Dataset Information

Timing of parent and child communication about sexuality relative to children's sexual behaviors.

ABSTRACT: To examine timing of parent-child discussions about sexual topics relative to child-reported sexual behavior.Longitudinal study of employed parents and their children, with an initial survey followed by subsequent surveys 3, 6, and 12 months later. Participants were 141 parents, along with their children (13-17 years), who were control participants in a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate a worksite-based intervention to improve parent-adolescent communication. Main outcomes were parent and child reports of discussion of up to 24 sexual topics and presexual and sexual acts (ranging from handholding to vaginal intercourse) that occurred before the first survey and in the intervals between subsequent pairs of surveys.Sexual topics tend to group into 3 sets. The first set includes topics such as girls' bodies and menstruation and typically coincides with children's presexual stage (handholding, kissing). The second set includes topics such as birth control efficacy and refusing sex and typically coincides with the precoital stage (genital touching and oral sex). The third set typically occurs when children have initiated intercourse. Over half of children engage in genital touching before discussing birth control efficacy, resisting partner pressure for sex, sexually transmitted disease symptoms, condom use, choosing birth control, or partner condom refusal; >40% of children have intercourse before any discussion about sexually transmitted disease symptoms, condom use, choosing birth control, or partner condom refusal.Many parents and adolescents do not talk about important sexual topics before adolescents' sexual debut. Clinicians can facilitate this communication by providing parents with information about sexual behavior of adolescents.

SUBMITTER: Beckett MK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5549786 | biostudies-other | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:IMPORTANCE:Parent-adolescent sexual communication has received considerable attention as a factor that can positively affect safer sex behavior among youth; however, the evidence linking such communication to youth contraceptive and condom use has not been empirically synthesized. OBJECTIVES:To examine the effect of parent-adolescent sexual communication on safer sex behavior among youth and explore potential moderators of this association. DATA SOURCES:A systematic search of studies published from database inception through June 30, 2014, using the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Communication & Mass Media Complete databases and relevant review articles yielded 5098 studies, of which 52 studies with 25,314 adolescents met the study eligibility criteria. Analysis was conducted from July 1, 2014, to July 27, 2015. STUDY SELECTION:Studies were included if they sampled adolescents (mean sample age ?18 years), included an adolescent report of sexual communication with one or both parents, measured safer sex behavior, and were published in English. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS:Correlation coefficients (r) and 95% CIs were computed from studies and meta-analyzed using random-effects models. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:Safer sex behavior, including use of contraceptives or condoms. RESULTS:Fifty-two articles, including 71 independent effects representing more than 3 decades of research on 25,314 adolescents (weighted mean age, 15.2 years) were synthesized. Across studies, there was a significant weighted mean effect (r?=?0.10; 95% CI, 0.08-0.13) linking parent-adolescent sexual communication with safer sex behavior, which was statistically heterogeneous (Q?=?203.50, P?<?.001, I2?=?65.60). Moderation analyses revealed larger effects for communication with girls (r?=?0.12) than boys (r?=?0.04) and among youth who discussed sex with their mothers (r?=?0.14) compared with their fathers (r?=?0.03). Effects did not differ for contraceptive vs condom use or among longitudinal vs cross-sectional studies, indicating that parent sexual communication had a similar effect across study designs and outcomes. Several methodological issues were identified in the literature; future studies can improve on these issues by measuring parent-adolescent communication with robust, multi-item measures, clearly specifying the target parent, and applying multimethod longitudinal designs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:Sexual communication with parents, particularly mothers, plays a small protective role in safer sex behavior among adolescents; this protective effect is more pronounced for girls than boys. We discuss the implications for practice and make suggestions for future research on parent-adolescent sexual communication.

Dataset Information

Timing of parent and child communication about sexuality relative to children's sexual behaviors.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets