Parent and Peer Communication Effects on AIDS-Related Behavior Among U.S. High School Students.(Statistical Data Included)

Data from a 1989 national probability sample of 8,098 high school students in the United States indicate that young people's discussions about the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with parents and with peers are highly correlated and have opposite effects on behavior: Students who discussed HIV with their parents were less likely than those who did not to have had multiple sex partners, to have had unprotected sexual intercourse and to have ever injected drugs; on the other hand, students who discussed HIV with their peers were more likely than those who did not to have had multiple partners and to have had unprotected sexual intercourse. Subgroup analyses show that young women were influenced more by HIV discussions with parents, while young men were influenced more by discussions with peers; some communication effects differed by race and ethnicity. Students who received HIV instruction in school were more likely to have talked about HIV with both parents and peers. (Family Planning Perspectives, 27:235-2 40 & 268, 1995)

Over the past 25 years, a great deal of research has accumulated on the sexual and contraceptive behavior of adolescents in the United States. The impetus for much of the research stems from the negative consequences of early sexual intercourse, such as unintended pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). These consequences, in turn, often cause serious health problems, which are accompanied by significant social and economic costs. (1)

Many researchers focus on family influences in their attempts to understand adolescent sexual behavior. Within this context, communication between parents and their children about sexual issues and the impact of this communication on adolescent sexual behavior has been one important research area. While some studies show that parental discussions on sexual matters either delay sexual debut or encourage contraceptive use among adolescents, others show no effect. In fact, some studies suggest that communication with parents may encourage sexual behavior. The data also show that these relationships depend on factors such as who reports the communication, whether the parents hold traditional or liberal attitudes, the sex of the adolescent, which parent conducts the discussion and whether the outcome is sexual debut or contraceptive use. Differences in research designs, study populations and the measures used also may account for some of the divergent findings.

Parent Communication Studies

In one early study of teenage parenthood that collected data on mother-daughter discussions about sex and birth control from 404 predominantly black, pregnant adolescents under age 18, (2) communication described as casual and oblique nonetheless had an impact on the daughters' behavior: Among the young women who reported discussing birth control with their mothers, 52% had ever used a contraceptive method, compared with 23% among those who did not have such discussions. In addition, in an analysis of 449 black and white 14--15-year-olds and their mothers, (3) the researchers found that direct verbal communication about sex and birth control was associated with both a delay in the onset of sexual activity and with more responsible sexual behavior after the daughters became sexually active. Another longitudinal study involved a racially diverse sample of sexually active adolescents attending family planning clinics. (4) It showed that although 39% said they usually discussed sex and birth control with their mo thers, there was no association between communication about sex or birth control and actual contraceptive practice at three points in time.

Findings from a nonrepresentative sample of nearly 500 white 12--16-year-olds and their mothers showed that adolescents whose mothers reported in 1980 that they had discussed sex with their daughters were only half as likely to have had intercourse by 1982 as were those whose mothers did not report such communication; the study revealed no significant association with the daughters' reports of communication. (5) Moreover, adolescents who reported that their mothers had discussed contraception with them were about three times as likely to have used an effective method at last coitus as were those who did not report such discussion, although there was no such association between use of an effective method and the mothers' reports of communication.

In a racially mixed sample of almost 500 male and female 15--16-year-olds surveyed as part of the 1981 National Survey of Children, adolescents who reported being able to discuss sexual matters with their parents were less likely to be sexually active than those unable to discuss such subjects with their parents. (6) Data from the same survey involving 461 white 15--16-year-olds revealed that daughters of parents with traditional family values who reported discussing sex were significantly less likely to be sexually active than were-those who did not report such discussions; sons of traditional parents were more likely to be sexually active if they discussed sex with their parents. (7) On the other hand, use of another measure of communication--whether sons felt that parents often listened to them and discussed parental decisions with them--showed that among those whose parents espoused traditional values, sons who felt this way were less likely to be sexually active.