School contextual factors and race differences in adolescent sexual behaviors

Abstract

Although there exist a voluminous number of studies examining predictors of adolescent sexual behavior, few studies have explored the role of the school social context in influencing teen sexual activity generally and specifically, the role that school contextual factors play in helping understand race differences in risky sexual behaviors. Using data from a nationally representative school-based survey of American youth in Grades 7–12, we find support for our core hypothesis that school contextual factors are associated with risky sexual behavior, number of sexual partners, and ever having sex, albeit it nuanced ways and that such factors cannot account for much of the race gap in adolescent sexual behavior. We interpret these findings to be more supportive of a social contagion model (versus a school climate model).

Notes

1 School attachment was created from a series of questions asking students how much they agree or disagree with the following statements, ranging from 1 (strong disagreement) to 5 (strong agreement): They feel close to people, safe, a part of, and happy at school, and the teachers at their school treat students fairly. Responses were aggregated to the school level.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA034466).