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In this study we examine the impact of anti-immigrant environment on the lives of Latinos of Mexican descent. With high levels of deportation and with states and cities passing antiimmigration laws related to employment and housing, we argue that a hostile environment for immigrants has been created at national, state, and local levels. We take a novel approach by assessing anti-immigrant environment from information related to deportation and perception of discrimination in employment and housing. We couch the anti-immigrant environment in perspectives such as, group threat theory, and we argue that the anti-immigrant environment leads to marginalization of the Latino population. Using nationally representative data from the 2008 National Survey of Latino from the Pew Hispanic Center (N=1,726), we seek to answer the following broad research question: how does the anti-immigrant environment affect the population of Mexican descent in the US? Our findings suggest that deportation worries, perceived discrimination in employment, and housing are positively related to measures of wellbeing-unhappiness and dissatisfaction. We also found that those who perceived severe discrimination-both employment and housing-have elevated likelihood of unhappiness and dissatisfaction. The negative effect of anti-immigrant environment on well-being was observed predominantly for Latinos of Mexican descent compared to those of non-Mexican descent. We argue that as Latinos of Mexican descent form the largest group of immigrants, ethnic minorities, and deportees in the US, this population will be affected by the anti-immigrant environment differently and to a greater extent than the rest of the Latino population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the disparity in peer influences between African American and white adolescents. Specifically, we examine how delinquent peers affect contraceptive self-efficacy differently for black and white adolescents. Employing mediating and moderating models we find that although contraceptive self-efficacy reduces risky sexual behavior for both races, delinquent peers reduce contraceptive self-efficacy only among African American adolescents and not for white adolescents. The beneficial effect of contraceptive self-efficacy that protects adolescents from taking sexual-risks are mitigated by delinquent peers for African Americans and not for whites. We couch the findings within the debate that peers affect African American adolescents to a greater extent than white or vice versa. We use the first wave (1995) of the Add Health data set and our subsample comprises of adolescents who have been sexually active within the past year. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familial variables have been the key interest and are believed to be key predictors of high-risk behaviors in adolescents. In particular, we were interested in familial interdependence among young Latino and Anglo women and its influence on pregnancy and condom use. Relative to the Anglo population, Latinos have been noted to be more collectivistic and interdependent with family members and friends. Those characterized by a stronger sense of interdependence are more likely to experience the aspirations, achievements and emotions of family, and are likely to set aside personal needs and goals for family needs and goals. We believe that perceived sense of interdependence may moderate high-risk behaviors. Data from first wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1994) reveal important cultural differences between Latino and Anglo women. High levels of parental interdependence reduced the chances of pregnancy to a greater extent among Latino (by 20%) compared to Anglo (by 10%) adolescent females. Condom use, however, is related to parental interdependence in Latino as it is in Anglo women. We surmise that Latino women are highly conscious of and conforming to parental expectations of chastity, but live in a culture where openly airing sexual issues (i.e. condom use) is considered inappropriate and disrespectful to many Latino women. Thus, interdependence makes a discernible difference in pregnancy rates, but not condom use in Latino women. These findings highlight the importance of examining cultural differences that can aid in the development of appropriate interventions to stem unwanted adolescent pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores risky adolescent sexual behavior and the manner in which parents and peers of adolescents impact such behaviors. This research expands the definition of sexual risk by adapting a multidimensional approach utilizing the following elements of sexual behavior: multiple sexual partners, age at first intercourse, nonusage of condoms, nonromantic relationships, and usage of drugs and alcohol during most recent intercourse. A composite sexual risk index was created using Latent Class Analysis. Parental and peer influences on adolescent sexual behavior were also examined from a multi-variable perspective. The three aspects of parental influence are: monitoring, communication, and conservatism. The four aspects of peer influence are: interaction levels, sexual awareness, delinquency, and intimacy. Several salient findings emerged after analyzing data from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 1994-1996 (N= 3,820). First, parents and peers influence adolescent sexual activity very differently for teenagers who are on the verge of sexual activity and those who are already sexually active. Second, specific aspects of parental and peer inter actions, e.g., monitoring, delinquency, have unique effects on different levels of adolescents sexual risk, e.g., low, moderate, and high. Finally, peers have greater impact in predicting sexual risk among adolescents than parents. From the policy perspective, this study increases our understanding of the specific elements of social and familial influences that determines risky sexual behavior among adolescents. This would facilitate formulating targeted strategies to curb such behaviors among teenagers and manage undesired outcomes like HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to explain risky sexual behavior among adolescents. Young people ages 13 to 19 account for 13 percent of all new HIV cases, with females accounting for 61 percent of the HIV infections (CDC, 2004). There is great urgency to address this problem given that the rates of HIV infection in adolescents have not abated (CDC, 2004). We examined two key factors of parental influence on two widely used indices of risky sexual behavior known to predict STDs and HIV infection: unprotected sexual activity and the number of sexual partners. In particular, we examined the adolescents? perception of parental authority and expressed affection on condom use and number of sexual partners. We believe that these parental factors influence the decisions adolescents make regarding their sexual lives. Parental authority is defined by the amount of control parents have over the life of an adolescent. Parents may exert their control in various ways related to decision-making such as time of nightly curfew, friends, clothes, diet and television programs. We expect a U-shape relationship with the least and the greatest parental authority/control relating to riskier sexual behavior. Little guidance or direction from parents may allow permissive behaviors, while controlling and rigid parents may induce reactive and risky behaviors. Expressed affect is defined by the sentiments and feelings expressed by the parents or parent toward the adolescent. Do adolescents feel nurtured, accepted, loved and wanted? We expect those adolescents who perceived themselves to be more accepted and loved to be happier, more secure, less depressed and to exhibit less risky behavior. We expect kids in more emotionally restrictive and indifferent environments to experience less happiness, depression and loneliness and to engage in riskier behavior. Thus, we expect parental expressiveness to be related to the emotional states and sexual behaviors of the adolescents. Analysis will be performed by using data from the National Study of Adolescent Health, 1994-1996. This survey contains a broad array of questions related to adolescent behaviors, perceptions, and attitudes on myriad of areas of their lives. There are several questions that directly and indirectly capture parental authoritativeness and parental expressed affect. In order to capture the nuances within these concepts, exploratory factor analysis will be performed. Then, risky sexual behavior will be predicted in a multivariate context by the parental and adolescent variables as developed from the factor analysis. Outline of Actual Display Presentation Salient Points from Literature Review Hypotheses Data and Sample Methods Table of Factor Analysis Table of Multivariate Model for Parental Authoritativeness Table of Multivariate Model for Parental Expressed Affect Table of Multivariate Model for Parental Authoritativeness and Expressed Affect Conclusions Discussion and Limitations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]