Table 2.
Parental attitudes and guidance according to respondent’s virginity status and gravidity, from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, wave I. Values are numbers (percentages)
| Variables | Virgins | Non-virgins | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No pregnancy | Pregnancy | No pregnancy | Pregnancy | ||
| Women | 146 (2.5) | 45 (0.5) | 2319 (30.7) | 5116 (63.8) | |
| Parent feels (s)he does not know enough to discuss sex/birth control with child***: | |||||
| Strongly agree | 3 (0.5) | 4 (11.9) | 35 (1.1) | 104 (2.1) | |
| Agree | 4 (1.2) | 5 (11.3) | 79 (2.8) | 195 (3.1) | |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 6 (5.6) | 5 (9.7) | 78 (3.3) | 197 (3.7) | |
| Disagree | 41 (43.4) | 14 (23.8) | 721 (32.0) | 1605 (31.5) | |
| Strongly disagree | 76 (43.2) | 10 (26.9) | 1136 (51.7) | 2239 (46.0) | |
| Don’t know/refused/missing | 16 (6.0) | 7(16.4) | 270 (9.1) | 776 (13.6) | |
| Parent would find it difficult to discuss sex/birth control with child*: | |||||
| Strongly agree | — (<0.1) | 5 (12.2) | 27 (1.0) | 73 (1.4) | |
| Agree | 8 (9.1) | — (5.5) | 129 (7.2) | 246 (4.2) | |
| Neither agree nor disagree | — (4.0) | — (4.8) | 91 (4.2) | 172 (3.1) | |
| Disagree | 58 (42.0) | 16 (25.8) | 870 (37.8) | 1859 (37.1) | |
| Strongly disagree | 60 (38.3) | 12 (35.3) | 934 (40.9) | 1985 (40.6) | |
| Don’t know/refused/missing | 17 (6.5) | 7 (16.4) | 268 (9.0) | 781 (13.7) | |
| Parent feels child would be embarrassed if parent discussed sex/birth control with them***: | |||||
| Strongly agree | 3 (2.4) | 5 (11.5) | 53 (2.5) | 120 (2.3) | |
| Agree | 19 (27.8) | 3 (5.8) | 334 (14.7) | 566 (11.1) | |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 8 (6.1) | 3 (10.7) | 200 (9.6) | 322 (6.7) | |
| Disagree | 54 (32.3) | 16 (28.2) | 809 (34.9) | 1703 (33.0) | |
| Strongly disagree | 45 (25.1) | 11 (27.5) | 656 (29.3) | 1622 (33.1) | |
| Don’t know/refused/missing | 17 (6.3) | 7 (16.4) | 267 (9.0) | 783 (13.7) | |
| How much has the parent talked with the child about sex?***: | |||||
| Not at all | 11 (11.2) | 5 (15.5) | 134 (6.6) | 248 (4.9) | |
| Somewhat | 36 (23.1) | 7 (15.0) | 512 (24.4) | 752 (14.5) | |
| A moderate amount | 50 (33.0) | 12 (16.3) | 775 (32.9) | 1366 (27.7) | |
| A great deal | 32 (26.5) | 14 (36.7) | 613 (26.3) | 1933 (38.3) | |
| Don’t know/refused/missing | 17 (6.1) | 7 (16.4) | 285 (9.8) | 817 (14.5) | |
Percentages calculated using survey weights to allow population representative inference. Dash indicates cell size was too small to be displayed. Data from 244 “born again virgins” who reported sex in an early wave but later recanted are not shown.
*P<0.05.
***P<0.001 using ANOVA for continuous variables and Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables.