Sexual Activity, Pregnancy, and Deviance in a Representative Urban Sample of African American Girls

Gang membership, gender, and sexual behavior in and outside a romantic relationship

Prior research consistently finds that gang youth, compared to nongang youth, are more involved in risky behaviors such as violence and drug sales. Less attention has been given to comparisons in sexual behavior. While research demonstrates that gang membership is associated with risky sex and many gang members indicate that sex is a motivation for joining a gang, prior research is limited in its ability to account for self-selection into a gang, variations in involvement across gender, and different forms of sexual activity. This research addresses these limitations by using Add Health data and propensity score matching to examine the relationship between gang membership and sexual behavior inside and out of a romantic relationship as well as how this relationship differs by gender. While findings indicate that gang membership increases the likelihood of sexual intercourse, nonromantic sex, and the number of nonromantic sex partners, no unique gender differences were identified.

Parole, Neighborhood and Reentry Outcomes: A Contextualized Analysis

Compared to a large body of literature on the location-sensitivity of policing, relatively less effort has been made to examine whether parole practice is intertwined with the context of neighborhood. Based on longitudinal data of released prisoners, the current study examines the location contingency of parole efficacy in the context of reentry, focusing on the outcomes of recidivism and illicit drug use. Findings suggest that net of the effects of risk factors such as financial difficulty and insufficient family support, respondents who returned to less cohesive communities reported receiving a significantly lower level of support from parole officers. Moreover, parole officers' support exhibited a significant protective effect against recidivism, and this protective effect was not universal but contextual: Parole officers' support demonstrated a diminished protective effect for released prisoners who returned to disordered communities. Implications for correction practice and policymaking are presented.

Adolescent Sexual Risk Taking: The Distribution of Youth Behaviors and Perceived Peer Attitudes Across Neighborhood Contexts

PURPOSE

Sexual activity is a normative part of adolescent development, yet early sexual debut and sex with multiple partners undermine health and well-being. Both structural (e.g., poverty) and social (e.g., norms) characteristics of neighborhoods shape sexual risk taking, yet scholarship remains focused on urban areas. Thus, this study explores sexually permissive attitudes and sexual risk taking across a wider expanse of neighborhood types.

METHODS

Among 8,337 nonsexually active respondents in Wave I (1994-1995 [ages 11-18]) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a hierarchical linear model and a hierarchical generalized linear model were used to estimate the effect of neighborhood type and permissive sexual climate on youths' sexual debut, age at debut, and lifetime number of sexual partners by Wave III (2001-2002 [ages 18-26]), controlling for individual, familial, and peer factors.

RESULTS

Sexual climates varied in overall permissiveness and internal consistency both across and within neighborhood types and were linked to increased sexual risk taking. Compared with youth from upper middle class white suburbs, the odds of sexual debut and the number of partners were highest among youth from rural (black and white) neighborhoods; youth from almost all other neighborhood types initiated sex earlier.

CONCLUSIONS

Early sexual debut in adolescence is a public health issue with immediate and long-term implications. Adolescence unfolds in neighborhood environments, the characteristics of which may spur youth into such risk taking. Continued scholarship on sexual risks should consider further variations in the geographic distributions of such risks to investigate more fully their consequences.

Stress and behavioral risk among young expectant couples

Few studies have explored stress and coping among adolescents who are expecting a baby. In particular, young men's experiences during pregnancy have largely been ignored, despite the fact that a young man's experiences and behaviors carry implications for his own, his partner's and his child's health. This study examined the association between maternal and paternal experiences of stress during pregnancy with one's own and one's partner's health behaviors and depressive symptoms among 294 young expectant couples in the U.S. Multilevel modeling showed that one's own experiences of stress were associated with more unhealthy behaviors and more depressive symptoms among both expectant mothers and fathers. Paternal experiences of stress were predictive of more maternal conduct problems, while maternal experiences of stress were predictive of more paternal depressive symptoms and less paternal substance use. These findings highlight the importance of social relationships in affecting health behaviors and mental health among expectant adolescents.

