Disparities in reproductive health (STDs, unintended pregnancy) and overweight/obesity are well- established by adolescence, with African-American and Latina adolescent girls at greatest risk. Although not often studied together, reproductive health and overweight/obesity share important features relevant to the success of prevention efforts. In particular, the behavioral antecedents of these health outcomes (i.e., sexual behaviors, physical activity) are both heavily influenced by cultural factors (Kumanyika, 2007;Logan, Cole &Leukefeld, 2002). Using developmental niche as a guiding framework, the aim of this exploratory study is to identify ways that parents'culturally rooted ideas about gender are infused into family life and may indirectly influence the risk of STDs, unintended pregnancy, and overweight/obesity in adolescent girls. In developmental niche theory (Harkness &Super, 1994;2006), information about the microenvironment of the child can be organized into three interrelated components: 1) physical and social settings, 2) customs involved in childrearing, and 3) ethnotheories of the caregivers. Analysis of these three components provides a means of detailing the complex and implicit ways that culture is instantiated into daily family life. This approach is consistent with calls from leading scholars and NIH to move beyond broad labels of race, ethnicity, or immigration status to instead focus on the processes by which culture and acculturation shape child development (e.g., Bornstein &Cote, 2007;Quintana et al., 2006). Such efforts are particularly important to advance research on the familial context of adolescent health disparities because constructs that are important for understanding families of color may not emerge in studies that only include measures developed on White, middle class families (e.g., Boyce &Fuligni, 2007). Interviews will be conducted with 200 adolescent girls in 9th-10th grade (50% Latina, 25% African- American/Black, 25% non-Hispanic White) and their mothers/female caretakers. Participants will complete self-report survey measures, a q-sort task, calendars, ethnographic interviews, and a videotaped dyadic activity. Measures have been selected to assess adolescent behaviors (sexual and physical activity) and cognitions (knowledge, attitudes, norms, efficacy) based on prevailing health models (e.g., Fishbein et al., 2001), as well as three components of the family context as conceptualized in the developmental niche framework. Data will be analyzed using both qualitative methods (e.g., thematic analysis) and quantitative strategies (e.g., structural equation modeling). The proposed project builds on several studies by the research team addressing adolescent reproductive health, the social context of obesity, and the delivery of evidence-based intervention programs to low-income and minority populations. Findings from this study will be used by the investigators and community collaborators to develop evidence-based health programming for adolescent girls that is gender-responsive and developmentally and culturally relevant.
Adolescents of color have heightened rates of STDs, unintended pregnancy, and overweight/obesity. Despite widespread awareness of individual risk and protective factors for these health outcomes, interventions aimed at reducing their occurrence have been only moderately successful, in part because contextual factors have not been adequately addressed. The proposed study will provide insight into the familial and cultural context of health disparities among adolescent girls and young women.
