Recently, Dr. Brindis and her colleagues compared four communities with high poverty and lower than average birth rates among Latina adolescents, with four communities which also had high poverty but had higher than average birth rates among Latina adolescents. Their goal was to examine the social capital and cultural norms within these communities which might account for the lower birth rates.

In this interview, Dr. Brindis describes the key protective factors within the communities which had lower than average adolescent birth rates. How other communities might be able to put these protective factors in place is then explained. The advantages of taking a community approach as opposed to an individual-oriented approach are also discussed.