Correlates and consequences of parent-teen incongruence in reports of teens' sexual experience

Abstract

Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, factors associated with incongruence between parents' and adolescents' reports of teens' sexual experience were investigated, and the consequences of inaccurate parental knowledge for adolescents' subsequent sexual behaviors were explored. Most parents of virgins accurately reported teens' lack of experience, but most parents of teens who had had sex provided inaccurate reports. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that many adolescent-, parent-, and family-level factors predicted the accuracy of parents' reports. Parents' accurate knowledge of their teens' sexual experience was not found to be consistently beneficial for teens' subsequent sexual outcomes. Rather, parents' expectations about teens' sexual experience created a self-fulfilling prophecy, with teens' subsequent sexual outcomes conforming to parents' expectations. These findings suggest that research on parent-teen communication about sex needs to consider the expectations being expressed, as well as the information being exchanged.

Figure 1

Graphical representations of hypotheses. Note. Italicized concepts are not measurable in the data; all others are measured. A dashed line indicates a relationship that is present when the third variable is excluded, and absent when it is included.

Figure 2

Summary of logistic regression coefficients predicting effects of parents’ over- and underestimation on teens’ sexual behaviors. Note. Source: National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (1995–1996; Bearman, Jones, & Udry, 1997). Logistic regression coefficients are drawn from Table 4; N varies. Only significant effects (p <.05) are included. Solid bars compare overestimation to accurate knowledge of no sexual experience at Wave I; striped bars compare underestimation to accurate knowledge of sexual experience at Wave I. The first bar in each group of three is from bivariate models, the second includes controls and parent–teen communication about sex, and the third includes parental monitoring and reports of teens’ non-sex-related risky behaviors. The two single bars are both from bivariate models. Analyses account for sample design effects (weighting, stratification, and clustering). STI =sexually transmitted infection.