Contextual Determinants of Race Differences in Condom Use: The Respective Roles of Concentrated Affluence and Family Planning Clinics

Lori A. Burrington, Ohio State University
Christopher Browning, Ohio State University

Recent data indicate that non-Latino African American adolescents are more likely to use condoms than White or Latino adolescents. In this research, we employ data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) along with data from the 1990 Decennial Census to examine contextual determinants of race differences in condom use among sexually active adolescents in the city of Chicago. We consider the following hypotheses: (1) to what extent are race differences in adolescent condom use explained by neighborhood concentrated affluence; and (2) to what extent are these differences attributable to the aggregate perception of the presence of a neighborhood family planning clinic? Findings indicate that race differences in condom use are accounted for in part by concentrated affluence, and that this concentrated affluence effect is attributable in part to community-level perceptions of the presence of a neighborhood family planning clinic.