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Teen Births in Providence
Teen mothers do not live spread out across the city. When mapping information, it is helpful to look at it in relation to the way we think about our communities, namely the neighborhoods where we live. Within neighborhoods, it is useful to look at where populations are most dense in order to provide them the best possible services. Rhode Island is fortunate to have address-level data on a myriad of health factors. In order to protect confidentiality, while still getting a closer look at locations of teen parents, we can employ hot spotting mapping techniques which allow us to calculate the number of teen mothers in a given area, at a very small scale. When placed within the context of neighborhood boundaries, we can then see within neighborhoods and what opportunities and barriers exist to access services and improve conditions for young parents as well as prevent future teen births. 
Hot spot mapping significantly improves on our ability to identify patterns by looking at teen births in relation to other factors, such as socio-economic data, crime rates, location of health services, and youth development opportunities, all of which are connected to teen birth rates. For more information on this project, contact Amy Pettine. |
