For adolescents who have a father in their lives, father–teen conversations about sex and relationships can protect teens from risky sexual behaviors. However, little is known about the content and process of these conversations.
This study explored topics of and approaches to fathers’ talk with their teens about sex and relationships in interviews with a diverse sample of 43 fathers of high school-aged adolescents from across the United States. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis. The results showed how fathers talked with their adolescent children about topics of sexual behavior, risks of sex, dating and relationships, as well as less studied areas of diverse sexual and gender identities and consent, and how these conversations differed with male and female teens.
Findings also showed that fathers took multiple approaches to talk about sex, including personal talk, talk about friends and family, and use of media and other distal contexts to start conversations. These findings show how fathers contribute to the sexual socialization of their adolescent children and suggest points of access for fathers who are unsure how to approach talk with their teens about sex and relationships.
This project was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21HD100807. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
