207446 Longitudinal effects of neighborhood norms during adolescence on multiple sexual partnering during young adulthood

Monday, November 9, 2009: 1:20 PM

Jodi Ford, PhD , College of Nursing, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Christopher R. Browning, PhD , Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Elizabeth Cooksey, PhD , Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Background: Multiple sexual partnerships (MSP) increase STI/HIV transmission and occur more commonly among young adult and minority populations. However, our understanding of the contextual norms that contribute to MSP is limited, thus we examined the contribution of neighborhood family composition during adolescence to MSP during young adulthood and to racial/ethnic differences in MSP. Methods: Secondary analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves I (1995) and III(2002) were conducted on 11,486 heterosexual men and women aged 18-26 years who lived across 1,724 census tracts during their adolescence. Neighborhood family composition was operationalized as the proportion of families with children living in the census tract and MSP as vaginal intercourse with 2 or more partners. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling was employed to examine neighborhood effects on MSP and to racial/ethnic differences in MSP, after adjustment of individual, family and neighborhood covariates. Results: We found that young adults who lived in neighborhoods with higher proportions of families during adolescence were less likely to report MSP than those who lived in neighborhoods with lower proportions of families (OR=0.46, 95% CI=0.25-0.86). We also found significant racial/ethnic differences in young adults' MSP, yet the neighborhood family composition during adolescence did not moderate these relationships. Conclusions: Further research exploring the longitudinal effects of neighborhood norms on sexual behavior across the life course is warranted, including potential contributions to racial/ethnic differences in sexual behavior.

Learning Objectives:
1.Explain how contextual norms may contribute to engagement in multiple sexual partnering over the life course. 2.Describe how differential exposure to contextual norms may contribute to racial/ethnic differences in multiple sexual partnering.

Keywords: Sexual Risk Behavior, Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have my PhD in Public Health with experitise in Social Epidemiology and the prevention of STI, HIV and unintended pregnancy. In addition,I have research experience using multilevel modeling that examined contextual effects on a variety of health outcomes.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Social Epidemiology
See more of: Epidemiology