Is There More Than One Way to Talk About Sex? A Longitudinal Growth Mixture Model of Parent-Adolescent Sex Communication.

PURPOSE: Parents can be effective and consistent sex educators of their children, but research suggests that most parents only engage in a one-time talk about sex with their children. That being said, we know little about the potential variability in trajectories of parent-child sex communication over time. Thus, the present study took a person-centered approach to parent-child sex communication about sexual risk and explored predictors and outcomes of varying trajectories. METHODS: Participants included 468 adolescents and their parents who took part in a longitudinal study every year from ages 14-18 years (52% female, 67% white, and 33% single parents). RESULTS: Growth mixture modeling suggested four different trajectories of parent-child sex communication using child reports and two different trajectories using mother and father reports, with the majority of parents displaying low and stable levels of communication over time. Predictors and outcomes suggested that varying trajectories were in part a function of child behaviors (i.e., early sexual debut and externalizing behaviors), and mothers who reported trajectories of moderate-stable levels of communication had children who reported safer sex practices at age 21 years. CONCLUSIONS: The discussion focused on the benefits of longitudinal, person-centered approaches at identifying variability in parenting and the implications of findings for those concerned about the need for parental education on the importance of sex communication across adolescence.

Trajectories of Perceived Parental Psychological Control across Adolescence and Implications for the Development of Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms.

Theory and research indicate considerable changes in parental control across adolescence (e.g., declining behavioral control), but the developmental course and significance of psychological control remains largely unknown. This study examined trajectories of adolescents' reports of mothers' and fathers' psychological control from ages 12 to 19, predictors of occupying distinct trajectories, and the developmental significance of these trajectories for adolescents' development of depressive and anxiety symptoms. It used eight waves of survey data on 500 adolescents (Mage = 11.83, SD = 1.03; 52% female; 67% White, 12% African American) and their parents from the Pacific Northwest United States. Most adolescents (about 90%) reported low but increasing levels of parental psychological control over time, with a small but significant subset (about 10%) perceiving perpetually elevated levels. Mothers' (but not fathers') depressive symptoms, reported at the age 12 assessment, predicted adolescents' membership in the elevated psychological control trajectory. Adolescents occupying these elevated trajectories showed more problematic growth in depressive and anxiety symptoms across adolescence. Taken together, the findings suggest that many adolescents experience increased parental psychological control as they age, and that variability in these trends indicates individual differences in their development of depressive and anxiety symptoms over time.