Father 2 Son: The Impact of African American Father–Son Sexual Communication on African American Adolescent Sons’ Sexual Behaviors

Abstract

Parent–child sexual communication has been associated with reducing adolescent sexual risk behaviors. Limited research on parent–child sexual communication has been conducted on African American (AA) adolescent males who are at increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this research was to examine AA father–son sexual communication and the effect of contextual factors on the sexual risk behaviors. The final sample consisted of 96 AA adolescent males, ages 16–21 years. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the variables of interest (neighborhood characteristics, father–son closeness and connectedness, father–son communication, sexual permissiveness, condom attitudes, sexual risk behaviors). A path model was developed and tested. Results demonstrated that AA father–son closeness and connectedness were related to father–son communication. AA father–son communication was negatively related to sons’ permissiveness and positively related to condom attitudes. Sons’ permissiveness positively predicted their sexual risk behaviors. AA sons’ condom attitudes did not negatively or positively predict their sexual risk behaviors. The findings from this study demonstrate that AA father–son communication is an important factor in decreasing AA adolescent males’ sexual risk behaviors and HIV risk.