Early Sexual Debut and Neighborhood Social Environment in Latinx Youth

To examine whether social aspects of the neighborhood environment are associated with early sexual initiation in a California agricultural community of predominantly Latinx adolescents. In a prospective cohort study of 599 eighth graders recruited from middle schools in Salinas, California (2015-2019), participants completed five interviews over 2 years. Social environment measures included neighborhood social dynamics (neighborhood disorder, social cohesion, and social network gang exposure); experiences of discrimination; and school connectedness. We estimated associations between baseline social environment and early sexual initiation (