Abstinence among female adolescents: do parents matter above and beyond the influence of peers?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether parental variables predict abstinence above and beyond the influence of peer variables in a sample of African American adolescent females (n = 568). In order to determine predictors of abstinence, hierarchical logistic regressions were conducted for the entire sample, the younger adolescent girls, and the older adolescent girls. Results indicated that for the total sample and older adolescents, both parental sexual attitudes and parent-adolescent relationship quality predicted abstinence after accounting for the variance associated with peer variables. For the younger girls, perceived parental attitudes were the only significant predictor. These findings suggest that adolescent sexual risk reduction interventions may benefit from including parents, stressing the importance of articulating parental sexual attitudes, and highlighting the significance of the parent-adolescent relationship.