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The Longitudinal Impact of a Family-Based Communication Intervention on Observational and Self-Reports of Sexual Communication

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Abstract

Parents can play a vital role in shaping teenagers’ sexual attitudes, behavior, and contraceptive use through communication, however, less is known about how to modify parent–adolescent communication among youth with mental health problems. The impact of a family-based sexual risk prevention intervention on both observational and self-report of parent–adolescent sexual communication was examined at 12 months among adolescents with mental health problems. Of the 721 parent–adolescent dyads recruited for the study, 167 videotapes of sexual discussions between parents and adolescent were coded for the family-based intervention and 191 videotapes for the active comparison. Longitudinal analyses examined differences between conditions (family-based vs. comparison) in self-reported and observed parent–adolescent sexual discussions and also examined the impact of gender on intervention response. More parent I-statements, healthier parent body language, and fewer adolescent Negative Vocalizations were detected for family-based intervention participants 12 months after participating in the brief intervention (11 h of total intervention time) relative to those in the comparison condition. Parents in the family-based intervention also self-reported better sexual communication at 12 months. The current study provides supporting evidence that a relatively brief family-based intervention was successful at addressing parent–adolescent sexual communication among a mental health sample.

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Author Contributions

W.H.: collaborated with the design, executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and wrote the paper. A.L.: assisted with the data analyses and wrote the data analyses and results. D.H.B.: assisted with the data analyses and writing of the data analyses and results. L.K.B.: designed and executed the study, assisted with data analyses and reviewed manuscript drafts. H.H.: collaborated with the design and execution of the study. G.D.: designed and executed the study and reviewed manuscript drafts. R.J.D.: designed and executed the study and reviewed manuscript drafts.

Funding

This study was funded by NIMH grant R01MH 63008 to Rhode Island Hospital and the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research (NIAID grant P30AI04285).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bradley/Hasbro Children’s Research Center/Rhode Island Hospital and the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, One Hoppin Street, Suite 204, Providence, RI, 02903, USA

    Wendy Hadley, David H. Barker, Larry K. Brown & Heather Hunter

  2. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Amy Lansing

  3. University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Geri Donenberg

  4. Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ralph J. DiClemente

Authors
  1. Wendy Hadley
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  2. Amy Lansing
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  3. David H. Barker
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  4. Larry K. Brown
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  5. Heather Hunter
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  6. Geri Donenberg
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  7. Ralph J. DiClemente
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Correspondence to Wendy Hadley.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. IRB approval was obtained at each study site. IRB included Rhode Island Hospital IRB, Emory University IRB, and the University of Illinois at Chicago IRB.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hadley, W., Lansing, A., Barker, D.H. et al. The Longitudinal Impact of a Family-Based Communication Intervention on Observational and Self-Reports of Sexual Communication. J Child Fam Stud 27, 1098–1109 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0949-4

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