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Article Title: Household Sexual Communication Dynamics and Adolescent Sexual Health: Implications for Emerging Interventions in Ondo State, Nigeria
by Olusanya, O.O., Alowolodu, O.O. And Olusanya, O.A

Abstract:
Adolescents' sexual health has become a global public health concern especially in the developing countries. Undoubtedly, parent-child communication remains a vital means by which parents transmit cultural values and monitor the sexual health of their children. Since the extent and the quality of the manner in which parents are involved in their children�s lives are critical factors in the prevention of sexual risk-taking behavior among adolescents. This paper investigated the knowledge and attitude of parents towards sexuality discussion among the triads of parents and their adolescent children and the implications for adolescents� sexual health in Ondo state, Nigeria. The study elicited information from 483respondents comprising fathers, mothers and their adolescents; through a multi-stage sampling technique. The study found that most respondents, 95.7% of fathers, 92.5% of mothers and 88.2% of adolescents, had high knowledge of sexuality education. The majority, 62.1% and 69.6% of fathers and mothers respectively, had positive attitude to parent-child discussion sexual issues, however most adolescents (98.8%) had negative attitude to such discussion. Parent-child sexual discussion was significantly associated with parents� gender (?2=11.79), mothers� educational status (?2=40.14) and fathers� occupation (?2= 18.62).In addition, majority, 70.2% of adolescents have intentions that predisposed them to early sexual initiation and a sizeable number 39.1% read literatures that are sexually stimulating. Parental supervision is poor and parents still have inhibitions discussing sex-related issues with adolescents despite positive attitude towards it. Lastly, most adolescents have to grapple with social sexual pressures. Emerging interventions by all stakeholders need to focus on repositioning parents for early positive parent-child family conversations on sex-related issues as a strategy for raising sexually healthy adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents, Parent-child, Sexual discussion, Sexual issues and Ondo State

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