title: Neighborhood context and the transition to sexual activity among young black women.
abstract: Previous studies report that neighborhood characteristics influence pregnancy and childbearing risk among African-American adolescent women. These studies, however, leave unidentified the effects of many neighborhood properties on the proximate determinants of nonmarital fertility. In this study I examine the effects of neighborhood characteristics on the risk of nonmarital first intercourse and on contraceptive use among black female adolescents. The results suggest that neighborhood socioeconomic status, female employment and marital dissolution rates, and peers' departure from mainstream lifecourse trajectories influence young black women's sexual and contraceptive behavior. The effects of female employment and socioeconomic status are greater for teens in urban neighborhoods than for teens living elsewhere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Center for the Study of Population, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-4063.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Brewster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008960:Models, Psychological; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors