Do Family and Parenting Factors in Adolescence Influence Condom Use in Early Adulthood in a Multiethnic Sample of Young Adults?

Studies show that positive family factors help protect adolescents from engaging in risky sexual activities, but do they continue
to protect adolescents as they transition to late adolescence/early adulthood? Using data from the National Longitudinal Study
of Adolescent Health, we examined whether family support, parent–child closeness, parental control/monitoring of adolescent
behaviors and parent–child communication about sex, assessed in adolescence, were related to condom use in late adolescence/early
adulthood among African American (n = 1,986), Chinese American (n = 163), Mexican American (n = 1,011) and White (n = 6,971) youth. Controlling for demographic variables and number of sex partners, the results showed that family support
was positively related and parent–child communication was negatively related to condom use for the sample as a whole and for
the white sample, but not for the other groups. Parent–child communication about sex and parental control were negatively
related to condom use in the Chinese American sample. None of the family factors was related to condom use in the African
American or Mexican American samples. Overall, parents talked more with daughters than sons about sexual matters. Condom use
was most common among African Americans and among males. Greater attention to cultural expectations regarding sex and gender
roles, as well as the causal ordering of effects, are important directions for future research.