Teens who bond with mom less likely to have sex

Jet, Sept 30, 2002

When it comes to keeping kids from having sex at an early age, apparently mother knows best.

Teenagers are less likely to lose their virginity when their mothers are involved in their lives, have close relationships with them and communicate their values on sex to them, according to the findings of a large-scale survey of adolescents and their moms.

"We need to be more tuned in to what's happening in our children's lives," said study author Dr. Robert Blum, professor and director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Adolescent Health and Development. "Otherwise, how can we give them clear, effective messages about how to deal with the choices they will inevitably face?"

The recent findings, which appear in the Journal of Adolescent Health, draw from interviews with thousands of mothers and their teens as part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a massive federal investigation of health-related behaviors of teens in the United States.

To determine what made the difference between teens who became sexually active and those who stayed virgins, University of Minnesota researchers examined interviews with 2,006 teens ages 14-15 who said they were virgins and their mothers. The teens were interviewed a year later, and 10.8 percent of the boys and 15.8 percent of the girls reported that they had sex.

However, the study found that the mothers of the teens who remained virgins shared several qualities:

* They strongly disapprove of their teens having sex--and make their views clear to sons and daughters.

* They have a close relationship with their children, and their teens considered them to be warm and caring.

* Mothers of virgin daughters are more likely to have higher levels of education, and frequently talk with the parents of their daughters' friends.

Other factors made no difference in teen sex, including how religious the mothers were, how often they talked about sex, how uncomfortable they were talking about sex and whether they recommended that their teens use a specific kind of birth control.

While teens whose mothers talk to them about sex are less likely to have it, researchers note that simply warning teens about the dangers of early sex or telling them they should not have sex does not stop them from becoming sexually active.

"Parents say they talk until they're blue in the face and their kids still don't listen," Blum said. "Kids will pay attention to their parents' values on sex. But talk alone does not get the message through."