Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of weighted selected characteristics of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican mothers
| Variables | Operationalization | Mean | SD | Range | p value p > |z| |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent variable | |||||
| Mother–child communication | Mother communicates about sexual health topics | 3.88 | 2.31 | 0–6 | |
| Independent variables | |||||
| Socio-demographic characteristics | |||||
| Mother’s age (?) | 20–39 years | 0.531 | – | 1–3 | 0.264 |
| 40–49 years | 0.285 | – | |||
| 50 or more years | 0.184 | – | |||
| Selected child’s age (+) | 10–11 | 0.263 | – | 1–3 | 0.002 |
| 12–15 | 0.412 | – | |||
| 16–19 | 0.325 | – | |||
| Selected child’s sex (+) | Male | 0.529 | – | 0–1 | 0.378 |
| Educational attainment (+) | No high school diploma | 0.438 | |||
| High school diploma or equivalence | 0.316 | – | 1–4 | 0.554 | |
| Some college | 0.173 | – | |||
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | 0.074 | – | |||
| English language (+) | Ability to carry on a conversation in English | 0.601 | – | 0–1 | 0.39 |
| Cultural norms | |||||
| Religiosídad (−) | Very important past and present religious experience | 4.89 | 1.34 | 1–6 | 0.413 |
| Familismo (±) | Strong commitment of children towards parents | 8.77 | 1.46 | 1–10 | 0.185 |
| Marianismo (±) | Communication of significant gender role norms for women | 2.10 | 1.20 | 0–4 | 0.000 |
| Social cognitive factors | |||||
| Self-efficacy (+) | Sense of comfort answering questions about sexual health | 4.22 | 1.26 | 1–5 | 0.190 |
| Outcome expectation (+) | Belief in a positive outcome of communication with child | 7.21 | 2.02 | 1–10 | 0.028 |
| Neighborhood conditions | |||||
| Physical deterioration (+) | Physical characteristics of the neighborhood | 4.88 | 1.93 | 1–9 | 0.000 |
| Sexual health problems (+) | Teen pregnancy and STI in neighborhood | 0.480 | – | 0–1 | 0.049 |
+ Hypothesized positive relationship, − Hypothesized positive relationship? Unknown ± hypothesized in both directions