Open Dialogue: Parents Talk to Teens About Sex

Have you had the "talk" with your teen? If not, you are in the minority among American parents today. In the 2003 Gallup Youth Survey*, Gallup asked teen-agers (aged 13 to 17) whether their parents are talking to them about sex, or if they are leaving this discussion to their schools. It seems that most American parents are not leaving much up to chance. According to teens, a majority of parents, 63%, are talking to their teens about sex rather than leaving this important discussion to the schools to carry out. Thirty-six percent of American teens said their parents do not speak to them about sex and mostly leave it up to schools.

Parents across the country are taking on this difficult discussion with their teens. Interestingly, more than two-thirds (67%) of teens in the South -- an area of the country that is considered to be highly conservative on social issues -- report that their parents are talking to them about sex. This is a contrast to the Northeast -- an area thought to be more socially progressive -- in which only 55% of teens report that their parents talk to them about sex. (Teens in the West and Midwest, 63% and 62% in each region, respectively, report that their parents talk to them about sex.)

Parents appear to be talking about sex to their male and female adolescent children almost equally. Sixty-five percent (65%) of teen girls responded that yes, their parents are talking to them about sex and not leaving it to the schools to have this discussion, while 61% of teen boys polled gave this response.

It also appears that parents are not waiting until their teens are older to talk to them about sex. There is no statistical difference between the percentage of 13- to 15-year-olds who report that their parents talk to them about sex (62%) and the percentage of 16- to 17-year-olds who report this (64%).

Bottom Line

A majority of American parents are talking to their teens about sex and not leaving it up to the schools. While health officials, including former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, have frequently stressed the importance of sex education in the schools, such open dialogue between parents and children is also often cited as a key to reducing the number of unplanned teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among young people.

*The Gallup Youth Survey is conducted via an Internet methodology provided by Knowledge Networks, using an online research panel that is designed to be representative of the entire U.S. population. The current questionnaire was completed by 1,200 respondents, aged 13 to 17, between Jan. 23-Feb. 10, 2003. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3%. For a complete description of the sampling and weighting procedures used to conduct the survey, click here.