Lizzy Ward

Rates of adolescent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies in the U.S. are alarmingly high, likely due to the overreliance on abstinence-based sex education in schools. Consequently, parent-adolescent sexual communication (PASC) is more important than ever. However, parents frequently cite the lack of knowledge and confidence as a barrier to meaningful PASC. Thus, this research explored this barrier via a novel application of the Implicit Theories framework–Implicit Theories of Sexual Knowledge (ITSK; the extent to which individuals believe that sexual knowledge is innate or whether it can be learned). Thus, this two-study research program applied ITSK to predict and explain the frequency, comfort, and quality of PASC. The results from 331 parents in Study One indicated that those believing that sexual knowledge is learned (incremental theorists) reported engaging in more frequent PASC (r = 0.24) and sharing higher quality information (r = 0.15) as compared to those believing that sexual knowledge is inherent (entity theorists). Study Two explored the causal relationship between ITSK and anticipated PASC frequency, comfort, and quality. The results from 176 parents indicated that those primed to adopt incremental theories anticipated engaging in higher quality PASC (M = 7.41, SD = 1.99) than did those primed to adopt entity theories (M = 6.72, SD = 2.01). Taken together, these results suggest that parents’ beliefs regarding the malleability of sexual knowledge (i.e., ITSK) can affect the quality of information shared with their adolescent children. Implications for educators and practitioners will be discussed.