Original articleAvoiding Adolescent Pregnancy: A Longitudinal Analysis of African-American Youth
Section snippets
Study hypotheses and conceptual model
The study hypotheses are summarized in Figure 1. We expect health-promoting environments in preadolescence to support nurturant-responsive parenting, which will promote avoidance of pregnancy by age 19 by increasing conventional future orientations and deterring risky sexual behavior at age 16. These predictions were informed by theory and research on reproductive strategies in adolescence [9]. Using a life history framework, Belsky and colleagues [9] contended that youth who live in
Participants
Study hypotheses were tested with data from the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS) [18]. The baseline sample included 889 African-American families in Georgia (n = 422) and Iowa (n = 467) that included a child 10 to 12 years of age. Families were selected randomly from 259 census block group areas that represented diverse nonurban neighborhoods. Complete data were gathered from 72% of the families on the recruitment lists. Those who declined participation usually cited a lack of time as
Results
Table 1 presents the correlation matrix, means, and standard deviations for the SEM variables. At age 19, 31% of the participants reported pregnancy experience. A confirmatory analysis of the latent constructs indicated that the measurement model fit the data: χ2 [21] = 39.64, p = .01; χ2/df = 1.89; comparative fit index (CFI) = .98; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .03 (.02, .05). All factor loadings were significant, ≥ .40, p < .01, and in the expected directions.
Figure 2
Discussion
Delaying fertility until adulthood has a profound impact on the course of young people's development; it influences youths' short- and long-term well-being and the likelihood that their offspring will grow up in poverty [28]. We tested hypotheses regarding the influence of protective environmental factors on fertility with a sample of African-American youth, assessed longitudinally from ages 11 to 19 years. The data supported our hypotheses. During preadolescence, environments in which
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Award Number 5R01MH062669 from the National Institute of Mental Health and by Award Number 5R01DA021898 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or the National Institutes of Health. Frederick X. Gibbons is now at the Department of Psychology and the CHIP Research Center,
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