title: Neighborhoods and adolescent health-risk behavior: an ecological network approach.
abstract: This study integrates insights from social network analysis, activity space perspectives, and theories of urban and spatial processes to present an novel approach to neighborhood effects on health-risk behavior among youth. We suggest spatial patterns of neighborhood residents' non-home routines may be conceptualized as ecological, or "eco"-networks, which are two-mode networks that indirectly link residents through socio-spatial overlap in routine activities. We further argue structural configurations of eco-networks are consequential for youth's behavioral health. In this study we focus on a key structural feature of eco-networks--the neighborhood-level extent to which household dyads share two or more activity locations, or eco-network reinforcement--and its association with two dimensions of health-risk behavior, substance use and delinquency/sexual activity. Using geographic data on non-home routine activity locations among respondents from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS), we constructed neighborhood-specific eco-networks by connecting sampled households to "activity clusters," which are sets of spatially-proximate activity locations. We then measured eco-network reinforcement and examined its association with dimensions of adolescent health risk behavior employing a sample of 830 youth ages 12-17 nested in 65 census tracts. We also examined whether neighborhood-level social processes (collective efficacy and intergenerational closure) mediate the association between eco-network reinforcement and the outcomes considered. Results indicated eco-network reinforcement exhibits robust negative associations with both substance use and delinquency/sexual activity scales. Eco-network reinforcement effects were not explained by potential mediating variables. In addition to introducing a novel theoretical and empirical approach to neighborhood effects on youth, our findings highlight the importance of intersecting conventional routines for adolescent behavioral health.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Sociology, 238 Townshend Hall, 1885 Neil Ave Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Electronic address: browning.90@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Browning
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Soller
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico, USA.
authors.forename: Aubrey L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Ecological networks; Health-risk behavior; Neighborhood effects; Social networks