Parent-adolescent Communication Research Articles

A scoping review of strategies for adolescents' sexual and reproductive health role modelling.

Individuals strive to maintain their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) by being exposed to correct information, having access to contraceptives, and promoting safe sex practices. Adolescent SRH promotion efforts should consider the influence of role models. This review explored the availability and nature of strategies and programmes on adolescents' SRH role modelling and described them using a scoping review. Studies were retrieved from four databases and grey literature through a search of 223 studies. The databases included EBSCO-host, Medline, Sabinet, and Pubmed. Data extraction was guided by a data-extraction tool adapted from the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. The characteristics of the selected studies were recorded in a Microsoft spreadsheet. Eleven studies published between 2014 and 2022 were included for the final review and analysed using thematic analysis. Selected articles focused on adolescents' SRH; however, only two studies focused particularly on role modelling. Nonetheless, some aspects of the findings and recommendations presented could be extrapolated to adolescents' SRH role modelling. This includes adolescent-parent communication on SRH, community engagement, mentoring, positive role modelling, and information sharing through media campaigns. There is a lack of literature on SRH role modelling because most studies did not focus on role modelling as an aspect of SRH. Therefore, research needs to be conducted on strategies and programmes focusing on SRH modelling.Contribution:The findings of this scoping review may encourage the development and implementation of strategies and programmes targeting adolescents' SRH throughout diverse communities to promote adolescent SRH.

Parent SMART: Effects of residential treatment and an adjunctive parenting intervention on behavioral health services utilization

IntroductionScant research has examined the impact of residential treatment on adolescent behavioral healthcare utilization post-discharge, even though behavioral healthcare utilization is major driver of healthcare costs. In the primary analyses of a pilot randomized trial, Parent SMART – a technology-assisted intervention for parents of adolescents in residential treatment – was found to improve parental monitoring and parent-adolescent communication, reduce adolescent drinking, and reduce adolescent school-related problems, relative to residential treatment as usual (TAU). The goal of this secondary analysis of the pilot randomized trial was to assess the effects of residential treatment and the adjunctive Parent SMART intervention on both the amount and type of subsequent behavioral healthcare utilization. MethodThe study randomized sixty-one parent-adolescent dyads to residential TAU (n = 31) or residential TAU plus Parent SMART (n = 30). Of the 61 dyads, 37 were recruited from a short-term residential facility and 24 were recruited from a long-term facility. Adolescents completed a structured clinical interview and self-reported their behavioral health-related visits to the emergency department, nights in residential/inpatient, and outpatient visits over the past 90 days, at baseline, 12-, and 24-weeks post-discharge. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) examined both linear and non-linear (pre- to post- residential treatment) trends, pooled, and stratified by residential facility to examine behavioral health service utilization. ResultsBoth the linear and pre-post GLMMs revealed that behavioral health-related emergency department visits and residential/inpatient nights decreased across both residential facilities. GLMMs estimating change from the pre- to post period indicated that outpatient visits increased across both facilities. There were no significant effects of the Parent SMART adjunctive intervention in GLMMs, though bivariate tests and the direction of effects signaled that Parent SMART was associated with more nights of residential/inpatient utilization. ConclusionResidential substance use treatment may reduce adolescents' subsequent utilization of costly behavioral healthcare services such as emergency department visits and residential/inpatient nights, while increasing utilization of outpatient services. Parent SMART was not associated with significant changes in behavioral healthcare utilization, but the pattern of results was consistent with prior literature suggesting that stronger parenting skills are associated with greater utilization of non-emergency services.

Barriers and facilitators of parent-adolescent communication on sexual health and relationships among the UK population: A study protocol.

