The importance of importance: adolescents' perceptions of parental communication about sexuality

High-schoolers (n=298) completed surveys describing the frequency and importance of mother and father communication about 20 different sex-related topics. There were four domains of sex-related topics: Development and Societal Concerns, Sexual Safety, Experiencing Sex, and Solitary Sexual Activity. Adolescents reported infrequent communication which varied by domain and gender of parent and teen. When communication occurred, it was most frequently about the first two domains. Mothers were reported as more frequent communicators about sexuality than fathers and girls received more communication than boys. Young people rated parental communication about sexuality as unimportant, with findings that paralleled those for frequency. Examination of the match between frequency and perceived importance of parental communication revealed more matches than mismatches. Almost all matches resulted from responses indicating low frequency and little importance. Most mismatches reflected a perception of insufficient rather than excessive parental communication about sexuality. It is argued that we need to consider the relative importance given to parental communication, as well as its frequency, if parents are to be effective communicators.