No abstract

their parents reported knowing this. Seventy-six percent of teens who had engaged in neither oral nor vaginal sex had a parent who reported this knowledge. Overall, 65% of parents accurately reported if their adolescent had engaged in oral or vaginal sex (congruence). Parent-teen sexual health communication was associated with congruence (OR 2.9). Congruence was also associated with teen comfort discussing sexual health, number of sexual health topics discussed, age of teen at first sexual health conversation, teen gender, and teen age. Teens who reported talking to their parents about sexual health were 5.2 times more likely to report any condom past three months compared to those who did not report sexual health communication with their parent. Conclusions: To design appropriate interventions aimed at improving parent-teen sexual health communication, it is important to assess not only if parents are talking to their teens about sexual health topics, but also whether communication results in accurate knowledge about teen behavior. Parental knowledge of teen sexual behaviors appears to be a marker of communication quality between parent and teen and can therefore serve as a tool by which researchers can evaluate sexual health communication. Improving such communication may increase healthy sexual behaviors among teens. Sources of Support: None.