Parent-adolescent communication and sexual risk-taking behaviours of adolescents

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, it is important to understand the sexualbehaviours that place youth at risk of HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)and unwanted pregnancies in order to develop and implement appropriate health-promotinginterventions. Parents are in a unique position to help adolescents to have responsible attitudesand behaviour towards sex, and to educate adolescents into healthy sexual adults.The study aimed to investigate parent-adolescent communication and adolescents' sexualrisk-taking behaviour, and the relationship between them. An exploratory, descriptive researchdesign and a quantitative methodological approach were used. One biographical questionnaire,three measuring scales of parent-adolescent communication and one questionnaire aboutadolescent sexual risk-taking behaviour were used as measuring instruments. Data from 95female adolescents who were attending the family planning facilities of two clinics in theMetropole Region of the Western Cape were employed for the study. The collected data wereanalysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlations, analyses of variance andmultiple regression analysis. The findings revealed a high prevalence of sexual risk-takingbehaviours among adolescents in the Western Cape. Family environment characteristics,especially the parents' marital status, play a significant role in both parent-adolescentcommunication and sexual risk-taking behaviour. Unexpected findings were some significantcorrelations that were found between different factors of both general and sexualparent-adolescent communication. Spearman's correlations and best subsets multipleregression analysis were performed on the data to ascertain which factors are significantlycorrelated or associated with adolescent sexual risk-taking behaviour. In both statistical analyses, the amount of parent-adolescent communication about sexual issues was the mostimportant. A significant negative correlation between adolescents' sexual risk-takingbehaviours and the amount of parent-adolescent communication about sexual issues illustratesthe positive influence of amount of parent-adolescent sexual communication on adolescents'sexual risk-taking behaviour.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University