| dc.description.abstract | The British government established the Teenage Pregnancy Unit in 1999 to
reduce early pregnancy. Current policy initiatives have a significant geographic
dimension: specific English neighbourhoods have been identified as the sites
where most early pregnancy occurs and have been targeted for intervention.
The aim of this thesis is to explore the factors that influence teenage sexual and
reproductive behaviour by drawing on the neighbourhoods effects literature.
Within this body of research, teenage reproduction is believed to be affected by a
multiplicity of factors operating within different domains. The analysis (of survey
data and qualitative material collected in three locations) was guided by two
research questions: which factors within neighbourhoods, family and peer
contexts are the most important in elucidating the causal pathways to teenage
sex, pregnancy and fertility; and do the importance of these factors vary between
neighbourhoods?
Overall, factors within neighbourhood and peer contexts were found to be less
significant than family and individual-level factors. The analysis of British Cohort
Study data showed that, for example, women who experience teenage
pregnancy or birth lived in deprived areas at age 16, but other neighbourhood
variables were not significant in multivariate analysis. There were some
differences between neighbourhoods, but the cohort member's attitude to school
was, generally, the most important factor associated with teenage sexual and
reproductive behaviour. The qualitative data supported these statistical results.
There was little evidence that women had been influenced by either their friends
or others within their neighbourhoods (though some women reported knowing
high numbers of teenage mothers), and nearly all the young mothers had low
educational attainment. In conclusion, individual and family-level influences on
sexual and reproductive outcomes are paramount, but behaviour is also subtly
informed by wider social factors. | en_US |
