A preliminary examination of adolescent girls' perceptions of the parental knowledge of their boyfriends.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to describe adolescent girls' perceptions of their parents' contact with and knowledge of the girls' boyfriends. A second objective was to determine if knowledge was related to demographic characteristics of the girls or aspects of the relationship with their boyfriend.


METHODS
Cross-sectional analysis of data from an interview with adolescent girls enrolled in a longitudinal study.


METHODS
Urban adolescent medicine clinic.


METHODS
Adolescent girls (n = 109) with a mean age of 17.6 (range 14.9-19.3 yr). Eighty percent were African-American and 20% were Caucasian.


RESULTS
Most girls reported that their parents had some contact (either in person or on the phone) with their boyfriends. Thirteen girls reported that their parents did not know their boyfriends well, 40 reported that their parents knew their boyfriends somewhat, and 56 reported that their parents knew their boyfriends well. Age, race, and sexual experience were not related to how well the parents knew the boyfriend. Girls who had been involved with their boyfriends longer, believed that their relationship would last longer, were more satisfied, were more likely to tell their boyfriends private information and were more likely to describe their parents as knowing their boyfriends well.


CONCLUSIONS
These results provide an initial description of girls' perceptions of their parents' relationships with their boyfriends. It would be important to understand how to utilize the information regarding these parental-boyfriend relationships to further adolescent girls' development of healthy (both psychologically and physically) relationships.
Fende
J M
JM
Division of Psychology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA. susan.rosenthal@utmb.edu
Boehner
C W
CW
Biro
F M
FM
Mills
L
L
Rosenthal
S L
SL
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011336:Probability; D012747:Sexual Partners; D019529:Sexuality; D014505:Urban Population