Acculturation and contraceptive use among Latino adolescents in the U.S

The guiding hypothesis behind this dissertation research is that contraceptive use will increase among adolescents in the U.S. as individual, familial and neighborhood level measures of acculturation increase. Because of the multiple levels of influence in studying this outcome, each component must be studied in isolation in order to understand the unique contribution that individual, familial, and neighborhood characteristics make in determining contraceptive use. First, the associations between contraceptive use and individual level measures of acculturation, such as language used at home, respondent's nativity and generational status were explored. Second, familial level proxy measures of acculturation, like mother and father's nativity, family structure, family atmosphere and parent-teen communication, were explored. Third, neighborhood level measures of acculturation using block groups as a proxy were measured by ethnic composition. These associations at multiple levels were explored controlling for the demographic variables of age, gender and race/ethnicity among adolescents.