The last time Nancy Frausto invited a date over to her house, two of her older brothers hovered eagle-eyed in the living room as they watched the Home Shopping Network. The watchful older brothers were chaperoning their little sister as she sat on the couch with her new boyfriend.

Although Frausto knew their intentions were good, she struggles with the cultural beliefs of some Latino families who are overprotective of the women in the household, especially the daughters.

"We ended up breaking up because of that," said Frausto, 18, a senior at Eisenhower High School in south suburban Blue Island. "I can't even go to church by myself. I have to take one of my brothers."

Latinas Have Special Issues in the U.S. Teen World

Teenage issues have long been the focus of popular magazines, from the decades-old Seventeen to new arrivals like Teen People. But only recently have social scientists and popular media recognized that within the teen world, Latina girls have a special set of issues. While Latinas come from a wide range of family backgrounds, social workers, counselors and priests who work with young Latinas say relationships with parents, cultural identity, bilingualism and questions of faith are some of the issues they often confront.

What's more, Latina girls now make up the fastest-growing segment of the teenage market. One barometer of the demographic change, as well as the growing attention in the educational world to the concerns of Latinas, is a new magazine called Latingirl, which debuted this month. The English-language magazine addresses the bicultural lifestyle led by Latina teenagers who are drawn to American popular culture but at the same time share the traditions of their parents.

The magazine comes on the heels of other publications targeting the Latino market, such as Latina, Latina Style and People En Espanol. But it is the first national magazine in English to target Latina teens, who number 2.4 million nationwide.

"I see us filling a void that has been out there for too long," said Lu Herrera, editor of the New Jersey-based publication distributed in major U.S. cities with large Latino markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and San Antonio. "We're about putting our girls in our own magazine so when they open it they see a mirror image of themselves."

Differences in Parental Authority Are Obvious

In Chicago, with its dramatically expanding Hispanic population, the phenomenon plays out every day. One Latina teen told a counselor that her parents are too strict when it comes to letting her spend the night over at a friend's house or even going out with friends.

But when she watches television, she sees parents who are more liberal than her own, like the father on the television program "Full House," who allows his daughter to date at 13.

"She told me she wished her father could be more like the dad on `Full House,' " said Minerva Esparza, a counselor at Latino Youth, a child welfare agency serving the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods.

Many of the Latina teens Esparza counsels are not allowed to date until they are 17 or older. And if they go out with a young man, they are expected to stay in that relationship and eventually marry. But they would prefer to date different boys, Esparza said.

"They are trying to assimilate in this country, but you have parents trying to enforce their own values from their country," she said, adding that these issues are more prevalent among the first-generation Latinas they see in their community. "There's a big culture clash."

Counselors said some young Latinas have greater responsibilities at home, such as baby-sitting for younger siblings while the parents work. If the parents do not speak English, the teen may have to translate for them at the bank or on visits to the doctor, Esparza said.

"They may feel like they are an older version of a teenager," Esparza said. "They take on almost a parental role."

The Roman Catholic Church Aids with Cultural Adjustment

And for many Latino families, their traditional values are rooted in their Catholic faith.

"(Catholicism is) viewed as patriarchal," said Rev. Esequiel Sanchez, director of Hispanic ministry with the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, and sometimes parents convey the idea that disobedience of parents is the equivalent of disobedience to God-- using religion to "punish" their children.

And even in second and third generations the teens may be missing the message of their faith, in that some of the teens who do not speak Spanish go to Spanish-language mass with their parents, Sanchez said.

To better reach Latina teens, different churches take them on retreats before they turn 15, a milestone celebrated by more traditional Catholic Latino families with a church service and party called a quinceanera.

"It's our way to ask very fundamental questions like: Who are you? What kind of woman do you want to be?" Sanchez said, adding that issues beyond faith, including family responsibility and peer pressure, surface in these retreats.

The new magazine aims to tap into such issues of coping with strict parents and cultural differences. It also will provide features on positive role models for young Latinas, which are generally absent in mainstream magazines.

This is important because some Latina teens have low self-esteem and struggle in school, counselors said. Indeed, Latino boys and girls have the highest high school dropout rate in the country.

"They think, `I can't be an engineer,' because they say, `I'm a nobody,' " said Maria Matias, an academic counselor at Erie Neighborhood House in the West Town neighborhood. "But we tell them that a Latina can be an engineer, a doctor and more."

Matias oversees a program created five years ago for young Latinas at the social service agency DIVAS. The 12-week program offers lessons on self-esteem, nutrition, health education and career choices. Some of the girls shadow professional mentors and take field trips, including one for a makeover at a downtown department store.

Jennifer Pomales, 14, said she improved her study habits and computer skills through the DIVAS program. "Now, I want to finish school," said Jennifer, an 8th grader at Otis Elementary School.

Better Education and Open Communication as Keys to Success

To promote education, Latingirl is offering college scholarships for Latinas graduating from high school. A survey conducted for the magazine found that — dropout rates aside — more than 90 percent of Latina teens plan to go to a college or university. Jorge Ruiz, who has a 16-year-old daughter, Michelle, said education is the primary goal he has for his daughter. "The biggest obstacle we face is that not enough of our young people are going to college," said Ruiz, a Chicago public school teacher from the Lincoln Square neighborhood.

"But education should be the primary objective for us. My job is to make sure my daughter is going to finish college and even obtain a master's degree."

He also encourages open communication with his daughter, including frank discussions about sex education and the dangers of drugs. "It's better that she learn this in the home rather than on the streets," Ruiz said.

Silvia Frausto, Nancy's mother, agreed that finishing school also is important for her daughter. But when it comes to child-rearing, it is difficult to let go of her traditions and give her children too much freedom.

"At times we think we are doing the correct thing, but our children don't think it is," said Frausto, mother of six, who asks that her daughter bring all her dates to the house. "It's hard living between the two cultures, but as parents we can't let go of our roots."

Many Latina teens, like Crystal Calderon, 15, try to balance the best of all cultures. She swaps posters from teen magazines with her friends; Hanson and 'N Sync are among the favorites. At the same time, her parents have instilled in her a sense of pride, reminding her that her grandfather fought in the Mexican Revolution and that they are descendants of the Tarascan Indians from Mexico.

"They want us to remember who we are and where we basically came from," said Calderon, a junior at Maria High School in Chicago.

Calderon said a magazine that focuses on Latinas is long overdue. Flipping through the pages of other popular teen magazines in the high school cafeteria, Calderon said she and her friends are not likely to see young women who look like them.

Many of the models are best-described as waifs, and few, if any, are Latina. Still, they eat up the pages of Seventeen, Tiger Beat and YM because they are hungry for stories about their generation.

The premiere issue of Latingirl features an aspiring teenage fashion designer, a teenage mother who has started her own flower-arranging business and a Puerto Rican woman who made a television documentary.

"We want to see girls we can relate to, not people we should look like," Calderon said.