Profiles of adolescent communication with parents and extended family about sex

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Lisette M. DeSouza,Jennifer M. Grossman,Alicia Doyle Lynch,Amanda M. Richer
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12667

RESEARCH

Profiles of adolescent communication with parents

and extended family about sex

Lisette M. DeSouza

1

|Jennifer M. Grossman

1

|Alicia Doyle Lynch

2

|

Amanda M. Richer

1

1

Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley

College, Wellesley, Massachusetts,

United States

2

Lynch Research Associates, Natick,

Massachusetts, United States

Correspondence

Lisette M. DeSouza, Metropolitan Center for

Equity and the Transformation of Schools at

New York University, 726 Broadway, 5th

Floor, New York, NY 10003 USA.

Email: lisette.desouza@nyu.edu

Funding information

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of

Child Health and Human Development,

Grant/Award Number: 1R21HD088955

Abstract

Objective: To explore profiles of family communication

about sex, demographic predictors of membership in these

profiles, and their relationship to outcomes associated with

sexual activity.

Background: Family communication about sex is protec-

tive against risky sexual behaviors. However, most

research has focused solely on communication with par-

ents. Emerging research suggests that extended family,

such as aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings, may also con-

tribute to sexual socialization. This study assessed patterns

of adolescents’communication with parents and extended

family across three areas of communication about sex:

protection, risk, and relationships.

Method: This research used cross-sectional data from

844 adolescents (54% Latinx, 17% Black, 56% female) and

conducted latent profile analysis.

Results: In the resulting four profiles, adolescents reported

talking with no one, primarily parents, everyone, or

extended family only. Race and immigration status

predicted profile membership. There was a significant rela-

tionship between having engaged in sex and profile mem-

bership but no significant associations with risk behaviors.

Conclusion: This study provides evidence that youth com-

municate at different frequencies and sometimes in differ-

ent ways with parents and extended family. Some patterns

of communication are related to whether youth are sexu-

ally active.

Implications: Practitioners should consider inclusion of

both parents and extended family in supporting adolescent

sexual socialization and health, and interventions should

account for extended family as part of adolescents’family

ecology. Future research and intervention might consider

Received: 18 December 2020Revised: 13 September 2021Accepted: 26 September 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12667

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

1286 Family Relations. 2022;71:1286–1303.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

how to engage the large number of students who report no

talk with any family member about sex.

KEYWORDS

adolescents, communication, extended family, parents, relationships,

sexual health

Research has demonstrated that both parents and extended family members play a role in

supporting adolescents’sexual health and reducing risky sexual behavior through communica-

tion about sex (Grossman et al., 2019; Widman et al., 2016). Through this communication,

adults convey knowledge and expectations to adolescents about dating and sex (Deutsch &

Crockett, 2016). Parents play an important role in having these conversations with their adoles-

cent children (Flores & Barroso, 2017; Widman et al., 2016). However, emerging research sug-

gests that extended family members, such as aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings, may also talk

with adolescents about these topics (Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2006). To better understand the

potential of combined protective supports that talk with both parents and extended family

members might have, a model is needed that includes both parent and extended family commu-

nication. One way to begin to document a more expanded model of family communication is to

assess patterns of family communication within and across adolescents. This type of integrative

model can also determine who adolescents talk to (parents vs. extended family members), what

topics they discuss, and the frequency at which they talk with these family members. Further-

more, demographic variations within these patterns might further illuminate experiences of talk

with teens about sex among diverse youth and families.

To our knowledge no quantitative study has assessed patterns of parent and extended family

communication together and their associations with adolescents’sexual behavior; therefore, the

present research seeks to illuminate how parents and extended family members participate in

the sexual socialization of adolescents in unique or consistent ways, and whether different pat-

terns of conversation might support adolescents’sexual health.

COMMUNICATION ABOUT SEX AND SEXUAL SOCIALIZATION

DURING ADOLESCENCE

When adults talk with adolescents about sex, this interaction is part of sexual socialization, or

“the process through which an individual acquires an understanding of ideas, beliefs and values,

shared cultural symbols, meanings and codes of conduct”(Shtarkshall et al., 2007, p. 116). The

messages about dating and sex shared with adolescents, by familial adults and other parties

(e.g., educators, peers, and media), vary in terms of content—from technical information about

reproduction to discussions of romantic relationships (Ward, 2003). Sexual socialization and

communication about sex shapes young peoples’beliefs and values about sex (Ashcraft &

Murray, 2017) and may ultimately influence the decisions they make about their own sexual

activity.

Family systems theory explains how parental socialization shapes a child’s“standards,

skills, motives, attitudes and behaviors”to align with expectations for their roles in society

(Parke & Buriel, 2006, p. 429). For example, parents might explicitly educate their children

about norms and rules (Parke & Buriel, 2006) or supervise and offer strategies to manage

youth’s particular social situations or challenges. In the case of sexual socialization, a parent

might give direct feedback to their child about what is considered appropriate by establishing

rules or expectations for behavior—for example, whether sex is permissible or offer advice and

support about how to engage in safer sex practices such as condom use. Despite the nuclear

ADOLESCENT COMMUNICATION ABOUT SEX1287