Relationships among neighborhood socioeconomic status, neighborhood social capital and female adolescent reproductive health attitudes and behaviors

The purpose of this study was to test a model of neighborhood social capital as a mediator of neighborhood socioeconomic status on female adolescent reproductive health attitudes and behaviors. A secondary data set analysis of Wave I of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health was conducted utilizing structural equation modeling to test the model.

Final model testing yielded acceptable fit of the model to the data with a Χ² = 285, df = 67, p <.001, CFI =.95, and RMSEA = .04. Statistically significant direct paths were found from neighborhood socioeconomic status to trust (Β = -.09), network membership (Β = .09), and norms of reciprocity (Β= -.09); from trust and network membership to attitudes towards pregnancy (Β = .06 and -.10 respectively); from attitudes towards pregnancy to attitudes towards contraception and condom use (Β= -.20 and -.17 respectively); and from attitudes towards contraception to condom use and highly effective contraceptive use (Β = .29 and .31 respectively). Trust and network membership were statistically significant mediators of neighborhood socioeconomic status and attitudes towards pregnancy. Model testing revealed partial invariance for both race (Χ² difference = 41.01, df = 28, p = .054) and geographic area (Χ² difference = 57.64, df = 45, p = .10) multi-group analyses.

These findings suggest that further research regarding the effect of neighborhood trust and network membership on female adolescent attitudes and behaviors may contribute to interventions designed to reduce adolescent childbearing and sexually transmitted infections.