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Direct and Nondirect Communication of Maternal Beliefs to Adolescents: Adolescent Motivations for Premarital Sexual Activity 1
Author(s) -
Dittus Patricia J.,
Jaccard James,
Gordon Vivian V.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb00158.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , sexual intercourse , sexual behavior , premarital sex , social psychology , demography , population , paleontology , sociology , biology
Communication between mothers and adolescents about premarital sexual intercourse was studied in the context of a model of maternal influence on the formation of adolescent beliefs about sexual behavior. Two different forms of maternal influence were explored: (a) direct communication, and (b) indirect transmission of maternal orientations. Respondents were 751 inner‐city, African American adolescents (ages 14 to 17) and their mothers. Results indicated that adolescent motivations were related to their sexual behavior, and that maternal beliefs about sex were predictive of those motivations, independent of reports of the amount of communication that had taken place. These data are consistent with a model that underscores multiple mechanisms by which parents influence adolescent sexual behavior over and above direct communication.