Daily HealthBeat Tip

Good neighbors, good kids

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I�m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

It seems it does take a village to raise a child. A study finds close-knit neighborhoods � ones that have good neighbor relations � raise kids who tend to delay starting sex.

Researcher Christopher Browning of Ohio State University bases that on survey data on neighborhoods in Chicago. His study in the American Sociological Review was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Browning says teens who had less parental supervision � maybe, for instance, the parents worked � had the most benefit from being in a neighborhood where people watched out for each other.

And what�s that like?

"Say you intervene in a fight between kids. Other neighbors will recognize that that�s a beneficial thing for the community. They�ll back you up." (Eight seconds)

Browning says neighborhood values are not a substitute for Mom and Dad�s values � closer to an echo.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: January 13, 2005

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