title: African American Parent-Son Sexual Communication Among a College Sample.
abstract: To investigate whether reports of parent-child sexual communication (PCSC) varied by parental gender, education and living environments among African American adolescent and young male students attending a historically black university (n=146).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using secondary data a paired t-test was used to determine mean differences for PCSC by gender. Factorial ANOVA was calculated to examine the interaction between PCSC and living environment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall African American mothers were significantly more likely to engage in PCSC with their sons than African American fathers (t(68)=4.143, p<0.001). African American fathers from suburban areas were significantly more likely to engage in PCSC with their sons than urban fathers (t(137)=-2.295, p=0.023). No significant difference in PCSC by parental educational level was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings from this research suggest that African American mothers continue to be the primary conversant in PCSC with their sons. Additional research is needed to understand the role that living environment (urban vs. suburban) plays in the father PCSC process.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PCSC can play an important role in reducing adolescent sexual risk behaviors. Nurses should encourage and support PCSC among African American parents and their adolescent and young adult sons.
authors.affiliation: William F. Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. Electronic address: Allyssa.harris@bc.edu.
authors.forename: Allyssa L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D009679:Nuclear Family / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: African American; parent–child sexual communication; sexual risk behaviors