PARENT-ADOLESCENT CONGRUENCY IN REPORTS OF ADOLESCENT SEXUAL-BEHAVIORAND IN COMMUNICATIONS ABOUT SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR

Agreement between mothers' and adolescents' reports of communication a bout sex, satisfaction with the parent-child relationship, maternal di sapproval of adolescent sexual activity, and adolescent sexual behavio r was investigated in a sample of 745 African American adolescents (ag es 14-17) and their mothers. Congruence between the 2 sets of reports tended to be low. Adolescent perceptions and reports were found to be more predictive of adolescent sexual behavior than maternal reports. M others tended to underestimate the sexual activity of their teens and teens tended to underestimate their mothers' level of disapproval of t heir engaging in sexual activity. Reasons for these misperceptions wer e explored.