Sex behaviours and family sexuality communication among Hispanic adolescents

This study compared the extent to which Hispanic teenagers talk with mothers, fathers and extended family members about risks of sex, protection and relational sex, as well as the role of teenagers’ gender on the association between sexuality communication and risky sexual behaviours. The analysis is based upon 474 Hispanic young people’s responses to a school-based survey recruited from six New England high schools. We (1) calculated descriptive statistics and tests of difference by teenagers’ gender, and (2) ran logistic regression models for engaging in three different risky sexual behaviors separately by gender. There were significant gender differences in teenagers’ talk with mothers and fathers, but not with extended family members. There was consistent ‘gender matching’ between teenagers and the extended family member they talked to. The content of sexuality communication, the family member the teenager talked to and the gender of the teenager all contributed to whether communication was protective for teenagers’ sexual behaviour. There are substantial differences in the types of sexuality communication Hispanic teenagers have with different family members, which are closely tied to teenager’s and the family member’s gender. Results suggest that one size does not fit all when it comes to family communication about sex and sexuality.