DISCUSSIONS IN THE HOME ABOUT SEX - DIFFERENT RECOLLECTIONS BY PARENTS AND CHILDREN

University students and their parents were asked whether they had ever had a meaningful discussion about sex. More than half of the students answered No, yet in 60% of these cases, one or both Parents said that there had been meaningful discussions. Students anti their parents mo st frequently disagreed about the topics of sexually transmitted disea ses, sexual intercourse, reproduction, birth control, homosexuality, a nd sexual abuse. Mothers were more likely than fathers to have had dis cussions that daughters considered to be,meaningful, and as likely as fathers in the case of sons. Parents who indicated that they had had m eaningful discussions about sex with their parents while growing up we re much more likely than other parents to have had discussions that th eir own children recognized as meaningful. Nevertheless, the results d emonstrate that many parents greatly underestimate the extent of factu al information that their children wish to learn about sexuality.