The Relationship Between Parent-child Communication on Sexuality and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Adolescents in Kasarani, Nairobi County

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between sexuality communication between adolescents and their parents and sexual risk behaviors among adolescents in Kasarani sub-county, Nairobi County. Adolescence is a period where human beings grow from a child to an adult and which prepares children to adulthood and relationship between a parent and child is one of the longest and most influential relationships in an individual’s life (McBride,1996). It is a period which is full of new discoveries and it also can be disorienting. It is at this stage where the young person comes up with a sense of independence and also having a self identity. This period from adolescent to adulthood comes with such issues as a feeling of independence and the need for self identity. It is at this stage in life that adolescents face tough choices regarding sexuality. Adolescents are vulnerable because of several reasons. According to Alan Gultmacher Institute, 2010, adolescents have scant knowledge on issues of HIV infection, sexual issues and how to use condom and this puts them at a risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases infection. Some strategies by the Government through the Ministry of Health have been put in place to give adolescents some skills and knowledge to prevent them from putting their health at risk. The strategies include counseling, education on sexual issues, some campaigns through the media and introduction of communication in the family about sexual matters. According to McBride, (1996), The communication between parents and their children on matters of sex is one of the most effective ways to reduce risky sexual behavior among adolescents. But in Kenya, most parents find it a challenge to answer a question on sexual matters from their adolescent children (Kirui, 2005). This study found that those parents who had communication with their adolescent children were found to engage themselves in healthy behaviors on sexuality issues whereas those failed to engage the adolescent children in communication on sexual issues were involved in risky sexual behavior.