Table 1.

Study Methods and Findings

Author & Year	Design	Sample/Sample Size	Measure/ Data Collection	Analysis	Main Findings	Quality Rating
Akers et al. (2010)	Cross-sectional interview	53 African American families in Pennsylvania (68 parents, 57 adolescents)	21 focus groups	Grounded theory approach to content analysis and constant comparison method	Contraceptive knowledge was low. Parents more often helped male adolescents get condoms than helping females get contraceptives.	N.A.
Bersamin et al. (2008)	One group pre, post-test	887 adolescents who had never had sex. Latinos (12%), African Americans (5%), Asians (including Native American and Pacific Islander, 9%), European Americans (67%), multiple ethnicity (3%), 34 unknown ethnicities (4%)	Computer AssistedSelf Interviews (CASIs) administered in the home. α range = .67 - .78	CFA; Logistic regressions	Greater communication with parents increased likelihood of youth initiating oral sex	9
Clawson & Reese-Weber (2003)	Cross-sectional survey	214 youth ages 18–21.White (82.2%), AfricanAmerican (9.3%), Hispanic (5.6%), and Asian American(1.9%)	Measure of Family Sexual Communication Scale. Also, sexual risk communication variables from CDC scale. α range = .88 - .91.	Hierarchical regressions	Increase in sexual initiation, frequency of intercourse, number of sexual partners. Decrease in unprotected sex	10
DiIorio, Lehr, Wasserman, Eichler, Cherry, & Denzmore (2006a)	Cross-sectional interview	14 African-American fathers of adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 14 years	Focus group;open-ended and semi-structured questions	Content analysis	African-American fathers place a high value on fatherhood and accept their roles as sex educators of their male children	N.A.
DiIorio, McCarty, & Denzmore, (2006b)	Randomized controlled trial	277 African American youth 11 and 14 years and their fathers, youth members of Boys & Girls Club of Atlanta	Sex-based communication measure consisting of16 sex-specific topics. α range = .83 −.97.	Mediation analyses	Effect of the intervention on father–son communication was mediated by differences in self-efficacy to talk about sex with son. Greater level sexual health communication and self-efficacy in intervention group than control group	4
Dilorio, McCarty, Resnicow, Lehr, & Denzmore (2007b)	Randomized controlled trial	277 fathers and their 11- to 14-year-oldadolescent sons Most participants were African American (97%)	Composed of a list of sex-specifictopics measured sex-based communicationbetween fathers and sons. Participantsresponded on a 0-to-3 rating scale. α range = .89 - .97.	Independent-sample t-tests and Chi-square tests	Decrease in sexual initiation, sexual intent, frequency of intercourse, unprotected sex. Increase in abstinence	4
DiIorio, McCarty, Denzmore, & Landis, (2007a)	One group pre- post-follow-up	425 African-American youth ages 12–15	A 25-item scale (DiIorio et al., 1999) was used to measure communication about sex (yes, no). α range = .87 - .91.	Linear and logistic regression	Girls who talked more with their mothers about sexual topics were less likely to be involved in intimate sexual behaviors and to have initiated sexual intercourse than those who discussed few sex topics with their mothers.	8
Gillmore et al. (2011)	Secondary data analysis longitudinal ADD Health data. Cohort pre- post-follow-up	10,131 participants; Wave 1 youth ages 13–19 in the U.S. and Wave 3 ages 19–27; African American (19.6%), Chinese American (1.6%), Mexican American (54.04%) and White (68.8%)	Parent–Child Communication About Sex. α range = .60 - .89.	Multinomial logisticregression	More frequent parent communication associated withincrease in frequency of intercourse. African American males greater condom use.	8
Guilamo-Ramos et al. (2007)	Cross-sectional survey	668 inner-city middle school students and their mothers.132 African American, 264 Dominican, 158 Puerto Rican, the remainder were Haitian, or from a different Latino subgroup.	Self-administered questionnaires. α = .85; also α not tested for other scale items.	Logistic regression or ordinary least squares regression	Boys reported higher intentions, more positive expectancies, and lower levels of maternal communication. 25% of the adolescents indicated openness to engaging in sexual behaviors. The more the youth perceived their mother talked with him/her about sex topic, the more the youth expected to refrain from sex with respect to that topic.	9
Guilamos-Ramos et al. (2011)	Randomized clinical trial	2,016 Latino and Black mother-adolescentdyads in New York City	Items structured to use a five-point agreement range. α not tested.	Logistic regression	FFT enhanced parenting practices. 79% of youth in the two FTT (parent-only groups) combined reported that their mothers had ever talked with them about not having sex, and 68% of youth in the MAD condition. FFT and MAD comparable in delaying initiation of sexual intercourse.	5
Hadley et al. (2009)	Cross-sectional survey	485 Adolescents 13–18 years; had ever had sex; had been in mental health treatment within the past year African-Americans 65%, but 9% were Latinos	Included youth sexual activity items; Parent and youth Miller Sexual Communication Scale. α = .86; others did test α.	Logistic regression	Greater open communication by parent associated with decrease in unprotected vaginal or anal sex	9
