Authors: Mary Gound Rex Forehand Nicholas Long Kim S Miller Lisa Armistead Lily McNair
Publish Date: 2006/05/26
Volume: 11, Issue: 1, Pages: 113-122
Abstract
The present study examined attitude congruence between mothers and their preadolescent children regarding the precursors of sexual behavior ie having a boyfriend/girlfriend dating timing of sexual initiation ie waiting until marriage to have sex and the potential consequences of sexual behavior ie the seriousness of pregnancy and AIDS A sample of 932 fourth and fifth grade African American children and their mothers participated by completing computeradministered surveys The results indicated significant discrepancies between maternal and child attitudes particularly regarding the precursors of sexual behavior In addition children often inaccurately perceived their mothers’ attitudes and evidence suggested that lack of sexual communication is associated with some of these misperceptions The implications of sexual attitude discrepancies between mothers and children for prevention programs are discussedMary Gound Institute for Behavioral Research University of Georgia Rex Forehand Psychology Department University of Vermont Nicholas Long Department of Pediatrics University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Kim S Miller Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Lisa Armistead Psychology Department Georgia State University Lily McNair Psychology Department Spelman College This research was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreement U64/CCU417720 Appreciation is expressed to Sarah Wyckoff for data management and to J J Bau for conducting data analyses Address correspondence to Rex Forehand Psychology Department Dewey Hall University of Vermont Burlington VT 05405
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