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. 2021;33(1):99-108.
doi: 10.1080/19317611.2020.1858381. Epub 2020 Dec 26.

Adolescent Emotion Regulation and Parent-Child Discussions about Sexual Behaviors

Coral L Shuster  1 , Christopher D Houck  1 , Erin M Tooley  1
Affiliations

Adolescent Emotion Regulation and Parent-Child Discussions about Sexual Behaviors

Coral L Shuster et al. Int J Sex Health. 2021.

Abstract

Risky sexual behavior can lead to negative outcomes (e.g., pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections). Adolescents may engage in risky sex less often if families talk about sexual safety or if adolescents engage in emotion regulation (ER) skills, however research is lacking on how ER may be a barrier to sexual health communication. This exploratory study was a secondary analysis of baseline information from 420 American adolescents referred for mental health symptoms and their parents regarding ER and sexual health communication. Significant differences emerged on adolescent ER between families that talk about sexual health and those that do not.

Keywords: adolescents; sexual attitudes and behaviors; sexual communication.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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