title: Examining the effect of maternal sexual communication and adolescents' perceptions of maternal disapproval on adolescent risky sexual involvement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the influence of maternal sexual communication during early adolescence on three adolescent sexual risk behaviors (assessed 5-6 years later) in relation to adolescents' perceptions of maternal disapproval of [their] sexual involvement and contraceptive use.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from waves 1 and 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we distinguish between youth who reported being virgins from those who reported having had sex by the time maternal sexual communication was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Frequency of maternal sexual communication has a significant influence on adolescents' lifetime number of sexual partners, but its effect is moderated by adolescents' perceptions of maternal disapproval of contraceptive use. This relationship holds regardless of whether the adolescent was a virgin or not at the time of the communication. When occurring in the context of adolescent-perceived maternal nondisapproval, greater frequency of maternal sexual communication is associated with a higher likelihood of having multiple sexual partners. Greater frequency of maternal sexual communication was also associated with inconsistent condom use and positive sexually transmitted infection diagnosis among adolescents who were sexually experienced at baseline and who perceived maternal disapproval of contraceptive use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings emphasize the need to evaluate the effect of maternal sexual communication on adolescent risky sexual behaviors in relation to the value context of these discussions as well as the sexual status of the adolescent.
authors.affiliation: Annenberg Center for Advanced Study in Communication, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. akhurana@asc.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Atika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khurana
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Cooksey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003142:Communication; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult