Parental Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy With Toddlers and Young Children: An Active Learning Intervention

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

Parents are in a powerful position to teach sexual topics to their children to set the stage for positive sex attitudes and lifelong sexual health, but may be lacking sexual knowledge and confidence in their ability to address such topics. Informed by Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which posits that when people have high self-efficacy, they are more likely to adopt observational learning behaviors, this study 1) examined the association between general communication efficacy and sexual communication efficacy and 2) tested the effects of an active learning intervention to increase parental efficacy regarding sexual communication with young children aged one- to five-years-old.
Participants were recruited mainly from social media, local non-profit agencies, and connections with USU Extension. Using a randomized control group design, parents who participated were randomly assigned into either a control group (n = 55), factsheet only group (n = 58), or active learning group (n = 56) which received an interactive online presentation. Participants who completed pre- and post-test assessments were compared by the assigned group to examine increases in parental self-efficacy regarding sexual communication, parental knowledge of child sexual development, and frequency of sexual communication.
Results from the pretest analytic sample (n = 279) showed that general communication self-efficacy was strongly correlated to sexual communication efficacy and parents’ experience of sexual trauma was related to greater reports of sexual communication self-efficacy. Additionally, both general sexual knowledge and child sexual development knowledge were positively correlated with parental self-efficacy regarding sexual communication, r(276) = .42, p < .001 and r(276) = .52, p < .001, respectively. Those who reported greater efficacy, more general sex knowledge, and more child sexual development knowledge were significantly less likely to participate in the intervention and complete the study (See Table 1). Post-test results of mixed design analyses of variance (n = 117) showed the intervention was not effective at increasing parental sexual communication efficacy, however both the factsheet and active learning intervention groups showed significant gains in knowledge of child sexual development, F(2, 114) = 8.19, p < .001 (See Figure 1). This study was largely exploratory and should be built upon to attain the goals of promoting lifelong sexual health and healthy positive attitudes.

Authors

• Melissa Ferguson, Utah State University
  Presenting Author

• Aryn M Dotterer, Utah State University
  Non-Presenting Author