The Effect of School Socio-Economic Status on Racial-Ethnic Differences in Adolescent Premarital Child Bearing: The Influence of Peers

Stacey Ruf, Arizona State University

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS: 88), discrete-time multilevel hazard models will be estimated to examine how racial-ethnic differences in peer influence affect the higher likelihood of a female adolescent having a premarital birth in a socio-economically disadvantaged school. Descriptive analyses illustrate that blacks have the highest likelihood of having a teenage birth, followed closely by Mexican-Americans. Preliminary multivariate results show that when controlling for school SES characteristics, the likelihood of blacks having a birth compared to whites is reduced, while the likelihood of Mexican-Americans having a birth compared to whites increases. Further analyses will explore interactions between race and school SES, and add the intervening effects of peer influence.