![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
Within a rapidly changing cultural and socio-economic context, young people in China are increasingly engaging in romantic experiences and sexual behaviours with consequences such as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Across a range of contexts, parental communication about sexuality has been recognised as protective in terms of increasing the likelihood of sexual abstinence and safer sexual practice. This study focuses on the factors shaping parent–adolescent communication about sexuality. Thirty-eight young people and twenty-seven parents, recruited from two high schools in a Northern-Eastern city of China, were interviewed. Thematic analysis of their interview responses was conducted using a social constructionist framework. Four main themes were identified: timing; discomfort and uncertainty; assumptions; and the parent–adolescent relationship. Findings suggest that communication between parents and children is influenced by individual as well as interpersonal factors and factors relating to the broader Chinese sociocultural context. To facilitate communication, both parents and young people need support from health and other professionals, while parents need more help and support in overcoming historical, social and cultural barriers to open communication about sex.
Acknowledgements
This study was conducted at Flinders University, Australia. Initial findings from this study were presented at the Population Health Congress 2015, Hobart, Australia, in September 2015. We thank the Chinese Scholarship Council for support to the first author. We also thank the students and parents who participated in interviews and the administrative staff at the two high schools who supported the fieldwork.