Maternal Messages About Dating and Sexuality and Their Influence on Latino Adolescents

The Journal of Adolescent Health recently released a study analyzing Latina mothers' influence on their children's attitudes toward sexuality, sexual health, and dating.

Researchers observed videotaped conversations between mothers and their children, closely examining the values, messages, and attitudes the mothers tried to convey about sexuality and dating. The authors then examined the adolescents' reactions to the experiment to determine how mothers' opinions influenced the way the children approached sexuality, sexual health, and relationships.

Participants

Researchers recruited 55 Latina mothers and 55 adolescent children from schools and community centers in low-to-middle-income neighborhoods in California. There were 35 girls and 20 boys in the children's group. The average age of the adolescents was 14.1 years. Mothers ranged in age from 29 to 55 years. The average age for mothers was 39.

Methods

The authors asked each set of mother and child (also known as a dyad) to complete a series of short conversations, each of which lasted approximately seven minutes. After completing the conversation, each mother and child filled out a survey. There was also a follow-up session one year after the initial study. Of the 55 dyads, 15 chose not to return the following year and two could not be located.

The researchers coded the videotaped conversations for the prevalence of five types of maternal messages: beliefs and values, advice, cautionary messages, comments about adolescents' everyday experiences, and maternal self-disclosure about personal dating and sexual experiences.

The researchers recorded how much time mothers spent on each type of message. They then related those findings to three adolescent-related outcomes collected approximately one year later -- sexual behavior, attitude toward premarital intercourse, and reports of open communication in the mother-child relationship.

Procedures

Each dyad participated in a warm-up exercise to acclimate themselves to being videotaped by researchers. A facilitator gave each pair a specific topic to discuss and then left the room, leaving the mother and child alone to discuss topics such as AIDS, dating and sexuality, and other sexuality-related issues on which the set may have disagreed. The experimenter returned to assign other discussion topics as each time slot ended.

After the conversations ended, each mother and child went to separate rooms to fill out demographic questionnaires, which asked basic questions about age, education, and place of birth.

The young people also answered questions about their attitudes toward premarital intercourse, their perception of the degree of open communication with their mothers, and their personal experience with sexual behavior.

Researchers tabulated a "sexual experience score" for each adolescent based on his or her answers to the questionnaire. The mothers did not see the sexual experience scores. Adolescents also received scores for their rating of how openly they communicated with their mothers.

Mothers answered the same demographic questions as their children and gave information regarding their socioeconomic status and their length of time in the United States.

Results

Types of Messages Discussed

• The videotapes revealed that mothers tended to convey messages about beliefs and values associated with sexuality and dating more than any other message.
• Each mother spent an average of 76 seconds of a seven-minute session discussing her beliefs and values relating to sexuality, sexual health, and sexual experiences.
• Most mothers also spent a significant amount of time giving their children advice about what to do in specific related situations.
• Mothers spent an average of 50 seconds per seven-minute conversation giving advice.
• Mothers also cautioned children about the potential consequences of a sexual relationship for an average of 30 seconds per seven-minute conversation.

Effects on the Adolescent

• The types of messages the mothers conveyed affected their children's sexual experiences.
• Mothers who did not address their personal values and beliefs related to the discussion topics had children who were more sexually active after one year than the children of mothers who clearly expressed their personal beliefs and values about the discussion topics.
• A mother's willingness to share personal stories about dating and sexual experiences with her child positively affected the adolescent's attitude toward premarital intercourse and the child's perception of how openly he/she communicated with his/her mother.
• Mothers who disclosed details about their own dating and sexual experiences had children who reported more open communication between themselves and their mothers after one year than the children of mothers who did not share personal anecdotes.
• Adolescents whose mothers disclosed personal stories reported more "conservative attitudes" toward premarital sexual intercourse than those adolescents whose mothers did not share their personal stories.

Discussion

The researchers believe that the direct correlation between maternal self-disclosure and adolescents' tendencies to delay sexual activity suggests that mothers' willingness to share personal anecdotes is a strong feature of relationships between mothers and adolescents who feel close to each other.

The researchers also suggest that adolescents perceived their mothers' warnings against the potential effects of early sexual activity as a sign of caring. Adolescents whose mothers cautioned them against early sexual activity were more likely to feel that their mothers cared about their health than the children of mothers who did not warn them.

Finally, the researchers concluded that exploring the types of messages mothers communicate to their adolescent children and determining the frequency of parent-child conversations about dating and sexuality can help professionals better address parental needs and enable professionals to teach parents about the best ways to discuss topics such as sexuality and dating with their children.

Lydia O'Donnell, Ed.D., et al., "Long-Term Reductions in Sexual Initiation and Sexual Activity Among Urban Middle Schoolers in the Reach for Health Service Learning Program," Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 93-100.