Neighborhood, Family, and Work: Influences on the Premarital Behaviors of Adolescent Males

The authors report their findings from a study of the effects of neighborhood family and individual characteristics upon teenage males premarital sexual and contraceptive behaviors and upon their experiences with pregnancy or fatherhood. The investigation also systematically compares the effects of related personal and neighborhood traits in multilevel analysis including employment income education welfare receipt family composition and race/ethnicity. Micro-level data on respondents personal and family characteristics come from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males a nationally-representative survey of 1880 never-married noninstitutionalized males aged 15-19 years. Blacks and Hispanics were oversampled. Each participant was interviewed for one hour on sexual and contraceptive behaviors family and personal background knowledge and attitudes about pregnancy AIDS and other risks. Neighborhood data derive from the 1980 census. Analysis found young men who worked more hours to be more sexually active and more likely to have caused a pregnancy. Higher neighborhood unemployment rates were also independently associated with a greater risk of impregnation. Greater financial resources at the personal level may therefore enable teen males to attract more partners thereby increasing their risk of impregnating a female sex partner. Comparatively limited economic opportunities at the community level also seem to increase the risks of paternity.