TABLE 1.

Percentage of youths in a sample of 12–18-year-old Mexican Americans citing various risk and protective factors associated with an older sister’s teenage childbearing, California, 2005–2007

Factor	% (N=41)
Risk
Perception that early parenting is not a hardship	66
Schooling difficulties*	32
Desire to have a baby too	27
Depression, social isolation	24
Reduced closeness/time spent with mother	20
Positive remarks about sister or her baby from friends†	17
Protective
Increased motivation to delay parenting	98
Increased appreciation of difficulty of parenting	90
Mother’s explicitly discouraging early parenting	68
Increased closeness/time spent with mother	58
Mother’s differentiating youth from parenting sister	29
Mother’s increased strictness, protectiveness	27
Increased school aspirations	24
Mother’s implicitly discouraging early parenting	20
Older sister’s discouraging early parenting	12
Improved behavior to be a good role model for  niece/nephew	12
Mother’s discussing contraception	7

^*Grades have dropped, baby interferes with homework or studying.

^†Comments that reinforce early parenting.