Adolescent Parenthoods and Culture in Latin America

该项目通过三个交叉问题调查墨西哥、古巴和哥伦比亚的青春期性健康和生殖健康(ASRH)和年轻父母身份：(1)文化生产如何反映和规范对ASRH和年轻父母的理解？(2)文化表现如何与各国政府和非政府组织的ASHR政策和倡议相一致或相违背？(3)这种干预措施如何符合青少年，特别是年轻父母的需要和生活现实？每一条询问路线都将扩大我们对青少年为人父母的理解，并提高未来干预措施的影响。在许多拉丁美洲国家，少女怀孕率正在上升，在社会、经济和健康方面产生了严重的负面后果。年轻母亲往往是性暴力的受害者，也容易受到各种形式的产科暴力的伤害。青少年为人父母阻碍了受教育的机会，阻碍了社会流动，加深了贫困，使青少年父母和他们的婴儿更容易患病和死亡。在以性别暴力、边缘化和早产为标志的背景下，这样的结果更糟糕。尽管墨西哥、古巴和哥伦比亚在孕产妇保健方面取得了更广泛的进展，但少女怀孕率仍然居高不下，特别是在该项目突出的当地环境(莫雷洛斯和格兰玛)。统计数据主导了这一领域的现有研究，模糊了对影响性行为、生育选择(包括早婚)和获得包括堕胎在内的ASRH服务的社会和文化因素的迫切需要的了解。在青春期，随着社会规范变得根深蒂固，文化具有更大的个人相关性。许多研究认为，教育是防止意外怀孕的关键。然而，这三个背景中的每一个都具有自相矛盾的特点，即在ASHR资源和教育方面的投资高得不典型。研究没有令人满意地解释为什么计划外和计划内的青少年怀孕在该地区继续上升。该项目采用了一种新的方法来调查现有政策和干预措施的有限成功。它关注文化生产、政策和生活经验的交集。首先，文化产品将通过分析当代数字和流行文化(电视、电影、视频、社交媒体)中青少年性行为、性暴力、怀孕和为人父母的表现，并通过采访文化制作人，来考察文化生产在反映和塑造ASRH方面所发挥的强大但研究不足的作用。第二，通过系统地审查三种情况下的现行ASRH政策和倡议，PI将考虑这些文化表现如何加强或破坏国家和非政府组织的干预。第三，该项目将通过由当地组织在莫雷洛斯(墨西哥)和格拉玛(古巴)共同主办的两个年轻父母创造性讲习班，分析ASRH的政策方法与他们在当地环境中的生活现实之间的脱节，这两个讲习班将把文化表达作为一种参与性的研究和影响方法。为了促进对这些问题采取跨学科、比较和合作的方法，该项目还将通过发展一个国际研究网络，将这三个背景纳入对话。该网络将直接与地方和国家政策制定者、区域发展行动者、非政府组织、艺术组织和媒体接触。该项目旨在扩大关于文化如何塑造asrh的知识，并积极影响未来asrh的政策和倡议，提高公众对asrh问题的认识，并对年轻人及其社区产生社会影响。研究结果将通过会议报告、网站、播客节目、简报文件、方法工具包、博客文章和学术出版物分享。

This project investigates adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) and young parenthood in Mexico, Cuba and Colombia through three intersecting questions: (i) how does cultural production reflect and regulate understandings of ASRH and young parenthood? (ii) how do cultural representations work with or against ASRH policy and initiatives by governments and NGOs? (iii) how do such interventions correspond to the needs and lived realities of adolescents, especially young parents? Each line of enquiry will expand our understanding of teenage parenthood and improve the impact of future interventions. Adolescent pregnancy is increasing in many Latin American countries, with significant negative social, economic and health-related consequences. Young mothers have often been the victims of sexual violence, and are also vulnerable to forms of obstetric violence. Teenage parenthood obstructs access to education, hinders social mobility and entrenches poverty, making teen parents and their babies more vulnerable to disease and death. Such outcomes are worse still in contexts marked by gendered violence, marginalisation and precarity. Despite broader advances in maternal health, in Mexico, Cuba and Colombia, adolescent pregnancy remains stubbornly high, especially within the local settings (Morelos and Granma) that this project foregrounds. Statistical data dominates existing research in this area, obscuring a much needed understanding of the social and cultural factors that influence sexual behaviour, fertility choices (including early marriage), and access to ASRH services including abortion. During adolescence, as social norms become ingrained, culture takes on greater personal relevance. Many studies see education as key to preventing unwanted pregnancies. However, each of the three contexts are paradoxically characterised by atypically high investments in ASRH resources and education. Research has not satisfactorily explained why both unplanned and planned adolescent pregnancies continue to rise in the region. This project engages a novel approach in investigating the limited success of existing policy and interventions. It focuses on the intersection of cultural production, policy, and lived experiences. First, the PI will examine the powerful but under-researched role that cultural production plays in reflecting and shaping ASRH, by analysing representations of adolescent sexuality, sexual violence, pregnancy and parenthood in contemporary digital and popular culture (television, film, vlogging, social media), and by interviewing cultural producers. Second, through a systematic review of current ASRH policy and initiatives in the three contexts, the PI will consider how these cultural representations reinforce or disrupt state and NGO interventions. Third, the project will analyse disjunctures between policy approaches to ASRH and their lived realities in local settings, through two creative workshops for young parents co-hosted by local organisations in Morelos (Mexico) and Granma (Cuba), which will engage cultural expression as a participatory method for both research and impact. In order to foster an interdisciplinary, comparative and collaborative approach to these questions, the project will also bring the three contexts in dialogue through the development of an international research network. The network will directly engage local and national policymakers, regional development actors, NGOs, arts organisations, and media outlets. The project seeks to expand knowledge in terms of how ASRH is shaped by culture, and also positively influence future ASRH policy and initiatives, enhance public awareness of ASRH issues, and have a social impact on young people and their communities. Findings will be shared via conference presentations, a website, a podcast episode, a briefing document, a methodological toolkit, blog posts, and academic publications.