Understanding the Relationship between Religiosity and Caregiver–Adolescent Communication About Sex within African-American Families

Abstract

Caregiver-adolescent communication about sex plays a critical role in the sexual socialization of youth. Many caregivers, however, do not engage their youth in such conversations, potentially placing them at risk for negative sexual health outcomes. Lack of caregiver-adolescent communication about sex may be particularly harmful for rural African American youth, as they often report early sex initiation and are disproportionately impacted by STIs. Moreover, sexual communication may be particularly challenging for families with strong religious backgrounds, potentially affecting the occurrence and breadth of topics covered during communication. Study aims were to: determine whether there was a relationship between caregiver religiosity and type of topics covered during communication about sex (e.g., general sexual health vs. positive aspects of sexuality) among 435 caregivers of early adolescent, African American youth; and if so, identify factors that might explain how religiosity affects communication about sex. Results indicated that caregiver religiosity was positively associated with communication about general, but not positive aspects of sexuality for caregivers of males. Attitudes towards communication about sex and open communication style mediated the relationship. There was no association between religiosity and communication about sex for caregivers of females. The findings from this study could provide a base to better understand and support the sexual socialization process within religious, African American families.

Predictors of Caregiver Communication About Reproductive and Sexual Health and Sensitive Sex Topics

“…Discordant responses may be due to the way in which information is communicated with youth, such that caregivers with lower self-efficacy, poorer communication skills, and greater discomfort with PTCS may use language that is less clear and descriptive, expecting youth to pick up on conversational cues (Ritchwood, Penn, et al, 2017; Wilson, Dalberth, Koo, & Gard, 2010). From an adolescent perspective, vague and nonexplicit communications may not be perceived as sexual communication, and could lead youth to be less attentive during such discussions (Ritchwood, Powell, et al, 2017). These discrepancies are important, considering that previous work with early adolescents has shown that significant discordancy between mother child sexual attitudes, along with youths’ tendency to misperceive their mothers’ attitudes about sex, could be connected to greater sexual risk among early adolescents and is likely the result of ineffective or lack of PTCS (Gound et al, 2007).…”

“…There are several potential explanations for these findings. First, discussing sensitive sex topics may require caregivers to acknowledge that their youth are sexual beings and thus, normalize their youths’ sexual nature, which may be inconsistent with caregivers’ beliefs and attitudes (Ritchwood, Powell, et al, 2017). Second, it is possible that caregivers in our study did not believe that such information was relevant or appropriate for early adolescents, as a significant proportion of caregivers in this study also reported low to moderate levels of PTCS about reproductive and sexual health topics.…”

“…As such, we could expect that these caregivers would also report little or no communication about sensitive sex topics. Low communication regarding both topics could be related to caregiver discomfort, as well as their attitudes and religious beliefs, which may be inconsistent with providing certain information about sex with youth of a certain age (e.g., Ritchwood, Powell, et al, 2017). Caregivers might also underestimate their youths’ interest or participation in sexual activities (O’Donnell et al, 2008; Pariera, 2016).…”

“…Providing youth with age and culturally appropriate information about sensitive sex topics and continuing such discussions over the course of adolescence could facilitate a comprehensive understanding of sex and sexuality and delay sex initiation. Such efforts could lead early adolescents to: develop greater knowledge about their sexual development; have greater self-efficacy related to navigating their sexual desires and satisfaction; and be less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior (DiIorio, Pluhar, & Belcher, 2003; Ritchwood, Powell, et al, 2017).…”

Engaging parents in digital sexual and reproductive health education: evidence from the JACK trial

“…In the current study, both teachers and parents highlighted their awareness of possible backlash from more religiously inclined parents but we noted no differences across faith-and non-faith based schools in terms of withdrawal of students from the programme or in reports of engagement with the parent materials. Although faith-based schools and religious parents are sometimes construed in mainstream media as opposed to any kind of RSE, research findings, including this study and our own previous work [3,102], suggest that many are open to school-based RSE in general and most are open to the provision of RSE that is in line with their religious beliefs.…”