Family interactions and sex education in the home.

ABSTRACT

PIP: Despite the tremendous growth of family system theory in recent years, sex education within a family system context has received little attention. This study examined patterns of interactions within the family and the possible relationship of these patterns to the amount of sex education occurring in the home. 96 adolescents (ages 13-15, 43% male, 90% Caucasian) and the parents of 63 of them (61 mothers and 45 fathers) participated in the study. 79% of the adolescents were 13 years of age while the average ages for their mothers and fathers was 39.1 years and 41.1 years respectively. 82% of the adolescents has 2-4 siblings and 68% came from intact families. 94% of the families were middle class. Both adolescents and parents completed 3 questionnaires: (1) FACES-II, a measure which categorizes family interactions as Basnced, Midrange, or Extreme based on the 2 dimensions of cohesiveness and adaptability; (2) the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale; and (3) the Home Discussion Questionnaire, a measure of the amount of discussion about 17 sex education topics. Adolescents who reported open communication and satisfaction with family interactions reported significantly more sex education in the home. Although mothers' reports of sex education were not related to their perceptions of family communication or interaction, fathers who reported the healthiest family interactions also reported the most involvement in the sex education of their adolescent.