Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jodi Nearns, PhD and Melinda Forthofer, PhD. The Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina, 1600 Hampton Street, Suite 507, Columbia, SC 29208, (803) 777-9124, jodi@nearns.com

Background: Access to health care is an important resource for sexually experienced adolescent females in the prevention of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. However, a paucity of research exists regarding the extent to which social disparities in access to health care exist among this vulnerable population of adolescents, including the potential contribution of the neighborhood racial and socioeconomic context. Methods: This study employed hierarchical generalized linear modeling using Wave I data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health data) to examine the contribution of the neighborhood context to social disparities in access to health care (receipt of a routine physical, and receipt of contraceptive services) among 1,526 sexually experienced, Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic White adolescent females. Findings: After adjusting for a variety of factors that may influence access to health care, the findings indicated no racial disparities and few socioeconomic disparities in access to health care among this sample of adolescents. The findings also revealed significant variation in access to health care across neighborhoods, above and beyond the individual composition of the neighborhood, but the neighborhood racial and socioeconomic context did not contribute to this variation or to social disparities in access to health care. Discussion: Further studies are indicated to explore the underlying factors that contribute to socioeconomic disparities in access to health care among sexually experienced adolescent females, and the potential neighborhood characteristics that may accout for the differential access to health care across neighborhoods among this vulnerable population of adolescents.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe the extent to which social disparities in access to health care exist among sexually experienced adolescent females, and the potential contribution of the neighborhood context.
• Discuss alternative hypotheses for the findings of this study related to disparities in access to health care among sexually experienced adolescent females.
• Discuss the strengths and limitations in the application of multilevel modeling for health disparities research.

Keywords: Social Inequalities, Methodology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No