Cheryl Blalock Aspy, PhD¹, Sara K. Vesely, PhD², Roy F. Oman, PhD³, Sharon Rodine, MEd⁴, LaDonna Marshall⁴, Jillian R. Doss³, and Kami Enevoldsen³. (1) Family & Preventive Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 900 NE 10th St. - FMC 2209, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, 405-271-2370, Cheryl-aspy@ouhsc.edu, (2) Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, PO Box 26901, CHB, Room 309, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (3) Department of Health Promotion Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901, Rm. 369, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (4) HEART of OKC Project, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, 420 N.W. 13th St., #101, Oklahoma City, OK 73103

This study explored youth-parental communication agreement and its impact on youth decisions not to have sexual intercourse, to use birth control if sexually active, to have only 1 partner, and to delay sexual intercourse until at least age 17. Data were collected using in-home, in-person interviews of parents and their youth (N= 1,146 parent/youth pairs; 52% female; mean age =15.4 years; 23% African-Americans, 10% Native-Americans, 49% Caucasians, and 18% Hispanics; and 37% sexually active) residing in randomly selected households in inner-city neighborhoods. Six items were asked of both youth and parents, e.g., "Have you talked to your parents (child) about delaying sexual activity?” To assess the importance of agreement in the decision not to be sexually active, the birth control use and STD prevention items were deleted from one analysis since this talk usually occurs after youth become sexually active. Data were analyzed using logistic regression (adjusted for demographic factors) for youth-parent agreement and the stated outcomes. Adjusted odds ratios indicated that youth-parent agreement was associated with youth decision not to be sexually active (p<.05). Also, sexually active youth were almost 2 times (p<.05) more likely to use birth control if they had high positive agreement regarding communication with their parents. These results suggest that youth-parental communication agreement is associated with a reduction in youth sexual risk behaviors and that for sexually active youth, communication agreement is associated with birth control use. Programmatic interventions should be explicit in making youth and parents aware of the importance of good communication.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Describe parent-child agreement regarding their communication and its impact on youth sexual activity.
• Relate these findings to other protective factors for youth sexual activity.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.