Adolescent Emotion Regulation and Parent–Child Discussions about Sexual Behaviors

Abstract

Risky sexual behavior can lead to negative outcomes (e.g., pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections). Adolescents may engage in risky sex less often if families talk about sexual safety or if adolescents engage in emotion regulation (ER) skills, however, research is lacking on how ER may be a barrier to sexual health communication. This exploratory study was a secondary analysis of baseline information from 420 American adolescents referred for mental health symptoms and their parents regarding ER and sexual health communication. Significant differences emerged on adolescent ER between families that talk about sexual health and those that do not.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• sexual attitudes and behaviors
• sexual communication
• emotion regulation

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research [R01 NR011906] (PI: C. Houck).