Influence of Parent-Adolescent Direct and Indirect Communication About Sexuality on Adolescents’ Early Sexual Activity

Communication between parents and adolescents is important, especially concerning sexuality because it affects adolescent’s identity formation and role taking. When parents give limited information to their adolescents about sex, the adolescents are unable to cope with socio-psychological and physiological changes that come up at puberty. Approximately 50% to 70% of adolescents are sexually active between the ages of 13 to 17 years and almost 90% by the age of 18 years. This early sexual activity puts adolescents at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies as they do not have sufficient information on sexuality. The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of parent-adolescent communication about sexuality on early sexual activity among Form Two students in Rongai Sub - County, Nakuru County, Kenya. The research was guided by the social learning theory and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). The study used descriptive survey research design. The study was conducted in Rongai Sub - County, Nakuru County. Rongai Sub- County has 65 secondary schools in four divisions with a total of 4,414 Form Two students. Proportionate, purposive, stratified and random sampling techniques were used to select participants. From a population of 4,414, a sample of 351 students participated in the study. Data were collected using questionnaires and Focus Group Discussion. Experts from the Department of Psychology, Counselling and Educational Foundations were consulted to assess the face validity of the instruments. The reliability was determined by conducting a pilot study in Secondary schools at Njoro Sub-County. The reliability of the questionnaires was estimated using Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient where any value above 0.70 was accepted. For this study, reliability coefficient test yielded an alpha value of 0.85, which was further triangulated using multiple sources of data on study phenomenon. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (Means, Percentages and Frequencies) and inferential (Chi square) statistics with the help of the latest statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. The findings indicated that majority of the adolescents (72%) 234 had received communication from their parents/guardians about early sexual activity while (28%) 76 had not received communication regarding early sexual activity. The findings of the study revealed that there existed a significant relationship between the parent communication and early sexual activity among the adolescent (r = 0.271, p=.000, p<0.05). The positive correlation between communication and sexual activity suggested that that the higher the parental communication and guidance and counseling the lesser the involvement on early sexual activity. This study found out that majority of parents used direct methods when communicating with their adolescents. This study established that most of the parent-adolescent communication on sexuality was based on physical changes, personal hygiene, abstinence, abortion, and saying “no” to forced sex. Majority (72%) 224 of the adolescent occasionally discussed early sexual matter with their parents thus many cases of early sexual activity, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. From the Focus group discussion, many parents expressed discomfort discussing sexual topics/activity with adolescents. Parents were protective of their girls than the boys when discussing issues on sexuality. These findings are expected to be useful in assisting all stakeholders to come up with intervention programs that may assist adolescents deal with early sexual activity in schools and society. Keywords: Adolescent, Parent, Indirect Communication, Sexuality, Early Sexual Activity DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-20-01 Publication date:July 31st 202