"Because you're on birth control, it automatically makes you promiscuous or something": Latina women's perceptions of parental approval to use reproductive health care

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the perceptions of Latina women and healthcare providers about the role of parents in the young women's access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

Methods: This qualitative study drew on 11 focus groups conducted with 95 young adult Latina women (ages 18-24 years) and 3 focus groups with 24 health providers recruited from clinics and programs with large Latino client-bases. The data were analyzed using an inductive approach.

Results: Young adult Latinas and providers emphasized that parents play an important role in young adults' access to sexual and reproductive health services. Some young women perceived parental support to access these services while others did not. The primary reason young adult Latinas and providers felt parents did not provide support was due to parental transmission of cultural values and beliefs, specifically: (1) a high value placed on virginity; (2) a presumption that unmarried women are not sexually active and therefore do not require sexual and reproductive health services; and (3) a belief that conversations about sex and reproductive health services encourage sexual activity and promiscuity.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that young adult Latinas perceive parents as playing an important role in their sexual and reproductive health seeking behaviors into adulthood. Parents appear to influence their young adult daughters by transmitting the cultural values they have on virginity and familismo, which stresses the importance of family, familial solidarity, and adherence to traditional gender roles within the family structure.

Keywords: Cultural factors; Familismo; Latinas; Parental communication; Parental influences; Reproductive and sexual health; Young adults.