Topics discussed with mothers and fathers for parent–child sex communication among African-American adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in parent–child sex communication for 14 topics among early adolescent African-American youth. Similar to prior research, a larger percentage of participants reported they discussed sex with their mother in comparison to their father. In contrast to prior research, more males than females reported they discussed sexual topics with their mothers and fathers. Binary logistic regression analysis found significant differences for males versus females for father–child conversations on 12 of the 14 topics. Only two of the analyses were significant for males versus females on mother–child discussion of the topics. Finally, parent–child conversations tended to focus on general versus personal information. For example, a larger percentage of participants reported discussing general information on HIV/AIDS compared to discussing sexual orientation. The importance of research that focuses on the role of fathers in parent–child sexual socialisation is discussed.

Keywords:

• African-American adolescents
• parent–child communication
• sex
• HIV/AIDS
• gender differences

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; grant #UO1 PS000678).