The use of fertility awareness methods (FAM) among young adult Latina and black women: what do they know and how well do they use it? Use of FAM among Latina and black women in the United States.

OBJECTIVES: Although a sizeable percentage of minority women use fertility awareness methods (FAM), little is known about their use in the United States. We sought to fill this gap by examining FAM use among Latina and black women -- groups that have high rates of unintended childbearing and FAM use -- focusing on knowledge, sources of information and accuracy of use. Unlike other methods, accurate use of FAM requires relatively high levels of knowledge. STUDY DESIGN: In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 58 Latina and black women who were current or past users of FAM. Participants were recruited through local clinics and ads posted in neighborhoods and local Web sites. A purposive sample design was used to ensure that the sample included individuals with characteristics associated with FAM use. An inductive approach was used in the data analysis. RESULTS: Women learned about FAM from family, professionals and the Internet. In general, what they learned fell into one of two levels of information -- basic or in-depth -- and many women possessed moderate to low levels of knowledge. By decomposing accuracy of use into its components, we find that it is driven largely by knowledge. While the vast majority of women were abstaining from unprotected sex during what they believed to be their fertile window, only 34 of the 58 participants accurately identified their fertile period. CONCLUSIONS: Findings speak to a gap in reproductive literacy that has important implications for FAM users. The gap between behavior and knowledge could help account for high failure rates associated with FAM use.

"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.

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.

Preschool understanding of emotions: contributions to classroom anger and aggression.

BACKGROUND: We sought to identify patterns of social cognitive differences among preschoolers that were related to risk of stable aggressive behavior with peers. Following Lemerise and Arsenio (2000), we considered the emotional components of early social cognition, reasoning that young children's substrate of emotion knowledge serves them in decoding social encounters. METHOD: One hundred and twenty-seven children from a longitudinal study from age 3 to 4 though to their kindergarten year were interviewed on their emotional knowledge initially using a puppet procedure and later with stories about mixed emotions and display rule. Each year their anger and antisocial responses to others' emotions were observed. Teachers also provided information on each child's anger and aggression. RESULTS: Children's deficits in emotion knowledge assessed at age 3 and 4 predicted subsequent years' aggression. This effect was especially pronounced for boys. CONCLUSIONS: The pattern of findings suggests that the processes implicated in Dodge's work with older children may begin earlier than previously thought, with a focus on emotions.