If
parents establish rules and maintain tabs on their teens, those kids are more
likely to use more caution about sex, according to a new analysis.
Vincent
Guilamo-Ramos, the co-director of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family
Health at NYU, co-authored the study. Guilamo-Ramos wrote that parents have a
lot of influence. They matter.
The
issue the study examined was how parents can convince their kids to engage less
in sexual activity, particularly unprotected sex.
According
to the authors, statistics show that hundreds of thousands of teens in the
United states get pregnant every year. More than 75 percent of those are not
planned pregnancies. Sexually transmitted infections pose another risk. In
2012, research shows individuals between ages 20 and 24 had the highest rate
for contracting infections with HIV, which causes AIDS.
In
this new report, researchers examined the combined results of 30 studies
worldwide. All studies were completed between 1984 and 2014 and they analyzed
the effects of parenting techniques and activities, like setting rules for
children or knowing what kids are doing. The goal of all the studies was to
understand whether kids whose parents were more watchful were more likely to
abstain from sexual activities or use contraception when they do.
Based
on the findings, kids whose parents were more watchful waited longer to have
sex; they had sex later in life. These kids and young adults were also more
likely to use some form of contraception, like condoms and other birth control.
However, making rules and being watchful parents didn’t seem to affect this.
When
kids are engaging in sexual activity, it is more important to have a good
relationship and good communication than it is to set clear rules, according to
the researchers.
The
study designs did not allow researchers to determine whether the relationship
was an association or causation.
Other
factors, though, could explain the connections. For example, kids who do not
typically engage in risky behaviors are also more likely to have good
relationships and communicate with their parents.
The
findings of this analysis offer parents a green light to parenting and setting
rules.
They
can also model appropriate behavior, communicate with their kids, and keep an
eye on their kids’ activities.