A Comparison of the Process and Content of Sexual Communications Among African American Adolescent Children Living in Parent and Grandparent Headed Families

INTRODUCTION: The process of parental sexual communication has been shown to delay the sexual debut of adolescents; however, few studies have focused on extended family members such as grandparents. The purpose of this study was to compare the process and content of sexual communications among African-American adolescent children living in parent or grandparent headed families. METHODS: A secondary analysis of two de-identified datasets from 80 African-American adolescents was conducted. RESULTS: Findings indicated that there were no significant differences in the sexual communication process in relation to facilitators p= 0.38 and barriers p =0.23 with the discussions. There were however significant differences with adolescents’ attitudes (p = 0.04) and feelings regarding sexual abstinence (p =0.01), HIV prevention (p= 0.002) and teen pregnancy (p= 0.010). DISCUSSION: Researchers can use the results of this study as a beginning point in examining the sexual communication process in grandparent-headed families.