Early childhood differentials in mother-child AIDS-information interaction

To date there have been no systematic inquiries into 1) the extent of parent-child AIDS interaction; or 2) the factors that influence whether young children and their parents talk about AIDS. In our sample, from a medium-sized Southern metropolitan area, 70 percent of mothers of children in the first, third, and fifth grades said they had talked to their child about AIDS, but only 41 percent of the mothers said their child had asked them questions about AIDS. Fourteen hypotheses about factors which might influence mother-child AIDS interaction are derived from the health/sex socialization literature. In the process of testing these bivariate hypotheses it is shown that, although sons and daughters are equally likely to ask their mother questions about AIDS, mothers are more likely to talk to their daughters than their sons about AIDS. This pattern maintains even after controls are introduced. It is suggested that discussing AIDS with young children as a health issue rather than waiting until adolescence and discussing it as a sex issue may be a more effective socialization route. Mothers may be able to do this with young daughters in the context of women's health, but because most AIDS education for adults generally is sex- rather than health-oriented they may lack the knowledge and framework to do this with their sons.