and urbanization. Conclusions. The abortion decisions of nonborder Hispanics appear to more closely resemble those of Anglo women rather than those of their Hispanic counterparts in the border region. Also, economic development in the Texas-Mexico border region is likely to have a significant impact on abortion and fertility rates in the region., Introduction Numerous studies have examined the demand for abortions, although few of these studies focus on the abortion decisions of Hispanic women. Hispanics comprise one of the most rapidly growing [...]

Reflecting an increasingly permanent Latino population, the 1990 U.S. Census showed that nearly three-fourths of the 22.4 million Latinos were native born or naturalized U.S. citizens (Eshleman, 1994; del Pinal, 1993). Perhaps in part because of the growth and relative permanency of Latino and other immigrant populations, a U.S. 'backlash' has resulted in efforts to curtail services to them (Vega, 1995). In states with rapidly-growing immigrant populations, exclusionary policies may be aimed at specific groups. Proposition 187 in California, for example, denies access to regular, ongoing health care for undocumented Latinos. For migrant farm-working families, who often live in rural areas with few services, access to health care is additionally problematic. The purpose of this research was to examine realities for migrant farm-working families, whose health may be compromised by service cutbacks. Focus group interviews were conducted with adult women of Mexican descent who lived in a rural Oregon community, and who had access to a local family health project designed for them. This article reports the findings from the focus group interviews.

In a community-based sample of Hispanic women, this study examines differences in relation to level of acculturation in knowledge about the Pap examination, fear/fatalism towards cancer, and cervical cancer screening behaviors. Respondents were randomly chosen from 11 churches in the Phoenix metropolitan area (n = 566) and were categorized into three acculturation levels: low (35.2%), bicultural (26.3%), and high (38.5%). Interviews focused on family history of cancer as well as knowledge about cancer and utilization of screening techniques for breast and cervical cancers. OLS regression and probit analyses were conducted to examine the role of acculturation in differentiating Hispanic subgroups in relation to knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors regarding cervical cancer. Findings of the present study indicate that Hispanic women in the Phoenix metropolitan area are utilizing cervical cancer screening services with over 90 percent of women in all three acculturation groups ever having had a Pap exam and more than 50 percent having had the examination during the past year. However, results also indicate that of the Hispanic subgroups examined, lower acculturated Hispanic women have less knowledge about Pap smears and exhibit lower utilization rates for cervical cancer screening. Those results suggest that lower-acculturated Hispanic women comprise the subgroup of Hispanics that is at greatest risk of presenting with advanced stages of cervical cancer. Results have implications for cancer screening and education programs for Hispanic women as well as implications for health care professionals who serve this population.

The objective of this article is to determine whether there exists a Latino gender gap in public opinion. The issue areas selected for this study represent areas likely to reveal a gender gap if the phenomenon is present among Latinos in a manner similar to the general public. The areas studied include (a) support for decreased spending on military spending, (b) support for increased social welfare spending, and (c) attitudes toward women's political and social roles. Some evidence for a Latino gender gap is found, and it runs in a similar direction on some social welfare issues and for women's social and political roles but is not consistent with the literature on violence and force issues. The results presented here are preliminary, however, and much research remains to be done on gender differences in other public opinion issues, as well as political activities and political orientation.

A Latina human activist narrates her experiences as a union worker and her problems at home because of that. She joined METRO in 1975, and became politically active. Her husband, who had traditional views about the role of women in a family, disapproved of her activism. She later became a shop steward, fighting for the wronged, but she was not considered for the leadership post due to her ethnicity. She resents the patronizing attitude of white women toward Latina women.

As part of a larger ethnographic study on the role of religion in the lives of youth in the United States, data collected through fieldwork at Protestant evangelical ministries in the Chicago area show an emerging pattern of marginalized experiences for 'at-risk' teenaged and college-aged Hispanic females who are involved in youth-based religious groups and activities. We suggest a contradiction emerging from our findings: churches desire to save youth from risky behaviors, thus accommodating their ministries to meet the needs of the at-risk youths; yet, the churches simultaneously promote traditional gender roles that foster feelings of oppression. This forces the young women into a difficult position: conform and maintain the connectedness to the ministry, or resist the traditional expectations and forfeit what a youth group provides to at-risk youth.