Aronowitz Teri, Agbeshie Ethel
College of Nursing & Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts 02125-3393, USA.
Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs. 2012;35(2):75-89. doi: 10.3109/01460862.2012.678260.
Within the female population between the ages of 13 and 19, African Americans (AA) made up 70% of the cases of HIV seroconversionwithin the US in 2006. In light of this health disparity, prevention strategies should begin prior to age 13. The primary sex educator in families is the mother. Examining how mothers communicate with their daughters about sex and how their daughters respond could help healthcare professionals develop interventions to decrease this population's sexual risk.
This qualitative study explored what AA mothers say to their daughters about sex, in what context the discussions occur, and how the daughters respond to their mothers' messages.
Forty-two mother-daughter dyads were recruited from 4 inner-city community centers. Seven separate groups were conducted with mothers and daughters (ages 11-14) using focus group methodology and principles of Participatory Action Research.
Four codes emerged from the data, reflecting both verbal and nonverbal sexual communication. These were: level of disclosure; mixed messages; emotional tone; and knowing.
Both becoming less reactive and more knowledgeable about her daughter's information processing may facilitat mother to create an environment that provide a positive emotional tone. This can then lead to increasing the daughter's comfort in initiatin a conversation with her mother about her intimate feelings and experiences.
Findings from this study could assist in developing interventions geared towards open sexual communication with the goal of delaying sexual debut.
在13至19岁的女性人群中，非裔美国人（AA）占2006年美国HIV血清转化病例的70%。鉴于这种健康差异，预防策略应在13岁之前开始。家庭中的主要性教育者是母亲。研究母亲如何与女儿谈论性以及女儿如何回应，有助于医疗保健专业人员制定干预措施，以降低该人群的性风险。
这项定性研究探讨了非裔美国母亲对女儿说了哪些关于性的内容、讨论发生在何种背景下以及女儿如何回应母亲的信息。
从4个市中心社区中心招募了42对母女。使用焦点小组方法和参与式行动研究原则，对母亲和女儿（11 - 14岁）进行了7个独立的小组讨论。
数据中出现了4个编码，反映了言语和非言语的性交流。这些编码是：披露程度；混合信息；情感基调；以及了解情况。
母亲对女儿的信息处理变得反应性降低且知识更丰富，可能有助于母亲营造一个提供积极情感基调的环境。这进而可以使女儿在与母亲开启关于其私密感受和经历的对话时更加自在。
本研究的结果有助于制定旨在进行开放性性交流以推迟首次性行为的干预措施。
