title: The association of individual characteristics and neighborhood poverty on the dental care of American adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which neighborhood poverty was associated with the utilization of dental care by American adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  To accomplish the study goals we conducted multilevel modeling analyses of two nationally representative data sets: National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K).
  
  
  RESULTS
  As hypothesized, neighborhood poverty predicted frequency of dental care in both studies (t = 6.06; P < 0.001; t = 2.44; P < 0.05). Even after accounting for individual level predictors such as household income, health insurance, and parental education, adolescents living in poor neighborhoods are less likely than their counterparts in non-poor neighborhoods to utilize dental care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings from this study indicate that neighborhoods influence dental care utilization patterns in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Nursing and Childhood Studies, Camden, NJ 08102, USA. robert.atkins@rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Atkins
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sulik
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D011203:Poverty; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States