Improving the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents remains a public health priority. Effective communication between parents and adolescents regarding sexual health and relationships is important and could influence adolescents to adopt safer sexual behaviors. However, several barriers can impede this communication in the UK population. The aim of the review is to explore barriers and facilitators, as well as wider determinants of parent-adolescent communication (PAC) on sexual health and relationships. The review will explore possible interventions aimed at promoting PACon sexual health and relationships. The review will focus on exploring barriers and facilitators of PACon sexual health and relationships in the United Kingdom. This study will synthesize qualitative literature to understand the significance of parent-adolescent sexual and reproductive health communication, the challenges and facilitators to effective communication in the United Kingdom. Using a detailed predetermined search strategy, the study will search for relevant studies from CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and gray literature on Google Scholar. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programchecklist will appraise the included studies'methodological quality. A thematic synthesis approach will be used to synthesize data from included studies. Findings from the systematic review are expected to give information on the barriers and facilitators of PACon sexual health and relationships which will further optimize interventions to improve this type of communication and guide future research in understanding this area. The review has been registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD (PROSPERO) (CRD42022351697).

Adolescent-Parent Communication About Reproductive Health Among Junior High School Students

Adolescent-parent communication about reproductive health is still considered taboo. This view prevents students from telling their parents about their health problems. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between factors related to adolescent-parent communication about reproductive health. This research method is analytically observational with a cross-sectional approach. Respondents involved were students of classes VII and VIII, totaling 117 people. The results showed no relationship between gender (p-value= 0.182, OR (95%CI)= 0.846-3.686), information access (p-value= 0.561, OR (95%CI)= 0.603-3.314), gender compatibility (p-value= 0.302, OR (95%CI)= 0.707-5.020), and parental credibility (p-value= 0.100, OR (95%CI)= 0.950-4.370) with adolescent-parent communication about reproductive health. Adolescent-parent communication about reproductive health, which is low and high, has almost the same percentage—of recommendations to parents to improve communication with adolescents regarding reproductive health further. The school also needs to add reproductive health education activities.

Adolescents' relationships with parents and romantic partners in eight countries.

Creating romantic relationships characterized by high-quality, satisfaction, few conflicts, and reasoning strategies to handle conflicts is an important developmental task for adolescents connected to the relational models they receive from their parents. This study examines how parent-adolescent conflicts, attachment, positive parenting, and communication are related to adolescents' romantic relationship quality, satisfaction, conflicts, and management. We interviewed 311 adolescents at two time points (females = 52%, ages 15 and 17) in eight countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Generalized and linear mixed models were run considering the participants' nesting within countries. Adolescents with negative conflicts with their parents reported low romantic relationship quality and satisfaction and high conflicts with their romantic partners. Adolescents experiencing an anxious attachment to their parents reported low romantic relationship quality, while adolescents with positive parenting showed high romantic relationship satisfaction. However, no association between parent-adolescent relationships and conflict management skills involving reasoning with the partner was found. No associations of parent-adolescent communication with romantic relationship dimensions emerged, nor was there any effect of the country on romantic relationship quality or satisfaction. These results stress the relevance of parent-adolescent conflicts and attachment as factors connected to how adolescents experience romantic relationships.

Parent-Adolescent Communication and Knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues Among Adolescents: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study from Nepal

Parent-Adolescent Communication and Knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health Issues Among Adolescents: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study from Nepal

The Role of Parent–Adolescent Communication Among Youth Exposed to Neighborhood Violence in Rural Mexico

This study examines the potential moderating effects of mother– and father–adolescent communication on the relations between community violence exposure (i.e., witnessing violence and personal victimization), neighborhood-based sexual harassment, and adolescents’ depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. The sample included 200 poor, rural adolescents ( Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.40), the majority of whom were girls (58%) from two public schools in the State of Mexico, Mexico. Multiple hierarchical regressions indicated high rates of exposure to neighborhood violence, as well as positive associations between violence exposure and adolescents’ psychological outcomes. Mother– and father–adolescent communication each separately functioned as distinct protective factors, weakening the associations between violence exposure and adolescents’ psychological outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Process evaluation of a parent-child communication intervention for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Uganda

