Parent-daughter communication and sexual abstinence intention among Thai female adolescents grades 7-9 students

Abstract

The purpose of this cross sectional descriptive study was to determine the factors predicting sexual abstinence intention during the school years among young Thai female adolescents aged between 12-16 years and studying in grades 7-9. The variables included parent-daughter sexual abstinence communication, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, control beliefs toward sexual abstinence, and sexual abstinence intention during the school years. The model was based on the parent-based expansion of theory of planned behavior. Stratified random sampling was used to take 528 participants from three Education Commission Service Areas in Bangkok Metropolitan Area. The respondents completed a set of self-report questionnaires, including questionnaires on demographic data, parent-daughter sexual abstinence communication, and sexual abstinence measurements. After excluding the uncompleted questionnaires and the participants who had had sexual experience, the total number of participant were 470 cases. The SPSS and LISREL 8.53 programs were used to analyze the descriptive data and together with Path analysis. The results demonstrated that the final model fit with the empirical data (X2 = 0.24, df = 1, X2/df = 0.24, p-value = 0.621, RMSEA =0.000, GFI=1.00, AGFI=0.99), and explained 33% of the variance in sexual abstinence intention. The results indicated parentdaughter sexual abstinence communications to have a significantly positive indirect effect on sexual abstinence intention during the school years via behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs (β = 0.20, p< .001). Behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs toward sexual abstinence have a significantly positive direct effect on sexual abstinence intention during the school years (β = 0.25, p <.001, β = 0.27, p <.001, and β = 0.41, p <.001, respectively). The findings suggest that parent-based expansion of TPB explicitly includes parent-daughter sexual abstinence communication influences and indicates a conceptual framework for designing the family-based intervention program to promote sexual abstinence behavior during the school years. In addition, the results also found perceived power and control beliefs to have the highest effect on intention. As a result, intervention programs concerning this variable are appropriate to promote sexual abstinence during the school years among young Thai female adolescents.