Enhancing parent-child sex communication using mobile phone text message intervention.

摘要

This study sought to examine the efficacy of a mobile-phone text intervention to promote parent-child sex communication among mother-child pairs using secondary data. A total of 51 African-American and Latino mother-child pairs were recruited from the Southern California area. At baseline, the adolescents completed an assessment to measure parent-child sex communication across four broad areas (limiting sexual behavior to abstinence, limiting sexual behavior to pre-coital activities, personal information, and specific sexual behavior). Over the six-month period, the children received one text-message per week and two messages at the end of each month of the intervention phase for a total of 30 text-messages. There was an increase in individual topics discussed about sex after the text message intervention for both African American and Latino adolescents. There were no significant differences between adolescents' concerns about sex communication with their mothers before and after intervention. Overall text message intervention seems to be effective in increasing parent-child sex communication.