Asimilación o tradiciónanálisis de los comportamientos sexuales de las y los gitanos adolescentes escolarizados

Abstract

The present study has a look through the knowledge about sexuality and potential associated risk behaviors among the gipsy adolescents running Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO in Spain) in the Madrid, Andalusia and Basque Country Communities, compared with the non-gipsy adolescents, from the basis of a multi-method research method that applies quantitative and qualitative techniques and using the questionnaire and the discussion groups as analytical tools. The Secretariat Gipsy Foundation (2013) established that the levels of school population of gipsy adolescent would be like the standard population until the barrier of 15th years, since then a gap starts to open among both groups, so that the level of gipsy adolescent would go down exponentially. The maintenance of some traditions and cultural uses related with sexual and reproductive strategies already ruled would create difficulties keeping them on the education programs, generating risky sexual attitudes and behaviors. Highlighting some conclusions: of central importance, the one that goes against the current trends considering the religion factor as the main protection from the earlier sexual relations as among gipsy adolescents, tradition remains to be the guardian factor and this let us consider that the ethnical variable has more impact in the protection of this population than the religion fact itself; secondary the family weight and specifically the gipsy mother paper taking care of the sexual taboo; also the family environment plays a determinant role as defense factor from sexual relations and preventing risks conducts; another one of course, the fact that today being inside the education plans is not enough to modify risky sexual actions; and finally among others, the distinctive use of the birth-control methods depending on the belonging to one or other group. Conclusions that lead us to the need to set up different formation and preventive sexual programs with the gipsy population, going from the main characters, to the families and up to their community.