Parent Involvement, Family Environments and Adolescent Contraceptive Use and Condom Use

Jennifer Manlove, Child Trends
Lisa Mincieli, Harvard University
Emily Holcombe, Child Trends

An expanding research has found that family environments and parent-teen relationships are associated with adolescent sexual behaviors. However, fairly limited research has examined the association between family environments and contraceptive use or condom use among adolescents. The proposed paper examines the role of parent-teen relationship quality, parental monitoring/awareness and family routine activities; family structure and change; and family socioeconomic status on: condom use and contraceptive use at first sex, and condom and contraceptive consistency. We use longitudinal person-year data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to follow 12- to 14-year-olds until 2004. Preliminary analyses find the following factors are associated with condom and/or contraceptive use: positive teen-mother relationships, higher maternal monitoring, family routine activities, living with two biological parents, higher parental education, lower parent religious attendance, and more enriching environment. Further analyses will add interactions by gender of the teen and additional measures of father-teen relationships.