Predicting Mother–Adolescent Sexual Communication Using the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction

Abstract

Guided by the integrative model of behavioral prediction, we examined factors associated with more extensive mother–adolescent sexual communication. Participants were 303 mothers of young adolescents who completed a survey assessing their skills, attitudes about the outcomes of sexual health discussions, perceptions of social norms, self-efficacy, and sexual communication intentions at baseline (Time 1) and the extent of their sexual communication with their adolescent 6 months later (Time 2). A path analysis showed that, after accounting for the correlations among the four predictors and sexual communication at Time 1, intentions mediated the relationships between mothers’ skills, attitudes, and self-efficacy and the extent of their sexual communication with their adolescent. Attitudes also were related directly to mothers’ sexual communication. These results provide support for the utility of the integrative model of behavioral prediction for identifying parent characteristics that are related to more extensive parent–adolescent sexual communication and one mechanism by which these relationships may occur.