What parents don't know: A comparison of reported risk behaviors by South African adolescents and their parents

Background: Globally, South Africa has the highest numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS. The high prevalence of risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults accounts for one of the sociocultural factors affecting the spread of the epidemic. The purpose of this study was to compare risk behaviors reported by South African adolescents with their parents' reports.

Methods:

Data was collected from a NIDA funded pilot intervention study involving both parents and adolescents in South Africa. Adolescent risk behaviors, including alcohol/drug use and sexual activity, were quantified at baseline using items from the Child Behavior Checklist and the AdHealth questionnaire. Parents and adolescents reported separately, and the frequencies from the parent and adolescent data were compared. Statistical significance was tested using SPSS and the McNemar test.

Results:

Adolescent risk was significantly underreported by parents in comparison to risk reported by the adolescents themselves. Seventy-five percent of adolescents, compared to 19% of parents reported that “drinking occurs without parent's approval.” (X2 = 40.1, df 3, p = .000). Sixty-three percent of adolescents reported ever having sex compared to 26% of parents who reported their adolescent ever had sex (using Binomial distribution, p =.000). Ten percent of parents compared to 30% of adolescents reported adolescent tobacco use (X2 = 13.227, df 3, p =.004).

Conclusions:

These results highlight the importance of educational interventions for adolescents addressing the relationship between risky behaviors and increased likelihood of contracting HIV. Increasing parental awareness, as well as communication and supervision may also help reduce adolescent risk.