Parents Talk Research Articles

Do as I Say, Not as I Did

Communication between parents and teens about sexuality can reduce early sexual behavior. However, little research investigates how parents who were adolescents when they had children (early parents) talk with their teens about sex. In-depth interviews were conducted with a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 29 parents of seventh graders. Salient themes of conversations with adolescents were risks of early parenthood, sexually transmitted infections, delaying sex, and using protection. Compared with parents who were older when they had children (later parents), early parents were more likely to report having had negative sexuality communications with their families of origin and to express a wish to communicate differently with their own children. Early parents were more likely than later parents to discuss risks of early parenthood and to rely on extended family involvement in sexuality communication. Findings suggest that early parents may bring unique perspectives that enable them to approach sexuality communication differently than do later parents.

Nonverbal Cues Could Boost Kids' Vocabulary

Meaningful gestures and glances may help children learn more words, independent of how much parents talk to them

Building a Culture of Peace in Muslim Community in Southern Thailand through Family Communication

Abstract This study is to examine role of family communication in Muslim community in southern Thailand in making a culture of peace. Specifically, the objectives are (1) to examine the significance and the role of family communication in the conflict area of southern Thailand; (2) to analyze what type of issues Muslim parents in the area communicate with their children and family members; (3) to examine communication patterns in Muslim families to build a culture of peace; and (4) to analyze how family communication can prevent children from getting involved in violence acts. It is based on interviews with members of families in the southernmost provinces in both Thai language and Melayu dialect. Purposive sampling is used to select the samples of key informants. They are members of seven families; a private Islamic school administrator, an Islamic teacher, a religious leader, a community leader, a government official, a former local politician, and a villager. The findings reveal that selected families improve good lines of communication in family by (1) creating time for talking through meal times, halaqah , a gathering in a circle where people sit and come to learn about Islam and Islamic ways, and family activity; (2) being an active listener, the most important skills for parents to get along with children and to improve positive relationships, (3) paying attention to non-verbal messages to get through children feelings and needs, and (4) greeting any members with the Islamic greeting; “Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah” , peace and God's mercy be upon you. Most selected parents talk with their children about daily experiences, what is oing on, and personal problems to share and to guide children in accordance with real teachings of Islam and Islamic principles. This is the most proper way to build peace environment in family. Effective family communication is an essential factor in guiding children toward proper Islamic principles and avoiding being susceptible to movement in the on-going conflict in the south.

Ready, Willing, and Able? Kansas City Parents Talk About How to Improve Schools and What They Can Do to Help

Are parents an untapped resource in improving and reimagining K–12 education in Kansas City? What do they think would enhance student learning and what are they willing to do to help their children get the education they deserve? These are among the questions explored in an in-depth survey of 1,566 parents with children now in public school in the Kansas City metropolitan area. This study finds the majority of parents in the Kansas City area ready, willing and able to be more engaged in their children’s education at some level. For communities to reap the most benefit from additional parental involvement, it is important to understand that different parents can be involved and seek to be involved in different ways.

Exploring the variety of parental talk during shared book reading and its contributions to preschool language and literacy: evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort

Although many studies have explored shared book reading between preschoolers and their families, very few have examined this practice within a large, nationally representative sample. Using the ECLS-B dataset, this study investigated shared reading among nearly 700 families of diverse ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Coding of families’ book-related discussion focused on the variety of types of talk that parents used during reading. Results showed that parents focused primarily on the meaning of the story, with little attention to the code of the text. The range of talk techniques that parents used was largely independent of background factors such as child gender, ethnicity, or age, as well as family home language. A wider variety of meaning-related remarks by parents was linked to more advanced language skills among preschoolers. Findings provide a portrait of the nature of shared book reading discussion among American families, a profile of the background factors that are linked to this talk, and a precise account of the unique contributions of this talk to key emergent language and literacy competencies.

