A new study has revealed that talking about sex with parents, especially with mothers, promotes safer sex among teenagers.
For the study, Laura Widman of North Carolina State University and co-authors pooled data of more than 25,000 adolescents to examine the effect of parent-adolescent sexual communication on safer sex behavior among the youth.
According to the data, there was a small but significant positive effect of parent-adolescent sexual communication associated with safer sex behavior.
The study reported that the association was stronger for girls and stronger for adolescents who discussed sexual topics with their mothers.
The study also found that the association between parent communication and adolescents' contraceptive and condom use was significantly stronger for girls than boys.
The authors concluded that the results of this study confirmed that parent-adolescent sexual communication was a protective factor for youth, and a focus on communication remained justified in future intervention efforts.
The study is published in the Journal JAMA Pediatrics.