Guide for Latino Faith Communities.

Research has long connected teens’ own religious beliefs with their sexual attitudes and behavior. New research released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and developed by Child Trends, indicates that teens from religious families and those with friends who regularly attend religious services tend to have sex at later ages compared to teens whose parents have religious beliefs that are not as strong and whose peers don’t attend services as regularly.

The National Campaign also released a new guide, Faith, Hope, and Love: How Latino Faith Communities Can Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Created in partnership with a distinguished group of advisors, the guide provides faith leaders serving Latino families ideas to help young people avoid too-early pregnancy and parenthood.

“Religion is an important part of everyday life for many Latinos,” said National Campaign Board Member Daisy Exposito-Ulla. “Priests, pastors, ministers, pastoral associates, directors of religious education, youth leaders, pastors’ spouses, and others are in unique and powerful position to help young people and their parents address the issue of teen pregnancy which is a serious challenge for Latino communities.” Currently, half of all Latina teens get pregnant by age 20 and Latina teens have the highest teen birth rate among major racial/ethnic groups.

To view guide CLICK below (Adobe Acrobat Reader required):

http://www.teenpregnancy.org/religion/FHL.pdf