Do parents and adolescents talk about reproductive health? Myanmar adolescents' perspective

Adolescence is a transitional period and an important stage in an individual's life. Adolescents are at risk of adverse reproductive health outcomes such as unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortions, maternal health complications, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including HIV/AIDS. Previous studies indicate that adolescents whose parents talk to them about sex tend to be less sexually active and more likely to use an effective means of contraception. The objective of the study was to find out the level and content of communication between adolescents and their parents. Ease of communication, future intentions to discuss with parents and confidence in parents' knowledge of reproductive health were also examined. A cross sectional descriptive study using structured questionnaire was conducted among 91 adolescents (11-19 years old) in North Okkalapa Township of Yangon Division, Myanmar. The majority of the people there had little knowledge on pubertal changes and STDs, and moderate knowledge on contraception. Sixty three percent of adolescents communicated at least once with their parents on reproductive health within the last 6 months: 6.8% with fathers and 62.6% with mothers. Only 15.4% talked more than three times. Girls were more likely to communicate with mothers than boys (79% vs. 33%, P<0.001). The main topic of discussion among mother and girls is menstruation, and among mothers and boys, HIV/AIDS/STDs are mainly discussed. Regarding the ease of communication, only 15% felt comfortable talking with parents. Most of the adolescents (89%) had positive attitude towards communicating with their parents. The findings suggest the need to involve parents in existing adolescent reproductive health programs and design interventions focusing on parents to promote parent-adolescent communication. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v1i1.13219 South East Asia Journal of Public Health 2011:1:40-45

Brief Report: Parental Child-Directed Speech as a Predictor of Receptive Language in Children with Autism Symptomatology

Facilitative linguistic input directly connected to children's interest and focus of attention has become a recommended component of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This longitudinal correlational study used two assessment time points and examined the association between parental undemanding topic-continuing talk related to the child's attentional focus (i.e., follow-in comments) and later receptive language for 37 parent-child dyads with their young (mean=21months, range15-24months) children with autism symptomology. The frequency of parental follow-in comments positively predicted later receptive language after considering children's joint attention skills and previous receptive language abilities.

Talking to Your Teens About Dating

“Talking to teenagers about dating may seem like a daunting task to some parents who are thinking their teen will assume the 'Oh no, not another parent talk again' posture. You know the one—head cocked, eyes rolled, and arms crossed. However, talking about it can be very important in determining how your teen approaches dating and his or her future relationships.” This 2-page Family Album Radio transcript was written by Kate Fogarty and Donna Davis, and published by the UF Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, July 2012.

Do Parents Talk to Their Adolescent Children about Sex?—Findings from a Community Survey in Singapore

Sexually transmitted infections have increased sharply among adolescents both locally and internationally in recent years. Parents play an important role in their children's sexual health development. An integral part of this includes effective parent-child sexuality communication. A nationwide cross-sectional community-based household survey was conducted in Singapore between August 2008 and March 2009 to assess parents'/caregivers' attitudes and practices regarding caregiver-child sexuality communication. With an overall response rate of 81.4%, 1169 questionnaires from parents/caregivers of children aged 10 to 17 years were analysed. Almost all (94.2%) the caregivers were parents. A majority (>80%) of caregivers considered talking to their children about sexuality issues such as abstinence, consequences of premarital sex and condom use as important. However, a significantly lower percentage (about 60%) felt comfortable and confident doing so. Only 8.3% among them discussed sexual health issues with their children very often, 37.2% sometimes, 22.0% seldom/hardly ever (once or twice) and 32.5% never, in the past year. In the multivariate analysis, caregiver-child sexuality communication was significantly associated with caregivers' relationship to children, ethnicity, educational level, and their perceived levels of comfort and confidence in sexuality communication. Caregivers generally felt it was important but were significantly much less comfortable and confident talking about sexuality issues with their children, which leads to a lower frequency of caregiver-child sexuality communication. Educational programmes on adolescent sexual health targeting parents/caregivers are needed. They must be equipped with skills and provided with resources to enable them to talk to their adolescent children about sexuality.

Trends in Risk and Protective Factors for Child Bullying Perpetration in the United States

This study examines trends in prevalence and factors associated with bullying perpetration among children 10-17 years old, using the 2003 and 2007 National Survey of Children's Health. A parent-reported bullying measure and NSCH-designed questions were used to measure factors associated with bullying. The 2003 (n = 48,639) and 2007 (n = 44,152) samples were 51 % male, with mean age of 13.5 (standard deviation 2.3). 23 % of children bullied at least sometimes in 2003 and 15 % bullied in 2007. Parental anger with their child, a child emotional/developmental/behavioral problem, and suboptimal maternal mental health were associated with higher bullying odds in 2003 and 2007, whereas parents talking with their child very/somewhat well, and meeting their child's friends were associated with lower odds. Between 2003 and 2007, parental anger with their child was associated with increasing bullying odds and parents' meeting their child's friends was associated with decreasing odds. Targeting these persistent factors may result in effective bullying-prevention interventions.

