Socialization of Attitudes Towards Having Sex: A Moderated Mediation Model

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Parent's play an important role in shaping adolescent sexual decision-making and sexual behavior (Widman et al., 2016). Specifically, parents’ attitudes about sex can influence the sexual choices their children make through impacting adolescent's own attitudes toward sex (Hardy et al., 2019). However, less is known about how, parents' attitudes shape adolescents' attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that parent-child communication about sex, parental warmth, parental structure and parental autonomy support have on the transmission of parent’s attitudes about adolescents having sex to their adolescent, and the effect that adolescent attitudes have on sexual behavior. Specifically, we hypothesize that the four mentioned parenting variables will moderate the relationship between parent’s sex attitudes, and adolescents’ sex attitudes, with higher levels of parenting resulting in higher levels of adolescents’ sex attitudes, and that adolescents with more conservative attitudes towards having sex will engage in less risky sexual behavior. We also hypothesized that parenting would have more of an impact on older adolescents than younger.
The sample included 364 adolescents recruited from across the U.S. using a survey panel (M age = 15.64, SD =1.24). Participants completed an online survey. Parental autonomy support, parental warmth, and parental structure were measured using existing scales (Flamm & Grolnick, 2013; Greenberger, Chen, Tally, & Dong, 2000; Marbell & Grolnick, 2013). Scales for sexual attitudes towards having sex, sexual risk behavior and parent-child communication about sex were developed for this study. Eight, moderated mediation models were used to analyze our hypotheses (see figure 1). In all of the models, parent attitudes predicted adolescent attitudes which in turn predicted sexual risk behavior. The models were ran separate for young and old adolescents, and each model had one of the four parenting dimensions moderating the link between parents attitudes and adolescents attitudes.
In all of the models parent’s attitudes towards sex was associated with more conservative adolescent attitudes towards having sex. More conservative attitudes towards having sex was associated with less risky sexual behavior. The only two models that had significant interactions were the interactions between parent’s attitudes and parental warmth, and parent’s attitudes and parental structure for older adolescents predicting adolescent’s sexual attitudes. Estimates of adolescent’s attitudes towards sex were calculated at various levels of both parent’s attitudes towards sex and parental warmth as well as parental structure to visualize the interaction (see figure 2a and 2b). Adolescents had the most conservative attitudes when their parents also had high conservative attitudes as well as high levels of parental warmth, and high levels of parental structure. The indirect effects for the two models were strongest when parents had high levels of parental warmth and high parental structure. The indices of moderated mediation were also significant for both models supporting evidenced of moderated mediation (Hayes, 2015).
We found partial support for our hypotheses, parental warmth and structure moderated the relationship between parent’s sexual attitudes and adolescents’ sexual attitudes. Adolescents conservative attitudes towards having sex was also associated with less frequent risky sexual behavior.

Authors

• Jeffrey Leon Hurst, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Sam A Hardy, Brigham Young University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Widman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author