Everybody’s doin’ it (right?): Neighborhood norms and sexual activity in adolescence

A neighborhood’s normative climate is linked to, but conceptually distinct from, its structural characteristics such as poverty and racial/ethnic composition. Given the deleterious consequences of early sexual activity for adolescent health and well-being, it is important to assess normative influences on youth behaviors such as sexual debut, number of sex partners, and involvement in casual sexual experiences. The current study moves beyond prior research by constructing a measure of normative climate that more fully captures neighborhood norms, and analyzing the influence of normative climate on behavior in a longitudinal framework. Using recently geo-coded data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), we analyze the effect of normative climate on adolescents’ sexual behaviors. Results indicate that variation in neighborhood normative climates increases adolescents’ odds of sexual debut and casual sex, and is associated with their number of sex partners, even after accounting for neighborhood structural disadvantage and demographic risk factors.

► Neighborhood normative climates are shared attitudes of members of a social group.
► We examine normative influences on adolescent sexual activity.
► We find sexually permissive climates increase adolescents’ chance of sexual debut.
► Permissive climates also increase odds of casual sex and number of sex partners.
► Normative climate affects behavior net of neighborhood structural characteristics.