No tell-alls from teens on dating.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

When it comes to talking to parents about most dating issues, teen girls tend to disclose more than boys, and both sexes generally prefer to talk to their mothers, suggest researchers at Ohio State University, Marian, whose study found that girls and boys are equally close-mouthed about issues involving sex and what they do with their dates while unsupervised--and, in this case, teens were no more eager to talk to their mothers than they were their fathers.

Results show that the amount of information parents hear from their teenagers depends on a variety of matters, including age, gender, and what aspect of dating the topic involves. "Many parents become frustrated because they feel that the lack of communication with their teenage children is evidence of increasing distance or diminishing influence," explains Christopher Daddis, coauthor of the study and assistant professor of psychology,

"What we found is that adolescents are willing to talk to their parents about some issues, but those issues may change as they grow older and feel more autonomous."

Students were asked to rate how willing they were to disclose specific information to their parents about 22 different issues relating to their romantic lives. Based on the results, Daddis separated dating issues into three categories.

The...