Influence of family and school-level factors on age of sexual initiation

PURPOSE

This study examined the association of individual, family, and school-level characteristics with age of sexual initiation (ASI) and focused specifically on school context as a moderator of known predictors of ASI.

METHODS

Data are from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 10,596). Predictors include grade point average, physical development, attitudes about sex, likelihood of higher education, alcohol use, delinquency, family structure, parents' education level, childhood abuse, maternal approval of sex, parental monitoring, and parent-child relationship quality. School-level predictors are averages of adolescents' attitudes about sex and likelihood of higher education and parents' education. Hierarchical linear models run separately by sex were used to predict ASI.

RESULTS

When school-level attitudes about sex are more favorable, both boys and girls report younger ASI, and school mean parental education attainment moderates the influence of individual adolescents' attitudes about sex on ASI. More of the predictors are significant for girls than boys, whereas perception of maternal and peer approval of sexual activity are the most salient predictors of younger ASI for boys.

CONCLUSIONS

Results highlight the importance of school context for understanding adolescents' motivations for early ASI. Findings support the need for school-wide prevention interventions that engage adolescents, peers, and parents in addressing attitudes about early sex.

Family obligation values and family assistance behaviors: protective and risk factors for Mexican-American adolescents' substance use

Adolescent substance use is one of today's most important social concerns, with Latino youth exhibiting the highest overall rates of substance use. Recognizing the particular importance of family connection and support for families from Mexican backgrounds, the current study seeks to examine how family obligation values and family assistance behaviors may be a source of protection or risk for substance use among Mexican-American adolescents. Three hundred and eighty-five adolescents (51% female) from Mexican backgrounds completed a questionnaire and daily diary for 14 consecutive days. Results suggest that family obligation values are protective, relating to lower substance use, due, in part, to the links with less association with deviant peers and increased adolescent disclosure. In contrast, family assistance behaviors are a source of risk within high parent-child conflict homes, relating to higher levels of substance use. These findings suggest that cultural values are protective against substance use, but the translation of these values into behaviors can be a risk factor depending upon the relational context of the family.

Timing of First Childbirth and Young Women's Postsecondary Education in an inner-city minority cohort

The present study investigated the relationships between the timing of women's first childbirth and their postsecondary education using an inner-city minority cohort. The study sample (695 females) was drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), an on-going investigation of a panel of low-income minority children (94% African American) born in 1980 who grew up in high-poverty neighborhoods in Chicago. The findings indicated that, taking into account sociodemographic factors and early academic achievement, first childbirths before age 18 and between ages 19 and 21 were significantly associated with lower rates of college attendance and bachelor (BA) degree completion. First childbirths between ages 21 and 25 were not significantly associated with any outcome of postsecondary education.

African American Adolescent Females' Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety, Familial Strategies, and Sexual Debut

Sexual debut represents a developmental transition that holds possibility for growth and for risk. Family and neighborhood may impact timing of debut. This qualitative study examined family strategies (e.g., moving, parental monitoring), perceptions of neighborhood, and attitudes about sex and sexual debut among sexually experienced and inexperienced African American adolescent females living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Findings show that more familial strategies were reported by sexually inexperienced females, suggesting that strategies may delay sexual debut. Furthermore, experiences with neighborhood violence related to attitudes about sex and sexual debut, suggesting a linkage between death anxiety and sexual debut among female youth.

HIV prevention among African American youth: how well have evidence-based interventions addressed key theoretical constructs?