BackgroundPrevious initiatives concerning adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education in Low-or-Middle Income Countries (LMICs) have been limited by cultural norms and misinformation perpetuated within families. Responding to the paucity of research on the implementation of SRH interventions in LMICs and limited knowledge regarding their mechanisms, this study undertakes a process evaluation of a parent-focused intervention to promote parent-adolescent communication about SRH in Uganda.MethodsThis paper explores the implementation, contextual factors and mechanisms of impact of the intervention, using the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidelines for process evaluations. Implementation was evaluated through indicators of dose, fidelity and adaptations, acceptability and feasibility. The contextual factors and mechanisms of impact were evaluated to refine the intervention’s causal assumptions. Data was collected during April - October 2021 in South-Western Uganda using a mixed-methods approach, including document analysis, intervention observations, interviews, focus group discussions and most significant change stories.ResultsThe acceptability of the intervention was related to its community engagement, the strong rapport with delivery agents, and individual characteristics of participants. Five contextual factors influencing implementation were highlighted; (i) cultural norms, (ii) perceptions about youth SRH, (iii) poverty, (iv) Covid-19 pandemic, and (v) prior research projects in the community. When considering the intervention’s mechanisms of impact, four causal pathways were identified; (i) Awareness of SRH needs helped parents overcome stigma, (ii) Parenting skills training improved SRH communication, (iii) Group learning stimulated shared parenting, and (iv) Group learning improved co-parenting.ConclusionThe paper presented three key learnings and corresponding recommendations for future research. Firstly, implementation success was credited to meaningful community engagement which improved acceptability and uptake. Secondly, the complex influences of contextual factors highlighted the need for contextual analysis in research studies to inform intervention design. Finally, this evaluation recognised the interplay between mechanisms of impact and suggested further research consider such combined impacts when designing intervention content.

Development, validity, and reliability of the parent-adolescent communication about adolescents’ social media use scale (PACAS)

ABSTRACT Adolescents spend a substantial portion of their time using social media. Yet, there is a lack of understanding regarding how often parents and adolescents communicate about this social media use. To address this gap, we developed the Parent-Adolescent Communication about Adolescents’ Social Media Use Scale (PACAS). In a first data wave, among 388 Dutch adolescents (13–15 years; 54% girls), exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses distinguished four scales: parental solicitation, adolescent disclosure, adolescent secrecy, and parental knowledge. All four scales had strong internal reliability and correlated in the expected directions. We re-established the validity and internal reliability and obtained test-retest reliability in a second wave, in which 330 adolescents were surveyed again. The findings show that parents and adolescents infrequently communicate about social media. Parental knowledge about adolescents’ social media use strongly depends on the communication efforts of both parties. Altogether, the PACAS provides a valuable tool to explore the dynamics of parent-adolescent communication about social media.

Parent–Adolescent Connectedness and Attitude to Communicate on Substance Abuseamong Parents of Adolescent Boys

Background/Aim: The youth drug epidemic is growing at an alarming rate in India among the adolescents. In India, a survey by non-governmental organizations revealed that 63.6% of patients who came for treatment were given drugs under the age of 15.It is important for the parents to talk with their adolescent boys regarding the ill effects of substance abuse. The study intends to explore whether the parents have an attitude to talk about substance abuse with their adolescent boys. Materials and Methods: A quantitative descriptive research design was used. 100 parents of adolescents were selected using purposive sampling technique. A validated study questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics, extent of communication, and parental attitudes to communicate on substance abuse. Inferential and descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. Results: The projected outcome of the study was to create a statistical data on parent-adolescent communication, parental attitude to communicate on substance abuse and to create for awareness among parents of adolescent boys to take initiation to speak about ill effects of substance abuse and to lead a life free from substance use. Conclusion: Majority of samples had moderate level of communication and adequate level of parental attitude regarding talk on substance abuse.

