The Role of Parent-Adolescent Communication, Parental Monitoring, Gender and Education Level in the Sexual Risk Behavior among Dutch Adolescents

Abstract

The role of parents is crucial when it comes to the sexual development of youth. The present cross-sectional study examined the relationships between parent-adolescent communication, parental monitoring and the sexual risk behavior of adolescents, and tested whether these relations were moderated by gender and education level. While most studies of parental communication have focused on communication in general, this study specifically focused on the quality of communication. Data from the large-scale study HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) was used. Participants were 5,719 Dutch secondary school students, aged 12 to 18 (M = 15.05) and lived in intact or single-parent families. Results of a hierarchical binary logistic regression analysis indicated that stronger parental monitoring was related to less sexual risk behavior whereas the quality of parent-adolescent communication was not, while both controlled for family situation and age. No interaction effects were found. These findings indicate that adolescents who feel they can easily talk to their parents do not display less sexual risk behavior. Instead, parental monitoring shows to be a crucial factor in preventing children from behaving in sexually risky ways. Implications of these specific characteristics for adolescents’ sexual development are discussed. Further research is needed to identify the topics parents use to communicate with their children on subjects concerning sexual development and behavior.