Having 'The Talk': Parents' Decision Making Related to Communication with Children about Sex

Parent-child communication about sex is widely understood to be important to sexual health and wellness of adolescents and young adults. Though parents report wanting to communicate with their children comprehensively, adolescents often report this communication does not meet their needs. This study uses symbolic interactionism to explore how parents understand and make meaning of family communication about sex and how these meanings influence their decision making when it comes to family communication about sex. Eight couples participated in an observed development of plans to communicate with their children about sex and semi-structured dyadic interviews about their decision-making process. Transcriptions of the observational data and interviews were analyzed alongside the written plans developed during data collection using grounded theory methodology. Parents recognized communication with their children about sex to be an important opportunity to keep their children safe and prevent negative experiences while instilling values that will help children make healthy decisions. Rather than prescribing specific topics of conversation and times to communicate with them, parents focused on fostering strong relationships with their children and shared they would allow their kids to direct conversations. They identified clear goals for communication with their children about sex, but hoped to do things differently than their own parents by being open to questions their children bring up and addressing issues as they arise.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Adult Learning and Human Resource Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Murray, Michelle Marie

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Grafsky, Erika L.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Benson, Kristen E.
• Benson, Mark J.
• Wesche, Rose

• Parent-child communication
• sex education

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:41028

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119504