How parents describe their responsibility for sexual socialization of their teenage children is explored in this article. This analysis relies upon intensive interview data with black and white mothers and fathers from a larger qualitative study of intergenerational patterns of sexual communication. It was possible to identify four different patterns that couples used to divide responsibility for this aspect of parenting. Additionally, four distinctive styles of interparent communication about their teens were identified. Implications of these patterns for teen sexual socialization were drawn.
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