Racial differences in sexual and fertility attitudes in an urban setting

Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (neighborhood N = 77; individual N = 951), we consider the extent to which African American youth maintain sexual and fertility-related norms that support early sexual activity and childbearing and examine the robustness of racial differences in sexual attitudes to controls for neighborhood, family, and individual characteristics. At a minimum, neighborhood economic disadvantage accounts for 26% of the baseline increased likelihood of holding attitudes that encourage early sexual activity among African American youth when compared with Whites. Neighborhood-, family-, and individual-level factors account for 67% of the race difference in sexual attitudes. Implications for contextual and race-based theories of sexual and fertility norms are discussed.