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 Researchers examined survey data for 2,931 boys and girls who were
asked about their sex lives as well as their relationships with both
parents when they were 12 years old, and again at age 16.
Girls who reported higher-quality relationships with their mothers
were 44 percent less likely to start having sex during the study
period.
“We found that a higher-quality relationship with mothers is a
protective factor against early sexual initiation for girls, but not
for boys,” said lead study author Dr. Raquel Nogueira Avelar e
Silva, a public health researcher at Erasmus Medical Center, in
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
“In addition, no protective effect was found for fathers, neither
for girls, nor for boys,” Nogueira Avelar e Silva added by email.
While plenty of previous research has linked earlier sexual
intercourse and riskier sexual behavior with poor parental
relationships, much of this work has focused on the influence of
mothers rather than father, researchers note in Pediatrics.
To assess how relationships with both parents influence teen
behavior, researchers examined data from questionnaires asking teens
how close they feel to each parent, and how much they enjoy spending
time with each parent.
The questionnaires also inquired about sex, which was defined as
heterosexual vaginal intercourse in the study, asking how often
teens had sex, if at all.
Overall, 233 teens, or 8 percent of the survey participants, started
having sex at some point between ages 12 and 15, the study found.
This included 77 girls and 156 boys.
Compared to girls who didn’t start having sex during the study
period, those who did reported less parental monitoring and lower
relationship quality with their mothers and fathers.
Boys who had sex during the study period also reported less parental
monitoring, and they had lower quality relationships with their
fathers.
After researchers accounted for other factors that can influence how
soon teens have sex, however, only the girls’ relationships with
mothers remained statistically meaningful.
It’s possible that this is because mothers are the primary providers
of sexual education in many families, or because mothers speak more
openly about sexuality with their daughters than their sons, the
authors write.
Because the study is observational, it doesn’t prove that solid
relationships with parents can prevent teens from having sex or that
poor relationships encourage earlier intercourse, the authors note.
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Another limitation of the study is that researchers relied on teens
to accurately recall and report on their relationship quality with
both parents as well as their sexual history, the authors point out.
Teens who opted not to participate in the surveys were also less
likely to be living with both parents, potentially having worse
relationships than the youth who did participate.
“Having a warm relationship and talking openly, being less punitive
with your children doesn't necessarily make your children less
likely to start sexual intercourse,” said Lucia O'Sullivan, a
researcher at the University of New Brunswick in Canada who wasn’t
involved in the study.
It’s more likely that children who have more positive relationships
with their parents delay sexual intercourse for other reasons such
as being more closely supervised, or having less stress at home or
living in a higher functioning family that encourages kids to invest
in educational and occupational goals that take precedence over
early sexual relationships, O’Sullivan added by email.
Even so, the findings offer more evidence that parents can help
teens develop communication skills that are essential for a healthy
sex life, said Devon Hensel, an adolescent medicine researcher at
Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis who wasn’t
involved in the study.
“At any age, sex can be associated with negative outcomes such as
unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections, including
HIV,” Hensel said by email. “Such outcomes are an especially
important reminder as to why adolescents need open, frequent and
honest communication from multiple sources - but especially from
their parents - as to how they can protect themselves.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2gAcLOi Pediatrics, online November 28, 2016.
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