CONTEXT Pregnancy rates are substantially higher among homeless youth than in the general population of youth, yet little is known about homeless adolescents’ and young adults’ pregnancy-related attitudes and behaviors. METHODS Pregnancy-related attitudes and behaviors were examined among two samples of sexually active homeless 13–24-year-olds in Los Angeles County. Data from 37 semistructured interviews conducted in March–April 2011 were analyzed using standard qualitative methods. Data from a structured survey with 277 respondents, conducted between October 2008 and August 2009, were analyzed primarily using regression modeling. RESULTS More than half of interview respondents held ambivalent attitudes toward pregnancy, and ambivalent youth reported less contraceptive use than others. The interviews identified several potential influences on pregnancy attitudes: barriers associated with homelessness, readiness to settle down, desire to achieve goals, belief that a child would create something positive in life, and family and partners. In the survey, having positive attitudes toward pregnancy was positively associated with duration of homelessness (odds ratio, 1.6), contact with relatives (1.1) and relationship commitment (1.8); it was negatively associated with frequency of drinking (0.9). Relationship commitment was positively associated with nonuse of an effective contraceptive method at last sex (1.5). CONCLUSIONS Effective and accessible pregnancy prevention and family planning programs for homeless youth are needed. Youths’ ambivalence toward pregnancy and feelings of relationship commitment warrant attention as possible areas for programs to address.

This article empirically examines the “Big Sort hypothesis”—the notion that, in recent years, liberal and conservative Americans have become increasingly spatially isolated from one another. Using block group-, tract-, and county-level party registration data and presidential election returns, I construct two formal indices of segregation for 1992–2010 in California and evaluate those indices for evidence of growth in the segregation of Californians along ideological lines. Evidence of rising geographic segregation between Democrats and Republicans for measures generated from both party registration and presidential vote data is found. This growth is statistically significant for 10 of the 12 segregation measures analyzed. In addition, many of the increases are practically significant, with estimates of growth in segregation during the observation period ranging from 2% to 23%.

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