Journal of Adolescent Research, Ahead of Print.
Although there is a rich literature on parents’ discussion of sexual behavior broadly, little is known regarding how parents communicate to adolescents about pornography and experiences of peer sexual harassment. This knowledge is particularly crucial as parental communication is an important part of adolescents’ sexual socialization. In the current study we sought to investigate adolescents’ perception of parental communication about pornography and sexual harassment, through a mixed methods approach. The current study consisted of recent high school graduates (N = 247; 78.9% adolescent women, 17.4% adolescent men) currently in their first semester of college (Mage = 19.16, Modeage = 18). Results suggested that viewing pornography and experiencing sexual harassment was common. However, qualitative content analyses suggest that conversations with caregivers about these topics are not common. When these conversations did occur, the content often reflected heteronormative ideals and sexual double standards. Our findings suggest that parents’ messages may be perpetuating gender norms and stereotypes that minimize the harm of sexual violence (including harassment) as well as promote victim blaming and the sexual double standard. Therefore, parents may be a key target that violence prevention groups should consider focusing on when aiming to reduce harmful gender norms predictive of sexual harassment.