Parent’s Perception regarding the Delivery of parent-adolescent communication (PAC) program on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in Rwanda: A Qualitative Study

Parent’s Perception regarding the Delivery of parent-adolescent communication (PAC) program on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in Rwanda: A Qualitative Study

THE ROLE OF PARENTS AND ADOLESCENT COMMUNICATION WITH ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

ABSTRACT Background: As many as 8% of men and 2% of women in Indonesia aged 15-24 years who are never married have had sexual relations. The average age at which they first had sexual intercourse was around 17 years. Apart from that, the first marriage was carried out at the age of <15 years (2.6%) as well as the age of the first marriage at the age of 15-19 years (23.9%). Pregnancy rates in adolescents aged < 15 years (0.02%) and pregnancies aged 15-19 years (1.97%). The purposed of this research is to determine the relationship between the communication roles of parents and adolescents with adolescent sexual behavior. Method: This research uses a quantitative design, the research design uses a cross sectional approach. The sampling technique uses simple random sampling, a sample of 60 respondents. Data was taken using a questionnaire and analyzed using Chi-square. The results of this research show a relationship between parent-adolescent communication and adolescent sexual behavior. The statistical test results obtained a p value: 0.000 and obtained OR= 4.667. Conclusion: It is hoped that parents will increase their knowledge and literacy about reproductive health, improve the quality of communication with their adolescent children so that can influence attitudes about risky sexual behavior Keywords: Communication, Parents, Sexual Behavior, Adolescents

Parental Engagement in Promoting Awareness of Contraceptive Use among Female Students in Nigeria and Cameroon

Despite government and non-governmental organizations' efforts, contraceptive utilization in Nigeria remains low. Similarly, Cameroon faces high maternal mortality and low contraceptive prevalence. Adolescent pregnancy remains a significant social and public health concern globally, necessitating efforts to promote contraceptive use. Parent-adolescent sexual communication is often viewed as taboo in Nigeria and Cameroon, hindering awareness about contraceptive use. This study examines the role of parents in creating awareness of contraceptive use among female university students in Nigeria and Cameroon. The study adopts a comparative approach, investigating the cultural role of parents in awareness creation for contraceptive use in Nigeria and Cameroon. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 420 female university students in both countries. The findings highlight the valuable role of parents in shaping adolescents' knowledge and behavior regarding contraceptive use. Recommendations include enhancing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education, promoting parent-adolescent communication, addressing cultural barriers, improving contraceptive access, and conducting further research. Implementing these recommendations can empower adolescents with accurate information, foster supportive parent-adolescent relationships, and enhance sexual and reproductive health outcomes among young people.

Parent-adolescent Congruence and Discrepancy in Perceived Parental Emotion Socialization to Anger and Sadness: Using Response Surface Analysis to Examine the Links with Adolescent Depressive Symptoms.

Parents and adolescents often hold discrepant perceptions of parental emotion socialization, which reflect misunderstandings in parent-adolescent communication on emotions and have potential detrimental effects on mental health of adolescents. The present study investigated the associations between parent-adolescent congruence and discrepancy in parental emotion socialization perception to two specific negative emotions (anger and sadness) and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents. A total of 372 adolescents (48.4% female, Mage = 13.43, SDage = 0.49) and their parents (79.6% mother, Mage = 41.15, SDage = 5.46) participated in this study. Both parents and adolescents reported perceived parental emotion socialization to anger and sadness, and adolescents reported depressive symptoms. Data were analyzed using polynomial regression and response surface analyses. Both congruence and discrepancy in parent and adolescent's reports were associated with adolescent depressive symptoms. A higher level of adolescent depressive symptoms was associated with higher parent-adolescent congruence in supportive responses to anger, sadness, and nonsupportive responses to anger. A higher level of depressive symptoms was associated with inconsistent reporting of supportive responses to sadness and nonsupportive responses to anger (only when parents had a more positive view than adolescents). This study highlights the significance of evaluating parent-child communication process by assessing perceived emotion socialization from both parents and adolescents and analyzing the reporting congruence and discrepancy. It also suggests that enhancing effective communication regarding parental emotion socialization could be a promising target for adolescent mental health promotion programs.

