Having the right kind of neighbors can help prevent teens from having sex at an early age, according to new research.
A study in Chicago found that some teens were more likely to delay having sex if they lived in neighborhoods where the adults kept a close eye on area children.
The teens who benefited from living in these close-knit neighborhoods were those who had the least parental supervision, such as might occur when both parents work outside the home.
The results show another reason why neighborhoods are important in the lives of residents, said Christopher Browning, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
"Teens may benefit when they live in neighborhoods where adults take responsibility for socializing kids, even those they may not know personally," Browning said. "These are the neighborhoods where residents share the same values and norms, and try to pass them along to youth."
While previous research has shown that good neighbor relations help prevent crime, Browning said this is the first study to show how how these strong relationships among neighbors may affect teenage sexual behavior.
"Crime tends to happen in public spaces, but this is different. Sexual behavior happens in private spaces, in people's homes, so it may not be as easy to regulate as crime. But in some neighborhoods, adults are making sure kids aren't unsupervised in empty homes after school."
Browning conducted the study with Jeanne Brooks-Gunn from Columbia University and Tama Leventhal from John Hopkins University. The study appears in the current issue of the American Sociological Review.
The data came from a larger project called the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, which is designed to examine the role of neighborhoods in the lives of children.
The study included residents of 80 neighborhoods. In 1994-95, researchers interviewed people in each of the neighborhoods to calculate what they call "neighborhood collective efficacy." This is a measure of how close-knit each of these communities were. Among other things, residents were asked to rate how much people trusted their neighbors, and whether adults in the neighborhood could be counted on to watch out for children.
In 1995-96, 431 boys and 476 girls aged 11 to 16 and their caregivers, all from these 80 neighborhoods, were interviewed about a wide variety of issues, including early sexual experiences of the youths.
The results showed that the type of neighborhood didn't have any effect on the age of first intercourse for teens whose parents reported they kept a close eye on where their children were at all times.
But for teens who weren't as closely supervised, they were less likely to have intercourse at an early age if they lived in one of the close-knit neighborhoods where adults kept an eye out on local kids.
"When both parents are working, or children are being raised by a single parent, supervision may be more difficult. In these circumstances, it helps to live in a neighborhood where there are other adults who share the same values and who will help supervise teens," Browning said.