Choosing intercountry adoption: an Australian study of the motivations and attitudes of intending and recent adoptive parents

Humanitarian reasons are often reported as the main motivating force for undertaking intercountry adoption. This article reports on a qualitative interview‐based Australian study in which 32 adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents talk frankly about their desire to use intercountry adoption as a pathway to parenthood, rather than as an altruistic method of providing a child with a family. The study aimed to investigate motivations of intending and recent adoptive parents for deciding to form a family through intercountry adoption and to contribute to understanding about why intercountry adoption is the preferred option over available alternatives for family formation. The findings from this study raise interesting questions regarding recruitment efforts for children needing families; not only in relation to intercountry adoption, but also in developing recruitment strategies for foster carers for local children needing care.

Impact of Divorce on Children: Developmental Considerations

Although divorce can have significant negative impact on children, a variety of protective factors can increase the likelihood of long-term positive psychological adjustment. • Exposure to high levels of parental conflict is predictive of poor emotional adjustment by the child regardless of the parents' marital status. • Epidemiologic data reveal that custody and parenting arrangements are evolving, with more emphasis on joint custody and access to both parents by the child. • Pediatricians' knowledge of childhood development is essential in providing anticipatory guidance to parents throughout the divorce process and beyond.

A Cross-Linguistic Study of Sound Symbolism in Children's Verb Learning

A long history of research has considered the role of iconicity in language and the existence and role of nonarbitrary properties in language and the use of language. Previous studies with Japanese-speaking children, whose language defines a large grammatical class of words with clear sound symbolism, suggest that iconicity properties in Japanese may aid early verb learning, and a recent extended work suggests that such early sensitivity is not limited to children whose language supports such word classes. The present study further considers the use of sound-symbolic words in verb-learning context by conducting systematic cross-linguistic comparisons on early exposure to and effect of sound symbolism in verb mapping. Experiment 1 is an observational study of how English- and Japanese-speaking parents talk about verbs. More conventionalized symbolic words were found in Japanese-speaking parental input, and more idiosyncratic use of sound symbolism was found in English-speaking parental input. Despite this different exposure of iconic forms to describe actions, the artificial verb-learning task in Experiment 2 revealed that children in both language groups benefit from sound–meaning correspondences for their verb learning. These results together confirm more extensive use of conventionalized sound symbolism among Japanese speakers and also support a cross-linguistic consistency of the effect, which has been documented in the recent work. The work also points to the potential value of understanding the contexts in which sound–meaning correspondences matter in language learning.

Is it Necessary to Walk the Talk? The Effects of Maternal Experiences and Communication on the Sexual Behavior of Female Adolescents

Numerous social marketing campaigns exhort parents to talk to their children about sexual abstinence and pregnancy/STD prevention while child-development experts advise parents to initiate discussions about reproductive health and related values at an early age. The efficacy of these marketing campaigns and the precise impact of ongoing dialogue between parents and children are difficult to ascertain, however, if parents are more likely to broach related topics with adolescents with otherwise greater propensities for risky behavior. While extant research recognizes the importance of family environment and parenting activities, little has been done to separately control for the various aspects of parenting that might confound the influence of the marketing campaigns. We separately identify the effects of parenting style, a parent’s own risky behavior, and the parent’s communication about sex on her adolescent’s sexual behavior. OLS models indicate that female adolescents with less strict parents, whose mothers gave birth as teenagers, or whose mothers communicate more about sex are more likely to have sexual intercourse, practice unsafe sex, and engage in casual sex. After controlling for the endogeneity of parental talk, though, we find that an increase in parental talk neither increases nor decreases the probability an adolescent has had sex, unsafe sex, or casual sex. The only exception is a strongly significant result that more communication about sex from mothers who were themselves teen mothers actually increases the probability a daughter has had sex.

Coming from behind to win - A Qualitative research about psychological conditions of adolescents who have undergone open-heart surgery for single ventricle between the ages 0-5

Early recognition of congenital cardiac pathologies and their treatment by means of palliative or corrective surgery at birth or infancy has vital importance. Successful repair of congenital cardiac defects by surgical methods has gained importance especially during the last twenty years. As the scope of the surveillance increased so did the interest in the outcomes of these treatments when the patients had reached puberty and adulthood. The purpose of our research was to study the psychological framework of the adolescents who had experienced these surgeries by listening both the children and the parents talk about their feelings and experiences. Our data was accumulated through interviews with 17 adolescents and their families, using qualitative methods. The main theme at the end of the analysis was "to be strong and resistive". We reached the conclusion that this condition was not a pathological build up but an attitude of coping, as it did not cause loss of functionality. The defensive psychological mechanisms used by these adolescents consisted of repression, compensation and reaction formation. We believe that this information is important to understand the real meaning of the manners displayed when these adolescents and their families pursue their daily lives, communicate and make relationships with their environment and especially professionals in the health services.

