title: Socioecological factors in sexual decision making among urban girls and young women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine how girls and young women living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods make decisions relating to sexual debut and HIV prevention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty semistructured in-depth interviews. We used a socioecological approach to investigate the role of neighborhood and social context on sexual decision making.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community-based organizations and on-campus interview sites.
  
  
  METHODS
  African American and Latina girls and young women age 13 to 24 living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examine their attitudes and beliefs about sex, first opportunities for sexual intercourse, prevention behaviors, and neighborhood environments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lack of neighborhood safety and safe socialization places led youth to spend significant amounts of time indoors, often without adult supervision.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings provide insight into the socioecological context in which girls are situated as they navigate sexual decision making. Unsupervised, cloistered time coupled with peer norms to engage in sexual behavior may contribute to increased risky sexual behavior among some youth. Prevention efforts should consider neighborhood context and incorporate structural and community-level interventions to create social environments that support healthy sexual decision making.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Stacia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gilliard-Matthews
authors.forename: Madison
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Malven
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunaev
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011203:Poverty; D060728:Reproductive Health; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: African American; HIV; adolescents; emerging adults; neighborhood disadvantage; sexual health