CORRELATES OF PARENT-CHILD CONNECTEDNESS AND PREMARITAL SEXUAL BEHAVIORS AMONG CHILDREN RAISED BY BIOLOGICAL PARENTS

CRISANTO L. GALAY JR.
MA Demography (March 2010)
Population Institute

This thesis examines the areas where parent-child connectedness (PCC) has significant influence on premarital sexual behaviors (PMS) of young people ages 15 to 27 raised by both parents before they reach age 15 using 2002 Young Adult Fertility Sexuality Study (YAFS3) cross-sectional survey data (Sample size total=16, 429). PMS in this study is classified into no experience, kissing/petting and sexual intercourse. Parent child connectedness factors were derived from children’s rating of their parents. Limited PCC factors were extracted and constructed separately for father and mother from the data. Overall findings show that parents parenting can reduce the probability of adolescent children’s PMS engagements. Quality of fathering reduces the risk of PMS for both male and female children but quality of mothering has no significant effect. On the other hand, mother-child communication reduces the risk of PMS, more strongly for daughters than for sons while father-child communication reduces the risk of premarital sexual intercourse of male children only. Father-child attachment reduces the risk of premarital sexual intercourse for daughters while mother-child communication reduces the risk of premarital sexual intercourse for sons. This study shows ways by which parents can influence the sexual behaviors of their adolescent children especially in these times when parents’ availability in child care is being challenged by employment outside the home and the pressures from international labor migration which can result to possible impairment in parent-child connectedness.