Perceived parental communicator style and subsequent behavior : an exploratory study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived parental sexual communicator style and adolescent sexual behavior and information accuracy. Slightly revised versions of Norton's Communicator Style Measure, Jorgensen and Sonstegard's Sexual and Contraceptive Behavior Inventory, and the Miller-Fisk Sexual Knowledge Inventory examined 234 college students' perceptions of parental sexual communicator style and self-reports of sexual behavior and knowledge. The study also investigated the extent to which gender of the subject and gender of the primary source of sexual information (parent) impacted sexual behavior. Lastly, the study tested the impact of perceived parental communicator style on sexual activity and contraceptive use across three time frames: Junior High School, High School, and College.Pearson product-moment correlations revealed significant relationships between some perceived parental sexual communicator styles and sexual activity, contraceptive use, and sexual knowledge accuracy. Utilization of t-tests revealed significant difference only of parent-adolescent sexual between gender of the subject and sexual knowledge accuracy--female subjects reported a higher level of sexual knowledge than males. It was recommended that research be continued in the area communication.Department of Speech CommunicationThesis (M.A.