Professionals have developed a wide variety of approaches to
reach parents and to help them talk with their children about
sexuality in an effort to help reduce adolescent sexual risk-taking.
Are these programs effective? To answer this question, we will
return to the five questions that were asked of the evaluations
included in this study.
- Did the program reach (or could it potentially reach)
substantial numbers of parents?
With the exception of the student homework assignments and
media campaigns, most of these programs did not reach substantial
numbers of families.
Both the reviewed studies as well as informal discussions with
educators who have implemented programs indicate that getting
parents to participate in programs that take place outside of their
homes is a huge challenge. Most parents are unwilling or unable
to participate in special programs, even one-night events, especially
if they have to travel to a special meeting or gathering. And when
parents do attend, they are much more likely to be mothers than
fathers.This is unfortunate because fathers especially are less
likely to communicate about sexuality with their children.
One of the exceptions to this was the Family Guidance Center
program, which attracted thousands of families over many years.
Several factors contributed to the success of this highly praised
program: parents were involved in many ways; parents spread the
word; and many community organizations actively recruited families
to participate.The program demonstrates that it is possible, though
very difficult, for intensive programs that require families to travel
to the program location to reach large numbers of families.
The school classes that used homework assignments in which
students were asked to talk with their parents about sexual topics
also reached large numbers of families.There may be at least two
reasons for this. First, the assignments were a required part of
schoolwork and were not voluntary. Second, the parents did not
have to go anywhere; they could talk with their children at home.
State or local media campaigns also reached large numbers of
people.Yet, as noted above, their impact upon each parent is
probably very limited.
College human sexuality courses have probably reached substantial
numbers of parents because many young adults and parents
attend college. If it were more widely known that college human
sexuality courses may increase parent-child communication about
sexuality, then more adults already in college might take such
courses, and more courses might devote more attention to
parent-child communication.These courses are a largely unexplored
avenue for increasing parent-child communication. However, it is
worth noting that they are only accessible to those who have the
means to attend college, and therefore they are not accessible to
a large segment of the population.
- Did the program advance the stated objectives?
Only a few of the studies provided evidence of the programs'
measured impact upon parents' knowledge, clarity of values, skills,
and comfort. (Click here for program objectives.)
Of those that measured parents' knowledge, most found that the
programs increased that knowledge. Only one study measured
program impact upon parents' skills.That program was only for
parents, was somewhat intensive, and did improve some, but not
all, of the parents' communication skills. Most other programs probably
did not focus sufficiently upon parents to produce significant
changes other than knowledge gain.
- Did the program actually increase parent-child communication?
Many of the programs show evidence that they did increase
parent-child communication about sexuality.This increase was,
however, typically measured only in the short term. Increases in
communication often did not endure when they were measured
in the long term.
The programs that had the strongest evidence that they increased
parent-child communication were the multi-session programs for
both parents and their children and the school sexuality education
classes with homework assignments to encourage students to
talk with their parents at home.
In the first case, parent-child communication had to increase
because it took place during the program. In the second case,
parent-child communication was also an integral part of the
assigned activity.Thus, it is not surprising that the two studies of
these programs show the strongest evidence of increased
parent-child communication.
- Did the program improve other risk or protective factors associated
with reduced adolescent sexual risk-taking?
These studies provided very little evidence that their respective
programs improved other risk or protective factors associated
with initiation of sexual intercourse, condom use, or contraceptive
use (such as beliefs, attitudes, self-efficacy, or intentions). Many
studies did not measure these effects. Among the few that did,
most results were not significant, a few were positive, and a few
were negative. In general, there is little evidence one way or the
other that parent-child communication programs evaluated to
date had much impact on reducing adolescent sexual risk-taking.
- Did the program delay sexual intercourse, increase the use of
condoms or other forms of contraception, and thereby reduce
sexual risk-taking?
Six of these studies measured the impact of parent-child
communication programs upon the initiation of sexual intercourse
or condom or contraceptive use, and none of the programs
produced any positive significant effect upon any sexual or
contraceptive behavior. Indeed, one of the studies with a rather
strong design and large sample size actually found a negative effect.
