A Six-Month Outcome Evaluation of Media Aware Parent, a Parent-Based Media Mediation and Sexual Health Communication Program to Promote Adolescent Sexual Health

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sustained effects of a web-based program for parents of adolescents designed to help them engage in media mediation and high-quality parent-adolescent communication about sex, relationships, and media. A randomized control trial was conducted with parent-adolescent pairs (n=375 pairs). Adolescents were in 7^th-9^th grade. Pairs were randomly assigned to either the intervention Media Aware Parent or active control (medically accurate adolescent sexual health information). This study analyzed the impact of Media Aware Parent 6 months after pretest. Several outcomes significant at one-month posttest were sustained at 6 months, including enhanced parents’ media-related cognitions (e.g. media skepticism) and adolescent awareness of family media rules. Parents’ reports of restrictive media mediation and adolescents’ reports of their parent engaging in supportive parenting, which were not significant at posttest, emerged as significant at 6 months, signifying that the program resulted in changes in parent behavior and the parent-adolescent relationship over time. The impact of the program on parent-adolescent communication quality and adolescent sexual health and media-related outcomes diminished over time, suggesting the need for program boosters to encourage parents to continue engaging in high-quality conversations with their adolescent children about sex, relationships, and media.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTION

• The positive impact of Media Aware Parent on parents’ media-related cognitions and adolescents’ awareness of family media rules were sustained at 6 months after pretest.

• Media Aware Parent resulted in parents reporting that they engaged in more restrictive media mediation and adolescents reporting that their parents engaged in more supportive parenting during a six-month follow-up.

• The short-term impact of Media Aware Parent on adolescent sexual health outcomes, adolescent media cognitions, and parent-adolescent communication quality diminished over time, suggesting the need for program boosters to maintain positive outcomes.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number R44HD082968 to Dr. Tracy Scull. Research reported in this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

The first two authors are employed by a small business. The business has a financial interest in the copyright and sale of the Media Aware Parent program for research and clinical purposes.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [R44HD082968]