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Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School

Parents’ conversations with teens about sex and relationships can play a critical role in improving teenage reproductive health by reducing teens’ risky sexual behavior. However, little is known about how teen-parent communication changes from early to middle adolescence and how parents can tailor t...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Grossman, Jennifer M., Jenkins, Lisa J., Richer, Amanda M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5800206/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29320447
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010107
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author Grossman, Jennifer M.
Jenkins, Lisa J.
Richer, Amanda M.
author_facet Grossman, Jennifer M.
Jenkins, Lisa J.
Richer, Amanda M.
author_sort Grossman, Jennifer M.
collection PubMed
description Parents’ conversations with teens about sex and relationships can play a critical role in improving teenage reproductive health by reducing teens’ risky sexual behavior. However, little is known about how teen-parent communication changes from early to middle adolescence and how parents can tailor their communication to address their teens’ changing development and experiences during these periods. In this longitudinal qualitative study, U.S. parents (N = 23) participated in interviews when their teens were in early adolescence, then again when the teens were in middle adolescence. Participants were largely mothers and were from diverse racial/ethnic and educational backgrounds. Thematic analysis was used to assess continuity and change in parents’ perceptions of teen-parent communication. Findings showed that many parents adapted their conversations with their teens about sex and relationships as teens developed. Once teens had entered high school, more parents described feeling comfortable with their conversations. However, parents also more often reported that their teens responded negatively to the communication in high school than they had in middle school. These findings may help parents to anticipate their own as well as their teens’ responses to family conversations about sex at different developmental time points and to strategize how to effectively talk with their teens about sex and relationships to improve their teens’ overall reproductive health.
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spelling pubmed-58002062018-02-06 Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School Grossman, Jennifer M. Jenkins, Lisa J. Richer, Amanda M. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Parents’ conversations with teens about sex and relationships can play a critical role in improving teenage reproductive health by reducing teens’ risky sexual behavior. However, little is known about how teen-parent communication changes from early to middle adolescence and how parents can tailor their communication to address their teens’ changing development and experiences during these periods. In this longitudinal qualitative study, U.S. parents (N = 23) participated in interviews when their teens were in early adolescence, then again when the teens were in middle adolescence. Participants were largely mothers and were from diverse racial/ethnic and educational backgrounds. Thematic analysis was used to assess continuity and change in parents’ perceptions of teen-parent communication. Findings showed that many parents adapted their conversations with their teens about sex and relationships as teens developed. Once teens had entered high school, more parents described feeling comfortable with their conversations. However, parents also more often reported that their teens responded negatively to the communication in high school than they had in middle school. These findings may help parents to anticipate their own as well as their teens’ responses to family conversations about sex at different developmental time points and to strategize how to effectively talk with their teens about sex and relationships to improve their teens’ overall reproductive health. MDPI 2018-01-10 2018-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5800206/ /pubmed/29320447 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010107 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Grossman, Jennifer M.
Jenkins, Lisa J.
Richer, Amanda M.
Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School
title Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School
title_full Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School
title_fullStr Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School
title_full_unstemmed Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School
title_short Parents’ Perspectives on Family Sexuality Communication from Middle School to High School
title_sort parents’ perspectives on family sexuality communication from middle school to high school
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5800206/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29320447
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010107
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