Parent-adolescent communication about COVID-19 safety precautions in Nigeria: A qualitative research

Parents remain the primary source of health information for adolescents but their discussions regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) safety precautions have not been systematically explored. This study aimed to qualitatively explore the communication between parents and children regarding COVID-19 safety measures. In-depth interviews with 25 parents from different communities in Enugu State, Nigeria, were conducted. The study revealed that parents obtained information about the severity of the virus and the preventive measures from the media. Then, they persuaded their children, sometimes through threat or force and religious allegories, to comply with the preventive measures. The discussions about safety measures between parents and their children proved to be effective since the parents reported that their children obeyed the rules following their communications. Parent-adolescent communication about COVID-19 also instilled the concept of practicing basic hygiene routines into the adolescents. The implications of the parent-adolescent communication for policy and research are discussed.

Relationship between positive parenting and adolescents' depressive symptoms: Evidence from a Chinese research survey.

Adolescents often carry their depression well into their adulthood. This creates perpetual difficulties for their family and society. Research on the relationship between positive parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms is rare. The protective effect of positive parenting on adolescent depressive symptoms also remains underexplored. Parents are a vital source of feedback that shapes adolescents' self-view in crucial ways. This study examines the latent relationships between four factors related to positive parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms. Using data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS), Stata MP 17.0 was used for preliminary data processing and descriptive statistics. The structural equation model (SEM) was adopted to test the seven proposed hypotheses. The study participants were 2,816 adolescents (52.34% male). The SEM showed that positive communication and parental praise can directly reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents (path coefficients of -0.24 and -0.13 [p < .001], respectively). Additionally, both positive communication and positive parent-adolescent interactions can reduce adolescents' depressive symptoms by heightening the intermediate factor of parental praise (path coefficients of 0.30 and 0.44 [p < .001], respectively). Conversely, positive parent-adolescent interactions did not negatively affect adolescents' depressive symptoms, as we hypothesized. High level of positive parenting negatively predicts the level of depressive symptoms among adolescents. Specifically, positive communication, positive parent-adolescent communication, and parental praise are the main protective factors related to positive parenting for adolescents' depressive symptoms.

Parenting in 2 Worlds: Testing improved parent-adolescent communication about sexuality in Urban American Indian families.

Urban American Indian (AI) adolescents are more likely than non-Natives to have early sexual debut, teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and inadequate sexual health information. A RCT in three Arizona cities, with 585 parents of urban AI adolescents, tested whether a culturally tailored parenting intervention for urban AI families, Parenting in 2 Worlds (P2W), increased parent-adolescent communication about sexuality, compared to an informational family health intervention that was not culturally tailored. P2W produced significantly larger increases on two measures: communication about general sexual health and about sexual decision-making. The desired effects of P2W on the first measure were stronger short-term for cross-gender dyads, while for the second measure, they were stronger long-term for both mothers and fathers of adolescent sons.

Online Delinquent Behaviors of Adolescents: Parents as Potential "Influencers"?

In this study we examined whether aspects of parental monitoring of adolescents' online behavior (rules regarding time spent on the internet, rules regarding content of internet use, frequency of communication, and quality of communication about internet use) are related to different kinds of online delinquent behaviors (sexting, spreading viruses, DDoS attacking, hacking, and online threatening) and whether the level of adolescents' problematic (addictive) internet use mediates these relations. In regular Dutch high schools 1,009 adolescents filled out an online questionnaire (with adjusted versions of the ISPP, PIUQ, and the Dutch Youth Crime Monitor). Descriptive statistics showed that, in general, parents do not seem to monitor adolescents' online behavior to a great extent. Furthermore, results of logistic regression analyses and mediation tests showed that fewer rules about online time, more rules about online content, and a good quality of parent-adolescent communication about online behavior are all associated with lower problematic internet use, which in turn is associated with lower odds of several online delinquent behaviors (mediation). Moreover, parental handling of rules about online content is also directly associated with lower odds of spreading viruses, hacking, and online threat.

