Profiles of Early Adolescents' Health Risk Communication with Parents: Gender Differences and Associations with Health Risk Behavior

The present study uses latent class analysis to explore patterns of family communication about health-related topics during early adolescence. Directed parent-child communication is important for early adolescents to make informed health risk decisions, yet not all families discuss all health issues, especially surrounding sensitive topics such as sex and substance use. Participants were 182 seventh-grade students from a rural, low-income county in the Southeastern U.S. (M age = 12; 49% girls, 48% boys, 2% transgender or another gender; 49% lower socioeconomic status; 34% Latine, 33% White, 23% Black/African American, 2% Asian, 8% another race/ethnicity). Participants self-reported if they had ever discussed 10 health risk topics with their parents: alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes/vaping, marijuana, sex, sexting, condoms/birth control, bullying, sleep, and time spent online. Four latent classes emerged: those who were unlikely to have discussed any topics ("Low-All Topics", 38.7%); those who were likely to have discussed all topics ("High-All Topics", 25.2%); those whose communication selectively excluded discussions of sex ("Everything but Sex", 18.1%); and those who selectively excluded discussions of substance use ("Moderate-Low Substance", 18.1%). Adolescents' gender and sexual experience were related to class membership; their socioeconomic status and substance use experience were not. Results highlight that health risk family communication patterns are not one-size-fits-all. Understanding pluralistic patterns of parent-child health risk communication can inform interventions to promote effective parent communication. Latent class analysis determined four profiles of parent-child communication about 10 health risk topics during early adolescence.Most families discussed (1) no or (2) all topics, some selectively excluded (3) sex and (4) substance use topics.Early adolescents' gender and sexual experience (but not SES or prior substance use) were related to class membership.