Family background characteristics and parent-adolescent communication on sexuality: the case of Nairobi
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to establish the association between fami ly
background characteristics and the flow of information on sex related matters from
parents to their adolescent offspring with special reference to the city of Nairobi. The
family background characteristics examined were broadly classified into socio-economic,
demographic and control factors. The socio-economic and control factors were measured
by parents' educational attainment and parental power base (locus of household
authority) respectively while demographic factors included sex of the parent in the
household, number of siblings, premarital pregnancy status of the mother, a daughter's
premarital pregnancy status and a son's involvement in premarital pregnancy.
The required data was obtained from a sample of 200 high school students aged 15-19
years within Nairobi province, Kenya, by means of self-administered semi-structured
questionnaires. Frequency tables and bar graphs are used to display the results. The Chisquare
tests are also performed to reveal the significance of the associations between the
examined variables.
Only the sex of the parent in the household as well as premarital pregnancy status of the
mother and a daughter in the family is found to be significantly associated with parent adolescent
communication on sexuality. It is therefore concluded that some socioeconomic
and demographic factors -within the family environment influence parent adolescent
communication on sexuality. On the basis of the study findings, it is
recommended that interventions Oft parent-adolescent communication on sex related
matters should emphasis structures that promote .marital stability as well as sensitizing
parents with high formal educational attainment on the need to be open with their
adolescent children on matters related to sex.
Citation
A project presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree in master of arts in population studies, university of NairobiPublisher
Department of Population Studies & Research Institute, University of Nairobi