Teen Pregnancy and the Impact On Asian and Pacific Islander Communities
There are many issues that impact the lives of API teens with regard to their sexual behaviors and choices they make. Pressures and conflicts that arise out of acculturation pressures, intergenerational conflict, and cultural taboos with regard to sex, contribute to the availability of support and youth’s ability to make healthy decisions about their sexual health.
At a time when U.S. teen births overall are decreasing, Southeast Asians have some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates relative to their overall population size.¹ In 1989-1998, Laotians constituted the highest percentage (18.9%) of teen births in California among all racial and ethnic groups.²
Providing education to increase fundamental reproductive health knowledge and communication skills along with increasing resources to support services that are culturally-appropriate, language-specific, and confidential have been among recommended approaches for preventing pregnancy in Southeast Asian communities.²
AHS Youth Program implements such recommended approaches in striving to promote healthy sexual behaviors and the well-being of API youth. Since December 2000, AHS Youth Program has provided over 1100 visits related to one-to-one family planning counseling and Teen Clinic.
1 UCSF Center for Reproductive Research and Policy (2001).
2 Nakatomi and Associates, Inc. (2001). A Community Dialogue on Teen Pregnancy Among Southeast Asians. As part of the Get Real About Teen Pregnancy Campaign.