title: Norms as Group-Level Constructs: Investigating School-Level Teen Pregnancy Norms and Behaviors.
abstract: Social norms are a group-level phenomenon, but past quantitative research has rarely measured them in the aggregate or considered their group-level properties. We used the school-based design of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to measure normative climates regarding teen pregnancy across 75 U.S. high schools. We distinguished between the strength of a school's norm against teen pregnancy and the consensus around that norm. School-level norm strength and dissensus were strongly (r = -0.65) and moderately (r = 0.34) associated with pregnancy prevalence within schools, respectively. Normative climate partially accounted for observed racial differences in school pregnancy prevalence, but norms were a stronger predictor than racial composition. As hypothesized, schools with both a stronger average norm against teen pregnancy and greater consensus around the norm had the lowest pregnancy prevalence. Results highlight the importance of group-level normative processes and of considering the local school environment when designing policies to reduce teen pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Boulder.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mollborn
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Boulder.
authors.forename: Benjamin W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Domingue
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Boulder.
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Boardman
keywords: adolescence; norms; schools; teen pregnancy