Abstract
This study offers empirical evidence regarding the relationship between sexual behaviour, sexual risk, and belonging to a certain religion among the young population of Latin America. To this end, we compared results of the national youth surveys of Guatemala, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, and Peru, which included religious affiliation (Catholic, evangelical, and other religions) and sexual and reproductive health indicators. The analysis grouped some of these indicators according to the three pedagogical dimensions addressed by the Comprehensive Sexual Education perspective and proposed as part of the third pedagogical dimension, an index of sexual risk (SRI). The inquiry concludes by identifying nine Christian religious youth groups (aged between 15 and 19 years old) placed in four (Guatemala, Peru, Chile, and Mexico) of the five selected countries that surpassed their respective national averages in the top categories of our SRI (“moderate risk,” “high risk,” and “very high risk”). This finding could mean, in practical terms, the need to establish sex education programs oriented to specific religious groups, such as youth evangelicals from Peru.
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Notes
According to the Educational Guidelines and Pedagogical Orientations for Comprehensive Sexual Education of the Peruvian Ministry of Education (MINEDU 2008).
According to the most recent surveys or censuses, evangelicals represent 38.2% of the population in Guatemala, 17% in Chile and Peru, 15% in Uruguay, and 7.6% in Mexico (Cooperman et al. 2014, p. 14; Rodríguez Cuadros 2018, p. 122). Likewise, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center, evangelicals who identify themselves as Pentecostals represent around 67% in Chile, 52% in Peru, 59% in Mexico, 54% in Uruguay, and 73% in Guatemala (Cooperman et al. 2014, p. 62).
As part of country cases, we could also mention the JADAK program (2015–2016) of the evangelical-inspired NGO Paz y Esperanza and the Lazos de Vihda Program (1996–2003) of the Association of University Evangelical Groups of Peru (AGEUP). The first program sought to reduce misinformation and ignorance of sexual issues in the evangelical churches of Lima (Calderón, M. & Mendoza; R., 2002), while the second aimed to raise awareness and create spaces for dialogue on adequate sexual health and its relationship with HIV and AIDS, mainly through itinerant information fairs (called EXPOEROTICAS) across the main public and private universities of that country (AGEUP 2005).
Indeed, a quick search in Google Scholar results in a couple of empirical works between the first ten results. One is about preserving virginity and Pentecostalism in Brazil (Ogland et al. 2011), and the other is on the use of condoms in Catholics, non-religious, and other faiths, among adolescents and youth from Nicaragua (Decat et al. 2015). Besides, recent studies focusing on the Latin American region include variables such as the young people’s religiosity and the received sex education. However, these variables are not crossed in the analysis. Moreover, neither of these studies recollects information on specific sexual behaviour or conceptions. (Ames et al. 2021; Gutierréz-Bonilla et al. 2021; Pérez and Nicolás 2021; Pinheiro e Silva et al. 2021).
Using the study by the Pew Research Center (2014) as a reference, we could affirm that the most conservative positions among those who define themselves as Catholics or evangelicals would be the majority or the most significant. Indeed, when asked, “Are you completely/mostly agree that wives must obey their husbands” (Gender roles in the family), the percentage of evangelicals who answered affirmatively in Chile and Uruguay reached more than 40% (42% and 44%, respectively), while in Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala, it exceeded 50% (66%, 51%, and 87%, respectively). In the case of Catholics, Uruguay and Chile had the lowest percentages (23% and 22%, respectively), and in Peru and Mexico, a percentage exceeding 40% (49% and 44%, respectively). Among Catholics in Guatemala, like the case of evangelicals, the percentage who answered yes was the highest: 75%. More recently (Red LAC CCD 2021), other conservative positions have also been investigated only among the believing population of Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru), finding that: 19% agree that priests call to vote for or against certain candidates or parties politicians; 24% consider that sexual education in public schools serves to break up families; and about 30% believe that a woman who has had an abortion cannot be a good believer.
In Peru, according to Motta et al. (2017), school age students found information related to sexuality from media sources (television, radio, Internet, books/brochures) (85%), their mother (70%), their father (53%), and some religious person (23%). However, in terms of the most frequently used sources of information results vary: father (31%), mother (27%), media (10%), or religious persons (1%). In other countries, the media also has a stronger role than the church regarding sexuality and related information. For instance, in Uruguay, the ENAJ 2013 survey indicates that the internet reached 4% while the church only 0.3%.
For example, some surveys conducted among adolescents directly distinguish “Baptists or Methodists” from other Catholic, non-religious, or non-Christian groups (Sabia and Rees 2009).
For instance, in the Chilean and Uruguayan survey, around 54% of young people positively rated the quality of sex education received at school.
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The authors are grateful for the comments made by the two anonymous reviewers assigned to review a previous version of this article. Likewise, they also appreciate the courtesy of Eduardo Campaña, former Coordinator of the Health Program, and Cecilia Castillo, Continental Coordinator of the Pastoral Ministry of Women and Gender Justice, both from CLAI, for sharing part of the bibliography cited in this final version of the manuscript.
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Julcarima Alvarez, G.F., Castro Vergara, R.I. Comprehensive Sex Education, Sexual Risk, and Religion: Comparative Analysis of National Youth Surveys of Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay. Int J Lat Am Relig 7, 100–123 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-023-00190-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-023-00190-0