Promoting parent-early adolescent sexual communication with a smartphone application

Abstract

Recent sexual education and health promotions have emphasized the importance of parent-child sexual communication in healthy sexual development of youth. By using effective parent-adolescent sexual communication, parents can provide their adolescent children with more accurate knowledge about sexuality and help them shape healthy sexual attitudes that might lead to wise decision-making during adolescence. In addition, effective parent-adolescent sexual communication serves as an influential factor in buffering adolescents' risky sexual behaviors. However, ineffective parent-adolescent sexual communication is likely prevalent among families as parents might face many barriers in initiating and discussing sexuality-related topics. Limited or no sexual communication may significantly undermine parents' potential to be optimal influencers of their adolescent's healthy sexual development. The increasing usage of smartphones and mobile apps among the U.S. adults gives unprecedented opportunities to deliver parent-based adolescent sexual health interventions to a wider and more diverse population. Guided by research, as well as Urie Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory of human development, this report provides a research-based foundation on which to build a smartphone app, Parent Sex Talk 12-14, providing sexual health-related materials to parents of early adolescents aged 12- to 14-years-old to strengthen parent-early adolescent sexual communication.