Contact Name
Barbara Dietsch
562-985-9488

Contact Email
bdietsc@WestEd.org

Lois Salisbury, J.D.
President
CHILDREN NOW

New National Survey Finds Kids In Families Who Talk Openly About Sex and Relationships More Likely to Say Would Turn to Parent First if Faced with Crisis

A recent survey of parents and kids finds that many families are still waiting too long and not talking enough when it comes to what their kids say they need to know. This survey was conducted as part of Talking With Kids About Tough Issues, a national campaign to support parents by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a national independent health care philanthropy (not associated with Kaiser Permanente), and Children Now, a non-partisan voice for America's children. The campaign encourages parents to talk with their kids earlier and more often about difficult topics such as sex, AIDS, violence, alcohol and drugs.

What may surprise many parents is that the issues they are not talking about-as well as even some they feel they have already talked about-are what their kids want to know more about. High on a list of topics 10 - 12 year olds say they personally want more information about are:

• How to protect against HIV/AIDS (50% of kids want more information);
  
• What to do if someone brings a gun to school (50% of kids want more information);
  
• How to handle pressure to have sex (44% of kids want more information);
  
• How to know when you are ready to have sex (43% of kids want more information); and
  
• How alcohol and drugs might affect decisions to have sex (43% of kids want more information).

When parents initiate conversations with their children, the subject matter usually covers topics their own parents never imagined. What experts suggest is that parents have more than one conversation with their children about these issues. At least three out of four parents of 10 - 12 year olds say they have talked with their pre-teen about drugs or alcohol (90%); violence (85%); drinking and driving (82%); AIDS (78%); and how girls get pregnant (73%).

However, many parents of 10 - 12 year olds are steering clear of some of the more difficult conversations about sex, including:

• How to handle peer pressure to have sex (46% of parents have not discussed);
  
• How to know when you are ready to have sex (50% of parents have not discussed);
  
• How alcohol and drugs might affect decisions to have sex (46% of parents have not discussed); and
  
• How to prevent pregnancy and STDs (62% of parents have not discussed).

Experts say that kids benefit when their parents talk early and often with them about "tough issues." For the 57% of parents of 10 - 15 year olds who have talked openly with their children about sex, including relationships and becoming sexually active, there is some encouraging news.

The survey found their kids were more likely than those whose parents had not talked with them to report going first to a parent ...

• If they were dealing with pressure to have sex (72% of 10 - 15 year olds who talked with their parents versus 57% who did not);
  
• If they were thinking about having sex (67% of 10 - 15 year olds who talked with their parents versus 51% who did not); and
  
• If they were worried about being or having gotten someone pregnant (66% of 13 - 15 year olds who talked with their parents versus 49% who did not).

According to the survey, pre-teens name their mothers as one of their top information sources when it comes to sex, AIDS, violence, drugs and alcohol. But, even among 10 - 12 year olds, television/movies are already tied with moms and schools/teachers as a place where kids say they get "a lot" of their information (all named by 38%). Fathers come in a close second (34%). When kids enter the teen years, the competition heats up with friends (64%) and television/movies (61%) becoming much more dominant influences in their lives. Schools and teachers rank third (44%) and mothers are fifth (38%), just below the Internet (39%).

The campaign provides direct assistance to parents with free booklets and other resources that are available by calling 1-800-CHILD 44, or online at www.talkingwithkids.org. A new series of public service messages encouraging family talks, produced by J. Walter Thompson New York under an Advertising Council initiative, are also available online.

Methodology

The Kaiser Family Foundation/Children Now Talking With Kids About Tough Issues: A National Survey of Parents and Kids is a random-sample telephone survey of 880 parents of children age 6 - 15 and of 348 children age 10 - 15. it was designed by staff at the Foundation, Children Now, and Princeton Survey Research Associates (PSRA) and conducted by PSRA between September 15 and October 13, 1998.