Malcolm et al. (2013)	Cross-sectional survey	171 Hispanic, Predominately male (73.1%) sexually active, problem behavior adolescents (mean age = 14.88 years)	Participants completed the assessment battery; taken from baseline assessments of two randomized clinical trials conducted. α range = .62 - .96.	Structuralequation modeling	Decrease in unprotected sex. Higher levels of parent–youth communication about sex directly and positively associated with condom use attitudes. Both condom attitudes and control beliefs directly and positively associated with condom use intentions. Increase in intentions to use condoms associated with an increase in condom use at last sexual intercourse.	9
Miller et al. (2011)	Randomized controlled trial	1115 African American parent-preadolescentdyads	Data were taken from a CDC RCT. α range = .76 - .94.	Wilcoxon rank sum tests	Decrease in unprotected sex. Increase in abstinence	4
Murry et al. (2011)	Clustered-randomizedcontrolled trial	332 families. African American mothersand their 11-year-old children at Wave 1 and follow-up at 17 years old at Wave 2;resided in nine rural counties in Georgia	Parent-Child Communication Scale, Racial Socialization Scale, three-item Black Pride scale, Risk Prototype Scale and several other measures. α range = .57 - .82	Structural Equation Modeling	Fewer youth at age 17 years had ever had sex, and those who had become sexually active reported fewer sexual encounters, and greater likelihood of using condoms during sexual encounters.	4
Nielsen et al. (2013)	Cross-sectional interviews	10 females from an undergraduatehealth sciences class at a large Midwestern university.Nine Caucasian, one “other”	Five-point Likert scale	Grounded Theory	Perceived good sexual educators themes: emotional closeness; comfort level during sexually specific conversations; degree of direct communication; humor; monitoring; belief that sexuality education for daughters is not solely a mother’s responsibility.	N.A.
O’Donnell et al. (2005)	Randomized controlled trial	846 families-mothers, fathers, daughters, sons.(64% were black and 29% were Hispanic) 83% aged 10–11 years. Of the 674 parents at baseline, 92% were female; 88% were mothers/ mother figures.	Point rated scale items regarding pubertal changes, sexual abstinence, risk behaviors, and peer and media influences. α range = .68 −.96.	Multivariate logistic andlinear regression	Parents in intervention had more communication with youth about risk behaviors, had greater self-efficacy to discuss puberty and sexuality, and more likely to perceive influence over youths’ behaviors than controls. Youths in the intervention had higher family support, more family rules and fewer behavioral risks than controls.	4
Ohalete et al. (2010)	Cross-sectional ethnographicstudy	19 African-American fathers	Tape-recorded individual interviews	Manifest and latent content analysis	Fathers reported talking with youth morality, sexuality, sexual health, early parenthood and relationships. Fathers began conversations before adolescence and felt it was equally important to have reproductive health communication with sons and daughters. Fathers more comfortable talking with sons than daughters.	N.A.
Villarruel et al. (2008)	Randomized controlled trial	791 Mexican parents	5–point Likert–typescales. α range = .59 - .94.	Generalizedestimation equation	Greater parent communication about sexual risk in intervention group than control group	4
Villarruel et al. (2010)	Randomized controlled trial	130 parents and 130 Latino adolescents	4- or 5-pointLikert-type scales. α range = .67 - .96.	Analysis of covariance	Parents in brief computer-based intervention had greater sexual communication and greater comfort discussing sex with youth. Youth of intervention parents had greater sexual communication	4
Wilson & Dalberth, & Koo (2010)	Cross-sectional interview	131 Parents of youth aged 10–12. Blacks, whites, English-speaking Hispanics, and Spanish-speaking Hispanics	Focus group	Content analysis	Fathers are more likely than mothers to leave communication about sex to the other parent, but better suited to address certain topics (e.g., male puberty, but not menstruation). Fathers are less likely than mothers to advise delaying sex until marriage.	N.A.
Wilson & Koo (2010)	Randomized controlledexperiment	829 fathers and 1,113 mothers of children aged 10 to 14. Predominantly white	Selected items from 8 measures of communication about sex. α not reported for any measures.	Chi-square test	Parents of daughters talked more about sexual topics, were more concerned about potential harmful consequences of sexual activity, and were more disapproving of their child having sex at an early age.	6
Wyckoff et al. (2008)	Secondary data analysis of Parents Matter! One group pre- post- follow-up	135 African-American mothers, fathers, and their 9–12-year-old youth	10-item measure of communication about risk factors for sexual activity, sexual communication, and sexual risk prevention. α not reported for any measures. α not reported for any measures.	Chi-square test	Abstinence was not discussed by majority of sons with either parent. Father-daughter dyads did not discuss abstinence, puberty, reproduction, and sex. Condoms were not discussed by majority of participants. Few preadolescents reported discussing HIV/ AIDS with their parents, though a majority of parents reported discussing the topic with their youth.	9
Yang et al. (2007)	One group pre- post- follow-up	817 African-American adolescents andtheir parents	The Youth Health Risk Behavioral Inventory. α range = .73 - .95.	Logistic general estimating equation models	Parental monitoring had protective effects on risky behavior over two-years. Increase in abstinence in girls. Increase in sex for youth who perceived problem communication with parents. Sex remained stable for youth perceiving less problem communication with parents.	8