Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9994-0835

Date Available

8-8-2024

Year of Publication

2024

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Family Sciences (MSFS)

College

Agriculture

Department/School/Program

Family Sciences

Advisor

Alexander Vazsonyi

Co-Director of Graduate Studies

Henrietta Bada

Abstract

This present study aimed to test the relationship between perceived maternal-adolescent communication about sex and risky sexual behaviors, while also considering the links between perceived maternal-adolescent closeness and maternal-adolescent conflict with risky sexual behaviors, across three culturally distinct countries, namely the Czech Republic (N=878, mean age of 17.93), Spain (N =1024, mean age of 18.79), and Taiwan (N =1443, mean age of 16.48). Samples of adolescents from each country were used and statistical analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized relationships. Based on path analysis carried out on each sample, the results revealed that Czech adolescents reported the highest levels of risky sexual behaviors compared to Spanish and Taiwanese adolescents. Additionally, maternal-adolescent closeness was negatively associated with risky sexual behaviors across samples. However, maternal-adolescent communication about sex was unexpectedly positively associated with risky sexual behaviors in the Czech and Spanish samples, while no association was found in the Taiwanese sample. Study findings demonstrated the importance of maternal-adolescent closeness across cultures in potentially mitigating adolescent risky sexual behaviors, while also suggesting a potentially impactful role of cultural context on the relationship between maternal-adolescent communication about sex and adolescent risky sexual behaviors.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.320

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