Parents' views of adolescent health issues

To determine how important the parents of teenagers consider adolescent health issues to be and the kind of involvement they would like from their schools and physicians, a questionnaire was sent to 1090 families with children attending two public high schools in a suburban community. The 438 parents who completed the questionnaire (40% response rate) indicated that their adolescents had a mean age of 16.2 years, 52% were male, 54% were in grades 11 and 12, and 70% received regular care from a pediatrician. Most parents considered substance use, sexuality, mental health issues, nutritional concerns, and general medical issues to be issues requiring attention nationally; many considered these issues to require attention locally; fewer considered these issues to require attention for their teenager's friends; and only some indicated these issues require attention for their own teenagers. More than 95% of respondents said parents should discuss these topics with their teenagers, more than 80% said they themselves did, and more than 85% said they wanted these issues discussed with their adolescents in school. Approximately three quarters of parents said that they would bring their adolescent to their regular doctor for management of these issues, expected that their physician would be comfortable with such care, and wanted their doctor to discuss these issues with their teenagers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)