Parent and teen communication and the impact on adolescent sexual behavior

Background: Positive family dynamics and communication between parents and teens may be protective factors on multiple adolescent risk behaviors. In addition to providing sexual and reproductive health information to teens, it is important to examine the relationship between parental communication and adolescent decision-making. Few studies have utilized information from parent-teen dyads to examine which qualities have greater impact on adolescent sexual behavior. Method: As part of the evaluation of a community-level pregnancy prevention and sexual health intervention, we recruited 210 teens between 12 to 18 years old and 138 of their caregivers within four public housing communities in Philadelphia. We found 41% of 122 female teens and 75% of 88 male teens reported being sexually active. Utilizing information from sub-sample of 155 caregiver-teen dyads, we assessed cooperative communication using a seven-item scale (alpha=.68). We assessed adolescent sexual behavior as ever having any type of sex. Results: Caregivers who scored lower on cooperative communication were more likely to have sexually-active teens (p=.007) controlling for gender and age of youth and additional relationship factors. Younger caregivers (p=.006) and caregivers with greater relationship satisfaction (p=.001) and being more comfortable discussing sexual health issues (p=.002) were more likely to score higher on cooperative communication controlling for teens' gender and age. Conclusions: Parental cooperative communication was associated with adolescent sexual behavior. Regardless of age and gender of teens, parents with greater relationship satisfaction and being more comfortable discussing sexual health issues with young people were more likely to report higher cooperative communication with their teens.