New Report Details Sexual Trends Among Low-Income Black Urban Youth 1/21/2004
From: Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 202-478-8510 WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 -- For many low- income Black urban youth, sex is seen as little more than a transaction and mainstream messages about sex, love, and relationships are having little impact in the inner city, according to a new report from MEE (Motivational Educational Entertainment) Productions, released today by MEE, in partnership with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. This extraordinarily frank report, This is My Reality -- The Price of Sex: An Inside Look at Black Urban Youth Sexuality, summarizes findings from 40 focus groups conducted in ten cities in 2002, and offers many sobering insights from low-income Black youth (ages 16-20) on their views about sex, relationships, pregnancy, abstinence and marriage. The California Endowment and the Ford Foundation sponsored the report. "These Black youth wanted -- and needed -- to be heard, and we went into their communities and listened," said MEE President, Ivan Juzang. "For the most part, Black urban youth are not getting the information and guidance they need to make good choices about their sexual health. They view sex as a transaction, harbor little trust for each other, and believe that adults are contributing to the problem of early, casual sex and pregnancy." In the U.S., 35 percent of girls get pregnant at least once by age 20. Despite recent declines, the U.S. still has the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates of any Western industrialized nation. African-Americans have achieved some of the steepest declines in both teen pregnancies and births. Between 1990 and 1999 (most recent data available), teen pregnancy rates for Black teens (aged 15-19) declined 30 percent, compared to 25 percent for the nation as a whole. "This is a very widespread problem touching all teens," said Sarah Brown, Director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "However, given our goal of reducing the national teen pregnancy rate by one-third, we need to provide special support to groups whose rates are highest. The teens in the MEE study represent a group that is at particularly high risk for pregnancy -- so it is critical that we understand them better," Brown said. "This report is a vital step in that direction and is unlike any we've seen in its depth, candor and insight. We are proud to help MEE Productions share these young peoples' insights with those who work with teens across the country." Some key findings from the report: -- Trust and communication are rare, and young Black girls in particular do not feel valued. In the focus groups, males said that they don't trust females and females said that they don't trust each other; many noted frequent relationships between young girls and adult men; and males and females both reported a high level of derogatory sexual terms used to describe women. Young men frequently said that one reason they did not have having a single, steady partner is that they don't trust girls to be faithful. Both sexes said that cheating was rampant and that many guys had both a regular girlfriend ("wifey") and casual sex partners ("shortys") -- and that condom use was more prevalent with casual sex partners than in steady relationships. -- Becoming a teen parent seems more realistic than abstaining from sex, getting married, or having a successful future. Young people in the study report that they are growing up in environments where sex is commonplace, marriage is rare, and teen parenthood is the norm. Teen parenthood carries little stigma; in fact, for many having a child at an early age is seen as a positive step. Many young people believe that "everyone is doing it," a message that they said was constantly reinforced by the media. -- Parents can help, but they often don't. Many in the study say that adults are contributing to the problem of early, casual sex by (1) trying to act "young" and engaging in risky sexual behavior themselves, (2) offering overt or tacit approval for early sex, pregnancy, and parenthood, or (3) refusing to discuss sex and related issues with their children. Teens in the study agree with teens nationwide: their parents are their most preferred source of information about sex. "The young people who shared their views in the MEE study are beacons of hope, not just causes for concern," Brown said. "Even though their life experiences are quite different, teens in this study hold views about sex that are strikingly similar to what we are hearing from teens across the nation," Brown said. "Regardless of income, race or residence, the teens in this study -- like all teens -- want parental support and guidance but say that the adults often let them down. They feel a lot of pressure to have sex, find that pressure hard to counter, and say that they wish they'd waited longer to become sexually active -- as do two-thirds of teens nationwide." The full report includes a literature review; interviews with 10 experts on sexuality, the media and public health; and a media consumption and lifestyles survey of 2,000 African American teens and young adults. The young people who participated in this study live in households with less than $25,000 in annual income. Research sites were Baltimore, Maryland; New York City, New York; Los Angeles/Long Beach and Oakland/Richmond, California; Chicago, Illinois; New Orleans, Louisiana; Detroit, Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Atlanta, Georgia. The report is accompanied by a documentary video featuring excerpts from the focus groups and expert interviews. "Before anyone judges these youth for their sexual behavior, understand that this is their reality, and that these young people are products of the socioeconomic and cultural influences in their environment. There's no higher priority than educating these youth so that they can make better choices about their bodies and their lives," says Dr. Robert Ross, CEO of the California Endowment, a co-sponsor of the report. For more information: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is providing a brief summary of the report that pulls out themes and findings that are most relevant to preventing teen pregnancy. To view the summary of This Is My Reality -- The Price of Sex: An Inside Look at Black Urban Youth Sexuality, visit: http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/reading/This_Is _My_Reality/ To purchase the full report and video, visit MEE Productions website: http://www.MEEProductions.com About MEE Productions and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy MEE Productions is an internationally recognized communications firm that develops research-based, market-driven solutions for issues facing urban and low-income populations living in at-risk environments. http://www.meeproductions.com The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the well-being of children and families by reducing teen pregnancy. Its goal is to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by one-third between 1996 and 2005. http://www.teenpregnancy.org |