Using focus groups to understand mother-child communication about sex.

The purpose of this descriptive focus group study was to examine communication themes regarding sex and sexual risk behavior in low-income mothers of adolescent children. Focus group questions were guided by Jaccard's communication constructs. Data analysis provided three overriding themes in all five construct areas: mothers are often uncomfortable discussing sex with their male children, mothers feel strongly that their own values and beliefs must guide discussion, and mothers believe their children need developmentally appropriate information.

Changing times: the role of academe in health reform.

What is the role of nursing educators in the politics surrounding health reform? This critical question is posed, and exemplars of how nurse faculty can and should become more involved in the political arena are shared. The authors issue a call to action for every nurse educator in the country to become actively engaged in health reform discussions to bring this all-important perspective to the table. Recognizing and overcoming traditional roles and barriers for nurse faculty on university campuses are essential parts of the political activism that must be assumed.

Development of a Web-based program to improve communication about sex.

Adolescent sexual risk behavior is a serious and prevalent problem among American youth. Mothers may play a key role in discussing sex and sexual risk behavior with their adolescent children. However, mothers may lack the knowledge and skills to successfully communicate.

Factor analysis and psychometric properties of the Mother-Adolescent Sexual Communication (MASC) instrument for sexual risk behavior.

Sexual risk behavior is a public health problem among adolescents living at or below poverty level. Approximately 1 million pregnancies and 3 million cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are reported yearly. Parenting plays a significant role in adolescent behavior, with mother-adolescent sexual communication correlated with absent or delayed sexual behavior.

Maternal demandingness and responsiveness as predictors of adolescent abstinence.

This retrospective study examined two distinct parenting dimensions, demandingness and responsiveness, as independent predictors of adolescent sexual risk behavior. The data used to test study hypotheses were from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). In this sample of 2,030 adolescents and their mothers, maternal demandingness [odds ratio (OR)=0.

Stress, coping, and alcohol expectancies in rural African-American women.

African-American women report less alcohol and other drug (AOD) use compared with Caucasian women. However, health care professionals cannot afford to dismiss AOD use as a significant problem for some African-American women. Although we know much more about AOD problems in women in general, we still lack information on AOD disorders and associated factors among rural African-American women.

Racial differences in parenting dimensions and adolescent condom use at sexual debut.

Objectives: Parenting style may be a determinant in reducing adolescent risk behavior. Previous studies have relied on a typological parenting approach, with classification into four groups: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful. In this study, two distinct parenting dimensions, demandingness and responsiveness, were examined as independent predictors of adolescent condom use.

Mother-infant interactions of medically fragile infants and non-chronically ill premature infants.

At 6 months corrected for prematurity, 41 medically fragile prematures, 20 medically fragile full-terms, and 28 prematures without chronic illnesses were observed interacting with their mothers for 1 hr. Mothers of non-chronically ill prematures gestured to and touched their infants less, were uninvolved with them for a longer time, and spent less time interacting and looking at their infants than did mothers of medically fragile infants. Medically fragile full-terms slept more than the non-chronically ill prematures.