ParentAdolescent Communication about Sexuality:

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Parent-Adolescent Communication about Sexuality

• Do Parents Talk to their Teenagers about Sex?

Kristin Ito, MD, MPH1, Evelyn Foust, MPH2, Ziya
Gizlice, PhD3 1NRSA Primary Care Research
Fellowship, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill 2HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Branch,
North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services 3Center for Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill North Carolina State Center for
Health Statistics
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Parent-Adolescent Communication
Thank you, Adrian. Parenting is a learning
process, and your criticisms help.
Permission to use image from www.cartoonbank.com
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Why care?

• Teens identify parents as third most important
  source of information
• Parents have the most influence on decisions
  about sex
• 88 teens feel abstinence and avoiding pregnancy
  easier if able to have open conversation with
  parents

Kaiser Family Foundation, National Survey of
Adolescents and Young Adults, 2003. National
Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. With One
Voice 2004 Americas Adults and Teens Sound Off
About Teen Pregnancy., 2004
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Adolescent Sexual BehaviorHigh School Students
CDC. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, 2003.
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Risky Adolescent Sexual Behavior

• Highest prevalence of chlamydia
• Estimated half of new HIV infections occur in
  those lt25 years old
• United States has among the highest teen
  pregnancy rates in developed world

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Why North Carolina?

• Trend toward more and younger-onset sexual
  intercourse
• Higher teen pregnancy rate than national average
• Abstinence-until-marriage sexual education
• State data available through CHAMP

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(No Transcript)
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CHAMP survey

• Goal of measuring the health characteristics of
  children in North Carolina
• Follow-back to the 2005 North Carolina Behavior
  Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS)

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BRFSS

• Measures behavioral risk factors for those 18
  years or older in households
• Random digit dial telephone survey
• Ongoing monthly data collection
• English and Spanish
• Computer-assisted interviews (CATI)

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CHAMP survey

• Respondent asked if had children age 0-17
• If yes, asked permission to be called back for
  CHAMP
• Child chosen randomly
• Parent most knowledgeable about child interviewed
• 83 completion rate
• Parents with children age 12-17 analyzed

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Research Question

• To determine whether parents in North Carolina
  talk and feel prepared to talk to their teenagers
  about sex and preventing sexually transmitted
  diseases (HIV/STDs).

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Methods

• Four questions addressed parent-adolescent
  communication about sex
• Data from January to September 2005
• Univariate and bivariate analysis
• Unweighted data

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Results
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Demographics
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Have you or other members of your family ever
talked with your child about what you expect them
to do or not do when it comes to sex?
chi-square test comparisons by parent gender
and race non-significant
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Have you discussed with your child about reducing
his/her chances of getting HIV/STDs?
chi-square test comparisons by parent gender
and education non-significant
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Do you feel well prepared to talk with your child
about reducing his/her chances of getting
HIV/STDs?
chi-square test comparisons by child gender,
race and parent gender non-significant
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Do you believe your child is sexually active?
53
lt13yo10
chi-square test comparisons by child gender,
parent gender and education non-significant
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Limitations

• Response bias
• Recall bias
• Social desirability bias
• Well-educated parents over-represented
• Fewer male respondents
• Definition of sex
• Parent perception
• Difficult to capture content, frequency, quality,
  non-verbal behaviors

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Conclusions

• Majority of parents report discussing
  expectations regarding sexual activity and
  HIV/STD prevention with their adolescents
• More commonly discuss with females
• May be racial differences
• Parents with younger children and less education
  feel less prepared
• Parents underestimate adolescent sexual activity

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Implications

• High rates of sexual activity and STDs suggest
  current parent-adolescent communication
  inadequate
• Continuing research necessary to define content
  and quality of parent-adolescent communication
• Interventions to improve parent-adolescent
  communication may be helpful