Suggests the effects of poverty may be more debilitating on rural youth than on urban youth due to differences in background, i.e., lower educational level of parents, lower family income, cultural isolation, fewer social services, and marriage at an earlier age. Discusses health problems, housing inadequacies, and fatherless families. (AH)

Risk factors associated with teenage pregnancy were studied among 95 Hispanic, Native American, and White ninth-grade females at a rural New Mexico high school. All respondents, regardless of ethnicity, reported moderate levels of health-compromising behaviors such as alcohol use, poor communication with parents regarding sex, and a false sense of…