Quality of parent–child relationship and adolescent HIV risk behaviour in St. Maarten

Abstract

The highest incidence rates of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean are recorded in heterosexual and youth populations. With sparse prevention and intervention programmes in place, there is a pressing need to address the HIV/AIDS risk of youth. The objective of this analysis was to describe the extent of youth risk behaviour in St. Maarten and explore the relationship between quality of parental-child relationship and adolescent HIV risk behaviours. The sample consisted of 1,078 students (age range 14-18, mean 15.6 (s.d. 1.7). The data were collected by self-report survey in the Spring of 2001 in the classrooms of all seven secondary schools in St. Maarten. The survey instrument included demographic information, and used questions derived from the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to assess health risk behaviour prevalence, including tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, and sexual activity. The survey also asked youth to rate their relationship with their parents. Analysis showed a relatively high rate of risk behaviour in this school population. Multi-variate analysis showed that a 'great' relationship with both parents, as perceived by the student, was significantly associated with lower rates of tobacco and alcohol use as well as lower rates of sexual activity.

Family Structure and Adolescent Sexual Behavior in a Poor Area of São Paulo, Brazil

“…At least in some respects, this is consistent with research from the Caribbean, which has shown that frequency of alcohol and drug problems in adolescents is related to the quality of relationships with their parents, if not family structure per se [23]. The association that we found between sexual activity and parental drug or alcohol problems has also been reported in the United States.…”

“…Most such studies are from the United States, but the few published studies from Latin America and the Caribbean have reported similar results [23][24][25][26][27]. Most of these have focused on adolescent pregnancy.…”

Factors associated with HIV testing among sexually active South African youth aged 15–24 years

“…Adolescents in this study were most likely to report having initiated HIV discussions with friends, followed by partners, siblings and then parents. While all communication about HIV is beneficial, the role of parental communication in limiting HIV risk among adolescents is particularly well documented (Babalola et al, 2005;Klein et al, 2005;Macintyre, Rutenberg, Brown, & Karim, 2004;McBride et al, 2005). We have found that communication with a sex partner is also associated with a range of safe sex behaviours in this population (MacPhail et al, 2007a,b;Sayles et al, 2006).…”

Risky Sexual Behaviour Among Unmarried Young People in Cameroon: Another Look at Family Environment

“…Besides assessing the aforementioned individual risk and protective factors, this study documents the protective family effects of the quality of parent-youth relationships (Slap et al, 2003;McBride et al, 2005;Regnerus & Luchies, 2006), parentyouth communication about sexuality (Newcomer & Udry, 1987;Patterson, 2002;Adu-Mireku, 2003) and parental control/supervision (DiClemente et al, 2003). Studies have reported that higher levels of parent-child interactions are associated with lower rates of risky sexual behaviour.…”