Contextual Effects on the Sexual Behavior of Adolescent Women

The Spread of Health Services and Fertility Transition

“…Following our model fit statistics, the models that incorporate geoweighted summary information on all health services in the entire study area performed better than models with more limited information. Models of the relationship between contextual characteristics and individual behaviors are now common in research on a wide range of demographic topics-fertility, mortality, marriage, and migration-as well as a wide range of other social science topics-criminology, child development, unemployment, and education (Billy, Brewster and Grady 1994;Boardman and Field 2002;Brooks-Gunn et al 1993;Entwisle and Mason 1985;Massey and Espinoza 1997;Morenoff, Sampson and Raudenbush 2001;Raudenbush 1988;Sastry 1996;South and Crowder 1997). In all of these areas, scientists struggle to measure the appropriate spatial context, but rarely do they have the full array of options we investigate here.…”

Adolescent Sexuality: Behavior and Meaning

“…Living in poor neighborhoods is associated with greater frequency of intercourse among males (Ku, Sonenstein, & Pleck, 1993b) and with higher rates of adolescent pregnancy (Hogan & Kitagawa, 1985). Community variables, such the percentage of women working full time, are negatively associated with rates of premarital intercourse for both black and white women (Billy, Brewster, & Grady, 1994) and help account for racial disparities in timing of fi rst intercourse (Brewster, 1994). Th e proportion of middle-class neighbors is negatively associated with adolescent childbearing, whereas the prevalence of female-headed families is a positive predictor.…”

The impact of schools and school programs upon adolescent sexual behavior

“…The studies measuring the relationship between receipt of sex education and initiation of sex have produced mixed results: Some indicated such education delayed sex, some indicated no impact, and others indicated it hastened the onset of sex (Billy et al, 1994;Dawson, 1986;Furstenberg, Moore, & Peterson, 1985;Ku, Sonenstein, & Pleck, 1993;Marsiglio & Mott, 1986;Zelnik & Kim, 1982). Studies measuring the impact of sex and STD/HIV education programs upon contraceptive use have more consistently found that they increased contraceptive use (Dawson, 1986;Marsiglio & Mott, 1986;Mauldon & Luker, 1996;Zelnik & Kim, 1982).…”

“…In particular, investment in school, school involvement, attachment to school, or school performance have been found to be related to age of initiation of sex, frequency of sex, pregnancy, and childbearing (Billy, Brewster, & Grady, 1994;Brewster et al, 1998, Gibbs, 1986Gibson & Kempf, 1990;Holden, Nelson, Velasquez, & Ritchie, 1993;Ireson, 1984;Lammers, Ireland, Resnick, & Blum, 2000;Manlove, 1998;Miller & Sneesby, 1988;Murry, 1992;Ohannessian & Crockett, 1993;Plotnick, 1992;Raine et al, 1999;Resnick et al, 1997;Robbins, Kaplan, & Martin, 1985). Finally, plans to attend college are also related to initiation of sex, use of condoms, use of contraception, pregnancy, and childbearing (Blum, Buehring, & Rinehart, 2000;Halpern, Joyner, Udry, & Suchindran, 2000;Manlove, 1998;Moore, Manlove, Glei, & Morrison, 1998;Pleck, Sonenstein, & Swain, 1988;Plotnick, 1992;Scher, Emans, & Grace, 1982).…”