The Contribution of Parent-Adolescent Relationships to Adolescents’ Willingness to Seek Help for Sexual Behaviors

With the increase of adolescent involvement in sexual behaviors, situations may arise where this population needs help and guidance. The current study examined adolescents’ willingness to seek help from mothers and fathers regarding their sexual behaviors while focusing on family characteristics including parent-adolescent relationships, parental involvement, and family conservatism. The sample included 591 Israeli adolescents (306 boys and 285 girls) aged 14–18 years (M = 16.10, SD = 0.89). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire regarding their willingness to seek help for sexual behaviors, and family characteristics. Results suggest that the quality of mother-adolescent relationships was the major predictor for willingness to seek help among both adolescent girls and boys. However, the quality of father-adolescent relationships did not facilitate willingness to seek help among adolescent boys. In addition, parental involvement was associated with greater adolescent girls’ willingness to seek help while parental conservatism had no effect on adolescents’ willingness to seek help for sexual behaviors. Findings of this study highlight the importance of family characteristics in terms of adolescent willingness to seek help for sexual behaviors and particularly in relation to the role of parent-child relationships.