Norms as Group-Level Constructs: Investigating School-Level Teen Pregnancy Norms and Behaviors.

TEENAGE pregnancy -- Social aspects; SOCIAL norms; PEERS; TEENAGERS' sexual behavior; HUMAN sexuality; HUMAN behavior & society; RACE & society; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; RELIGIOUSNESS -- Social aspects; SOCIAL conditions of minorities; ECONOMIC conditions of minorities

Social norms are a group-level phenomenon, but past quantitative research has rarely measured them in the aggregate or considered their group-level properties. We used the school-based design of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to measure normative climates regarding teen pregnancy across 75 US high schools. We distinguished between the strength of a school's norm against teen pregnancy and the consensus around that norm. School-level norm strength and dissensus were strongly (r = –0.65) and moderately (r = 0.34) associated with pregnancy prevalence within schools, respectively. Normative climate partially accounted for observed racial differences in school pregnancy prevalence, but norms were a stronger predictor than racial composition. As hypothesized, schools with both a stronger average norm against teen pregnancy and greater consensus around the norm had the lowest pregnancy prevalence. Results highlight the importance of group-level normative processes and of considering the local school environment when designing policies to reduce teen pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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