Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Ghana School of Public Health, Legon, Ghana.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2013 Sep 26;13:40. doi: 10.1186/1472-698X-13-40.
Adolescents and parents' differ in their perceptions regarding engaging in sexual activity and protecting themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The views of adolescents and parents from two south-eastern communities in Ghana regarding best time for sex and sexual communications were examined.
Focus Group interviews were conducted with parents and adolescents (both In-school and Out-of school) from two communities (Somanya and Adidome) in the Eastern and Volta regions of Ghana with epidemiological differentials in HIV infection.
Findings showed parents and adolescents agree that the best timing for sexual activity amongst adolescents is determined by socioeconomic viability. In practice however, there were tensions between adolescents and parents crystallized by spoilt generation and physiological drive ideologies. Whilst one community relied on a more communal approach in controlling their children; the other relied on a confrontational approach. Sex-talk is examined as a measure to reduce these tensions, and children in both communities were ambivalent over sexual communication between their parents and themselves. Parents from the two communities however differed in their perceptions. Whilst parents in one community attributed reduced teenage pregnancies to sex education, those in the other community indicated a generalized adolescents' sexual activeness manifested in the perceived widespread delinquency in the community.
Parents in both communities reported significant barriers to parents-adolescents sexual communication. Parents in both communities should be educated to discuss the broader issues on sexuality that affects adolescents and their reproductive health needs.
青少年和家长在参与性行为以及保护自己免受怀孕和性传播感染（STIs）方面的看法存在差异。本文研究了加纳两个东南部社区的青少年和家长对最佳性行为时间和性沟通的看法。
在加纳东部和沃尔特地区的两个社区（Somanya 和 Adidome），对家长和青少年（包括在校和不在校的青少年）进行了焦点小组访谈，这些社区在 HIV 感染方面存在流行病学差异。
研究结果表明，家长和青少年都认为青少年最佳的性行为时间取决于社会经济可行性。然而，在实践中，由于两代人之间的冲突，青少年和家长之间存在紧张关系，这种冲突表现为被宠坏的一代和生理驱动的意识形态。一个社区依赖于更具社区性的方式来控制他们的孩子，而另一个社区则依赖于对抗性的方式。性教育被视为减少这些紧张关系的一种措施，但两个社区的孩子对父母和自己之间的性沟通都持矛盾态度。然而，两个社区的家长在观念上存在差异。一个社区的家长将青少年怀孕率的降低归因于性教育，而另一个社区的家长则表示，青少年普遍的性行为活跃，表现为社区中普遍存在的犯罪行为。
两个社区的家长都报告了父母与青少年性沟通的重大障碍。两个社区的家长都应该接受教育，讨论影响青少年及其生殖健康需求的更广泛的性问题。
