In a recent national survey of more than 1,500 teens at family planning clinics, a majority of women younger than 18 reported good relationships with their parents and said that they had talked with their parents about sex and birth control, according to a study published in the December 2005 issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Substantial proportions of teens had talked with their parents extensively about such topics as how to say no to sex (42%), where to get prescription birth control (32%) and how to prevent STDs (33%). Only 7% reported that they had not talked with their parents about any of these or several other sexual health issues.

Although more than half of the young women reported that their mothers disapproved of their having sex, nearly two-thirds thought that their mothers would want them to use birth control if they did have sex. In fact, 60% of teens indicated that a parent knew about their clinic visit; among those, 40% were there at a parent’s recommendation. In addition, most teens (nearly seven in 10) were highly connected with their parents, a factor that is associated with a decreased likelihood of risky behaviors.

A second article in the same issue of Perspectives evaluates one program that aims to help parents guide their children through puberty. Parents who participated in Saving Sex for Later—a program whose participation requires only that parents listen to three CDs, when and where they can—felt better able to communicate with their children about risky behavior and pubertal development, and thought that they had greater influence over their children’s behavior than parents in the study’s control group. This relatively simple intervention was shown to be effective in promoting positive parenting practices among parents who are typically difficult to reach because of economic hardship, full schedules and complicated lives, in communities where rates of early sexual initiation are high and negative consequences of teenage sexual activity are great.

"Parents and teens should keep the lines of communication around sexual health issues open, and there are some good programs in place that help that to happen" says the Guttmacher Institute’s senior research associate Rachel Jones. "We need to ensure that both parents and teens have the education and services they need to communicate effectively. However, teens should not be legally required to talk to their parents—you can’t legislate positive parent-child relations."

"Parent-Child Relations Among Minor Females Attending U.S. Family Planning Clinics" was written by Rachel K. Jones et al. of the Guttmacher Institute.

"Saving Sex for Later: An Evaluation of a Parent Education Intervention" was written by Lydia O’Donnell et al. of the Education Development Center, Newton, MA.

Also in this issue:

"Social-Cognitive Predictors of Consistent Condom Use Among Young People in Moscow," by Natalia Bobrova et al.;

"Pregnancy Planning Status and Health Behaviors Among Nonpregnant Women in a California Managed Health Care Organization," by Kathleen Green-Raleigh et al.;

"Consistency of Condom Use Among Low-Income Hormonal Contraceptive Users," by Haleh Sangi-Haghpeykar et al.