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  • Title: Family communication about sex: what are parents saying and are their adolescents listening?
    Author: Miller KS, Kotchick BA, Dorsey S, Forehand R, Ham AY.
    Journal: Fam Plann Perspect; 1998; 30(5):218-22, 235. PubMed ID: 9782044.
    Abstract:
    CONTEXT: Communication between parents and adolescents about sex, particularly in minority families, has been understudied; more information is needed both on which sex-related topics are discussed and on how their content is transmitted. METHODS: Parent-adolescent communication about 10 sex-related topics was examined in a sample of 907 Hispanic and black 14-16-year-olds. Chi-square analyses were performed to test for significant differences across the 10 topics in discussions reported by the adolescents (with either parent) and by the mothers. The openness of communication, parent-adolescent agreement about communication of topics and differences by gender and ethnicity were also examined. RESULTS: Significantly higher proportions of mothers and adolescents reported discussions of HIV or AIDS (92% by mothers and 71% by adolescents, respectively) and STDs (85% and 70%, respectively) than of issues surrounding sexual behavior, contraceptive use and physical development (27-74% for these other eight topics as reported by mothers vs. 15-66% as reported by adolescents). The gender of the adolescent and of the parent holding the discussion, but not the family's ethnicity, significantly influenced findings, with adolescents of both sexes more likely to report discussions with mothers than with fathers, and with parents more likely to discuss any of the 10 topics with an adolescent of the same gender than of the opposite gender. The likelihood of a topic being discussed and of mother-adolescent agreement that a topic was discussed both increased with an increasing degree of openness in the communication process. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with research among white samples, mothers of black and Hispanic adolescents are the primary parental communicators about sexual topics. To facilitate communication, educational programs for parents should cover not only what is discussed, but how the information is conveyed. In the US, Black and Hispanic adolescents have an increased risk of a number of negative consequences of sexual activity, but most studies about parent-adolescent sex communication have been based on White samples, have failed to examine specific content of discussions, have considered the adolescent's perspective only, and have focused on whether (but not how) sexual information is transmitted. This analysis used data from interviews with 982 mother-adolescent pairs who took part in the 1993-94 Family Adolescent Risk Behavior and Communication Study. Sexual communication with either parent was measured by 10 questions to adolescents, sexual communication with adolescent was measured by rewording these questions for mothers, and another 10 questions measured the process of sexual communication. It was found that the topics of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases were covered significantly more than other issues. Findings were influenced by the gender of the adolescent and the parent but not by ethnicity. Adolescents of both sexes were more likely to report discussions with mothers than with fathers, and parents were more likely to discuss the 10 topics with adolescents of the same gender. As openness in the communication process increased, so did the likelihood of a topic being discussed and of mother-adolescent agreement that the discussion took place. It was concluded that educational programs for parents should include the topic of how information is conveyed.
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