Psychology

Time for "the talk"...now what? Autonomy support and structure in mother-daughter conversations about sex

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This study explored how mothers communicated with their young adolescent daughters about the high-stakes topic of sex, as well as more everyday topics, from a Self-Determination Theory perspective. Mothers and their 11- to 14-year-old daughters (44 dyads) participated in two conversations and reported on their experiences. In the everyday conversation, maternal autonomy support was positively related to daughters' experience, engagement, and desire for additional conversations. In the sex conversation, maternal structure was positively associated with daughters' engagement, experience, and desire for additional conversations. Mothers were less autonomy supportive in conversations about sex, as compared to everyday topics. Maternal perceptions of threat were associated with less autonomy support in both conversations and worry during the conversation was negatively associated with autonomy support in the everyday conversation, and with structure in the sex conversation. Implications for intervention are discussed. © The Author(s) 2012.

Publication Title

Journal of Early Adolescence

Publication Date

2013

Volume

33

Issue

4

First Page

458

Last Page

481

ISSN

0272-4316

DOI

10.1177/0272431612449385

Keywords

adolescent sexuality, maternal autonomy support, mother-child conversations

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