Parental Awareness of Adolescent Sexuality

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of communication and knowledge about adolescents' sexuality between parents and their teenagers. <h3>Methods</h3> All 12–18 year old patients who have been accompanied by a parent for an office visit in a Pediatric/Adolescent Gynecologist's private practice have been invited to participate. Questionnaires with short answer and multiple choice questions have been administered to both the patient and her parent. All responses obtained from the first 10 weeks of data collection have been analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test). Data collection is ongoing. <h3>Results</h3> Forty-five of 46 (97.8%) patient/parent pairs completed the questionnaires. Mean patient age was 15.0 years (13–17). Patient responses showed that 31.1% were sexually active, 0% had been pregnant, and 8.9% had had a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Parents knew of or suspected sexual activity in 35.6% (P>.05), pregnancy in 00/0 (P>.05), and STDs in 8.9% (P>.05) of their daughters. There were 2 parents who thought that their virginal daughters were sexually active and 1 parent who was not aware of her daughter's sexual activity. Among sexually active teens, 10/17 (58.8%) stated that they had told their parent. citing "I thought they should know" as the most common reason for disclosure (71.4%); reasons most commonly given for not telling parents included fear of parental anger or disappointment (50%) and "it's not their business" (30%). Parents, however, indicated that only 29.4% of their sexually active daughters had volunteered this information. Parents discovered their daughters' activities by confronting them (23.5%), noting suspicious behavior (23.5%), and finding incriminating evidence among their daughter's belongings (11.8%). The vast majority of parents felt that the best way to find out about their daughter's sexual activity would be direct communication with the daughter (95.6%), but only 11.1% stated that they would be supportive if they found out that she is sexually active. Nearly half (44.4%) said they would be hurt, disappointed, or upset, but only 11.1% said they would be angry. Most parents had discussed menstruation (97.8%) and sex (91.1%) with their daughter, but fewer had discussed contraception (77.8%) and STDs (80%). <h3>Conclusions</h3> Most parents of adolescents in this population are aware of their daughter's level of sexual activity, but often this discovery is not due to disclosure by the daughter.