NEIGHBORHOOD, FAMILY, AND WORK - INFLUENCES ON THE PREMARITAL BEHAVIORS OF ADOLESCENT MALES

This article examines the effects of neighborhood, family, and individ ual characteristics on teenage males' premarital sexual and contracept ive behaviors and on their experiences with pregnancy or fatherhood, u sing data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males and the 19 80 census. It also systematically compares the effects of related pers onal and neighborhood traits in multilevel analysis, including employm ent, income, education, welfare receipt, family composition, and rare/ ethnicity. Young men who worked more hours were more sexually active a nd also were more likely to have made someone pregnant. However, highe r neighborhood unemployment rates were also independently associated w ith greater risk of impregnation. Thus, greater financial resources at the personal level may enable teenage males to attract more partners and, therefore, may heighten their risk of impregnating someone, while more limited economic opportunities at the community level may also h eighten the risks of paternity.