Repeated exposure to media messages encouraging parent-child communication about sex: differential trajectories for mothers and fathers.

Purpose: To examine changes in parent-child communication related to sexual behavior after exposure to public health messages.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial that was part of precampaign message testing.

Setting: Exposure occurred online or through DVDs mailed to participants and viewed on their personal computers. Data collection occurred via a secure Web site.

Patients: Participants included parents (n  =  1969) living with a child age 10 to 14 years drawn from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households.

Intervention: Treatment participants were exposed to video, audio, and print advertisements that promoted the benefits of speaking to their children early and often about delaying initiation of sexual activity; messages also directed parents to an informational Web site.

Measures: The dependent variable assessed frequency of parent-child communication related to sexual behavior. The primary independent variable was treatment assignment.

Analysis: Longitudinal growth modeling that included five waves of data.

Results: The trajectory of growth over time differed between fathers in the treatment group and fathers in the control group (F[1, 2357]  =  4.15; p < .042), indicating more frequent communication among treatment fathers than among control fathers. Trajectories did not differ between mothers in treatment and control groups.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that father-child and mother-child communication patterns differ over time in response to public health messages. Findings have implication for researchers developing health marketing campaigns.