title: Effectiveness of a national media campaign to promote parent-child communication about sex.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although there is debate on the effectiveness of youth-focused abstinence education programs, research confirms that parents can influence their children's decisions about sexual behavior. To leverage parent-based approaches to adolescent sexual health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Parents Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC) to encourage parent-child communication about sex. Previous experimental studies have found the campaign to be efficacious in increasing parent-child communication. But to date, the actual reach of the campaign and its real-world effectiveness in promoting parent-child communication has not been established. The present study addresses this gap.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors surveyed 1,804 parents of 10- to14-year-old children from the nationally representative Knowledge Networks online panel. The survey included questions about parents' awareness of PSUNC ads and parent-child communication behaviors. The authors also analyzed market-level data on campaign gross rating points, a measure of market-level intensity of PSUNC advertising in the United States. Multivariate regressions were used to examine the association between PSUNC exposure and a three-item scale for parent-child communication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 59.4% of parents in the sample reported awareness of PSUNC. The authors found that higher market-level PSUNC gross rating points were associated with increased parent-child communication. Similar relationships were observed between self-reported awareness of PSUNC and increased frequency of communication and recommendations to wait. These associations were particularly strong among mothers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides the first field-based data on the real-world reach and effectiveness of PSUNC among parents. The data support earlier experimental trials of PSUNC, showing that the campaign is associated with greater parent-child communication, primarily among mothers. Further research may be needed to develop additional messages for fathers.
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. kcdavis@rti.org
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: W Douglas
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Kian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kamyab
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012736:Sex Education / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States