Reducing Adolescent Sexual Risk: A Theoretical - ETR Associates

ehavior may be quite complex (Jaccard, Dittus etal. 1993).Greater parent-child communication about sex andbirth control is not consistently related to sexualbehavior (Table 9-1). One of the reasons is that theremay be a positive spurious (non-causal) relationshipbetween parent-child communication and initiationof sexual intercourse. That is, when teens becomeinvolved in romantic relationships and situationsthat might lead to initiating sexual activity, theybecome more likely to have sexual activity and theirparents become more likely to discuss delayingsexual activity (and using contraception) with them.Thus, it is not surprising that some studies showthat teens who have had sex are more likely to havediscussed delaying sex with their parents than teenswho have not had sex. However, this does not meanthat if parents talk to their teens about delaying sexbefore their teens actually have sex, their teens willhave sex sooner. In fact, two studies show that whenparents did talk with their teens about delaying theirinitiation of sex before teens had initiated sex, thenthe teens were likely to wait longer to initiate sex(Table 9-2) (East 1996; Whitaker and Miller 2000).Studies also suggest that the impact of parent-childcommunication about sexual activity may depend onvarious characteristics of parents, their children andtheir message. For example, if mothers disapproveof teens having sexual relations, communicationtakes place early, and there is a close mother-childrelationship, then mother-daughter communicationmay delay the daughter’s initiation of sexual intercourse.However, there may be less impact on delayof sexual contact if parents do not disapprove ofteens having sexual relations, the parents are talkingto sons rather than to daughters, the communicationtakes place too late, or the parents are not closeto their children (Jaccard, Dittus et al. 1993; Miller1998; Kirby and Lepore 2007).There is stronger and more consistent evidence thatwhen parents accept and support contraceptive useand encourage their teens to use contraception,then the teens are more likely to use contraception.Three studies found positive effects of parentalacceptance and support of contraception on teenuse of contraception; none found non-significantor negative effects (Kalagian, Loewen et al. 1998;Jaccard and Dittus 2000; Longmore, Manning et al.2003). Similarly, five studies found a positive effectof parent-child communication about contraception,only two found insignificant effects, and nonefound a negative effect (Table 9-3) (Casper 1990;Loewenstein and Furstenberg 1991; Reschovsky andGerner 1991; Moore, Morrison et al. 1995; Jaccard,Dittus et al. 1996; DiClemente, Wingood et al.2001; Kirby and Lepore 2007). Practical implicationsof this research are that in order to reducesexual risks, parents should discourage sexual initiationbefore their teens initiate sexual activity andsupport contraceptive use before or as soon as theirteens have sexual intercourse.Table9-1Parent-child communicationabout sex and birthcontrol (N=14)Table9-2Number of Studies Reporting anAssociation Between Parent-ChildCommunication About Sex and Teens’Initiation of SexParent-child communicationabout sex beforethe teens had initiatedsex (N=3)Table9-3LaterInitiationof SexNoSignificantRelationshipsEarlierInitiationof Sex2 6 6Number of Studies Reporting Effects ofParent-Child Communication About Sex onTeens’ Subsequent Initiation of SexDelayedInitiationof SexNoSignificantRelationshipsHastenedInitiationof Sex2 1 0Number of Studies Reporting Effectsof Parent-Child Communication AboutSex on Teens’ Condom or OtherContraceptive UseParent-child communicationabout sex and birthcontrol (N=7)Increased Useof Condomsor OtherContraceptivesNoSignificantRelationshipReduced Useof Condomsor OtherContraceptives5 2 0Chapter 9 Increasing Parent-Child Communication About Sex 109