Parent–child sexual communication has been associated with reducing adolescent sexual risk behaviors. Limited research on parent–child sexual communication has been conducted on African American (AA) adolescent males who are at increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this research was to examine AA father–son sexual communication and the effect of contextual factors on the sexual risk behaviors. The final sample consisted of 96 AA adolescent males, ages 16–21 years. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the variables of interest (neighborhood characteristics, father–son closeness and connectedness, father–son communication, sexual permissiveness, condom attitudes, sexual risk behaviors). A path model was developed and tested. Results demonstrated that AA father–son closeness and connectedness were related to father–son communication. AA father–son communication was negatively related to sons’ permissiveness and positively related to condom attitudes. Sons’ permissiveness positively predicted their sexual risk behaviors. AA sons’ condom attitudes did not negatively or positively predict their sexual risk behaviors. The findings from this study demonstrate that AA father–son communication is an important factor in decreasing AA adolescent males’ sexual risk behaviors and HIV risk.
Even with advanced collaborative technology, communication remains a critical component to mission success. With the shift towards network-centric warfare, standard radio communication needs to meet the needs of today's warfighter. A net-centric communication management suite called Multi-Modal Communication (MMC) had been developed. This integrated system captures, displays, records, and archives radio and text-based communication to better equip the warfighters. This study examined the performance associated with monitoring communication channels, with access to different tools. Operators monitored and responded to the occurrence of critical phrases presented during a 27-min communicationmonitoring task. Communication performance was analyzed in regard to message detection, response accuracy, and time. Data showed that MMC provides a balance between the speed of radio listening and the accuracy and data-capturing capabilities of chat displays. MMC can be a beneficial tool to operators in its ability to increase intelligibly, while providing a persistent, searchable display that reduces perceived mental workload.
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