Certain constructs are demonstrated in the research literature to be related to HIV risk behaviors among African American adolescents. This study examines how well these constructs are addressed in evidence-based interventions (EBIs) developed for this population. A literature review on variables for sexual risk behaviors among African American adolescents was undertaken. Simultaneously, a review was conducted of the contents of HIV-prevention EBIs. To facilitate comparison, findings from both were organized into constructs from prominent behavior change theories. Analysis showed that environmental conditions and perceived norms were frequently associated with sexual risk behaviors in the literature, while EBIs devoted considerable time to knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy. Findings imply that (a) EBIs might be complemented with activities that focus on important constructs identified in the literature and (b) researchers should better assess the relationship between skill development and HIV risk behaviors. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Juvenile Delinquency and Teenage Pregnancy

The authors examined ecological risk factors associated with teen pregnancy with a sample of 1,190 court-involved female juvenile offenders between 11 and 18 years of age. Data were obtained from five Midwestern juvenile county courts using a recently developed youth risk assessment instrument called the global risk assessment device (GRAD). In line with past research on teen pregnancy, the authors found that young African American female offenders were three times more likely to have ever been pregnant than their European American counterparts. Factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedures were conducted to identify the ecological risk domains that differentiated groups of female juvenile offenders in the sample of this study, based on their pregnancy history and racial background. The findings of this study suggest that female offenders who had experienced a pregnancy had significantly higher levels of health-related risks as compared to their counterparts who had never been pregnant. Furthermore, regardless of their pregnancy history, White female offenders reported significantly greater involvement in substance abuse behaviors as compared to Blacks. Taken together, these findings underscore the need to utilize comprehensive risk assessments when designing integrated intervention programs that are tailored to the unique needs of young female offenders who are at risk for early pregnancies.

Predicting early sexual activity with behavior problems exhibited at school entry and in early adolescence

Youth who initiate sexual intercourse in early adolescence (age 11-14) experience multiple risks, including concurrent adjustment problems and unsafe sexual practices. The current study tested two models describing the links between childhood precursors, early adolescent risk factors, and adolescent sexual activity: a cumulative model and a meditational model. A longitudinal sample of 694 boys and girls from four geographical locations was utilized, with data collected from kindergarten through high school. Structural equation models revealed that, irrespective of gender or race, high rates of aggressive disruptive behaviors and attention problems at school entry increased risk for a constellation of problem behaviors in middle school (school maladjustment, antisocial activity, and substance use) which, in turn, promoted the early initiation of sexual activity. Implications are discussed for developmental models of early sexual activity and for prevention programming.

Racially mixed neighborhoods, perceived neighborhood social cohesion, and adolescent health in Canada

Using data from the Canadian Census and the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we examine the effects of neighborhood concentration of racial minorities on general health status and depressive symptoms of Canadian adolescents. We also examine the role of perceived neighborhood cohesion and the extent to which it contributes to adolescent health. Our findings show that the racial concentration of ethnic minorities represents a health disadvantage for visible minority youth while perceived neighborhood cohesion is found to be a protective factor for both health outcomes. Perceived neighborhood cohesion is beneficial for the general health status (but not depression) of adolescents residing in neighborhoods with a high concentration of racial minorities.

Are prenatal psychological or physical stressors associated with suboptimal outcomes in neonates born to adolescent mothers?

Examined whether prenatal psychological stress and/or physical stress were associated with suboptimal neonatal outcomes in a pilot study of adolescent mothers (n=20). The results provide preliminary support for associations between prenatal psychological stress and little evidence for the association between prenatal physical stress and suboptimal neonatal outcomes.

Acculturation, familism, parental monitoring, and knowledge as predictors of marijuana and inhalant use in adolescents

The authors investigated relationships between marijuana and inhalant use and several cultural and demographic factors in Anglo American and Hispanic American adolescents (N=1,094). Outcome measures assessed lifetime and 30-day marijuana and inhalant use. Predictors and covariates used in logistic regression analyses were region, grade, gender, knowledge, acculturation, familism, and parental monitoring. Hispanic Americans exhibited higher usage across all measures. In this group, high acculturation was associated with low marijuana, but high inhalant, use. Across all participants, positive family relations and parental monitoring were strongly associated with attenuated marijuana use hut only among those most knowledgeable about drugs. Familism and monitoring were not associated with diminished usage among the less knowledgeable. For inhalants, monitoring combined with high knowledge or high familism was associated with diminished usage.