Importance of Parent Talk on the Development of Preterm Infant Vocalizations

To determine the sound environment of preterm infants cared for in the NICU and to test the hypothesis that infants exposed to more adult language will make more vocalizations. This was a prospective cohort study of 36 infants who had a birth weight of ≤1250 g. Sixteen-hour recordings of the infant sound environment were made in the NICU from a digital language processor at 32 and 36 weeks' postmenstrual age. Adult word counts, infant vocalizations, and conversational turns were analyzed. Infant vocalizations are present as early as 32 weeks. Both adult word counts per hour and infant vocalizations per hour increase significantly between 32 and 36 weeks. Infant exposure to language as a percentage of time was small but increased significantly. When a parent was present, infants had significantly more conversational turns per hour than when a parent was not present at both 32 and 36 weeks (P < .0001). Preterm infants begin to make vocalizations at least 8 weeks before their projected due date and significantly increase their number of vocalizations over time. Although infant exposure to language increased over time, adult language accounted for only a small percentage of the sounds to which an infant is exposed in the NICU. Exposure to parental talk was a significantly stronger predictor of infant vocalizations at 32 weeks and conversational turns at 32 and 36 weeks than language from other adults. These findings highlight the powerful impact that parent talk has on the appearance and increment of vocalizations in preterm infants in the NICU.

Parent-Child Conversations About Letters and Pictures.

Learning about letters, and how they differ from pictures, is one important aspect of a young child's print awareness. To test the hypothesis that parent speech provides children with information about these differences, we studied parent-child conversations in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000). We found that parents talk to their young children about letters, differentiating them from pictures, by 1-2 years of age and that some of these conversational patterns change across the preschool years in ways that emphasize important features of letters, such as their shape. We also found that children talk about letters and pictures in distinct ways, suggesting an implicit understanding of some of the differences between letters and pictures at an early age. Some differences in parent-child conversations about letters were found as a function of socioeconomic status: Lower SES families appeared to focus more on alphabetic order than higher SES families. The general letter knowledge expressed in these conversations suggests that everyday interactions are an important component of the home literacy environment and that they differ, in some respects, as a function of child age and family background.

Importance of Parent Talk on the Development of Preterm Infant Vocalizations

Importance of Parent Talk on the Development of Preterm Infant Vocalizations

Bathrooms, Baseball, and Bra Shopping: Lesbian and Gay Parents Talk about Engendering Their Children

Drawing on an integrated theoretical lens of vocabularies of motive, gender interactionism, and queer theory, the authors explore how eighteen lesbian mothers and twenty-two gay fathers negotiate the cultural narratives of heteronormativity and gender essentialism as they imagine and participate in constructing their children's gender. Findings highlight the extent to which participants' parenting fantasies and realities occur within a context of heightened gender accountability that they manage for their children. The authors show how the practice of securing gender role models for their children is one way that non-heterosexual parents manage this accountability. Next, the authors introduce “queer ruptures” in participants' narratives and detail the subtle ways that they destabilize the existing heteronormative gender order. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for empirical and theoretical development.

Enacting Ethos, Enacting Health: Realizing Health in the Everyday Life of a California Family of Mexican Descent

Abstract Drawing on a study of dual‐earner, middle‐class families in Los Angeles, in this article I explore what it means to enact health as part of everyday life for a family of Mexican descent and how enacting health relates to parental talk about health. Based on a conjoint analysis of video recordings and parental interviews, I maintain that a recurring interactional dynamic toward maintaining an emotional atmosphere of individual contentment and harmonious relationships is central to how the family enacts health. Inspired by Bateson's discussion of ethos as part of his efforts to study the “feel” of culture, the analytic framework of enacting ethos is proposed as a way to approach the “feel” of everyday life—an interactive view of emotional atmosphere in situated contexts. For this family, studying health as ensconced in family life reveals the centrality of a socially embedded and relational view of health as “family well‐being” that coexists, at times ambivalently, with health construed as an individual level concern. Examples from the video recordings illustrate some of the varied ways that the approach adopted allows for a more nuanced understanding of the microcultural realm of family life.