Situational context of home-based sexual education in urban slums of Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract Background Little is known about how events in slum settings interfere with informal sexual education in Nigeria. This study explores the influence of situational context on parent-adolescent communication about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues in the urban slums of Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods A qualitative exploratory study was conducted in the Southeast and Northeast local government areas of Ibadan. Eight (8) vignette-based focus group discussions (FGDs) with parents and adolescents of both sexes were conducted in addition to four (4) key informant interviews (KIIs) with community and women's leaders. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. Descriptive and interpretative analyses were conducted with the aid of ATLAS Ti 9 software. Results Findings portray SRH meanings and experiences, intergenerational cultural norms, and expectations for SRH, gender double standards in SRH discussion, streetwise SRH knowledge, and social media exposure to SRH as contexts that interfere with parent-adolescent communication on SRH issues. The findings show that although parents and teenagers understood SRH issues and their consequences, there was no effective communication about them. Also, the conversation between parents and adolescents promotes gender inequalities as different SRH information is passed to adolescent girls and boys. Streetwise SRH knowledge was identified to impede effective parent-adolescent conversation on SRH issues. Social media exposure had a significant impact on where teenagers got their unfiltered SRH knowledge, interfering with and distorting SRH discussion between parents and adolescents. Conclusions Interventions that enable parents to give and allow their children early access to appropriate SRH knowledge, considering their context, are urgently needed. Key messages • The study emphasizes the need for tailored sexual education programs that are culturally sensitive, age-appropriate, and accessible to parents and children in urban slums. • The study highlights the absence of formal sexual education in schools and communities in urban slums of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Impact of preparing nursing students to deliver a parent-based sexual health intervention on attitudes and intentions for sexual health education and parent communication counseling: a mixed methods study

BackgroundNurses are well positioned to promote sexual health but are not adequately prepared in their nursing programs to engage families on this topic and often lack the knowledge and confidence necessary to counsel families about sexual health communication. The purpose of this study was to determine how facilitating a parent-based sexual health intervention would impact nursing students’ attitudes and intentions about sexual health education and parent communication counseling.MethodsUsing an embedded mixed-methods design, which integrated a quasi-experimental framework, we examined the impact of participation in a parent-based sexual health intervention among 126 baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in a community/public health nursing clinical course. Independent t-tests, chi-squared tests, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare intervention and control groups at baseline. Multiple linear regression was used to compare the groups for pre-post changes. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze exit interview transcripts.ResultsWe found statistically significant differences in nursing students’ confidence to teach sexual health (p = < 0.001), satisfaction with skills as a sexual health educator (p = < 0.001), beliefs about the efficacy of parent-adolescent communication for reducing negative sexual outcomes among adolescents (p = < 0.001), and intentions to counsel parents on sexual health (p = < 0.001), with greater improvements in the intervention group than in the control group. Furthermore, we found statistically significant differences in nursing students’ intentions to counsel parents about the HPV vaccine (p = < 0.01) and to endorse the HPV vaccine (p = < 0.05), with greater improvements in the intervention group than in the control group. Across all survey categories, qualitative findings confirmed improvements seen on the pre-post survey.ConclusionProviding evidence-based adolescent sexual health training, including sexual health education content and discussion strategies, can prepare nursing students to strongly endorse sexual health communication and HPV vaccination uptake and to counsel parents on initiating and navigating these conversations with their youth. Our project exemplifies how a nursing program could organize an immersive experience, or elective within a specialty area, that aligns with the competency-based approach endorsed by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.Trial registrationThis study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02600884) on 09/01/2015; the first participant was recruited on 09/29/2015.