Parenting skills affect kids’ sexual behavior

People’s parenting skills may have an impact on their children’s sexual behavior, research has suggested.

Rebekah Levine Coley of Boston College, the lead author of the study, told United Press International that the results had not offered any definitive answers as to what parenting techniques work best.

However, the findings – which are reported in the August 2008 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health – did show that young people are less likely to be sexually active if their parents do not display negative and psychologically controlling behaviors.

In addition, things such as fun activities and family dinners were found to help the situation.

"Warm, more democratic relationships … could help parents to communicate values, increase adolescents’ identification with their parents, help youth to develop healthy decision-making skills and also keep youth away from negative peer influences," Ms Coley stated.

In separate studies, researchers at the University of Arizona, University of Texas-Austin and Wake Forest University have all discovered that girls who have positive relationships with their fathers are likely to wait longer to have their first sexual encounter, the St Petersburg Times reports.