J Youth Adolescence (2010) 39:1164–1174 DOI 10.1007/s10964-010-9546-1 E M P I R I C A L R E S E A R C H Demographic and Psychological Predictors of Parent–Adolescent Communication About Sex: A Representative Statewide Analysis Petra Jerman • Norman A. Constantine Received: 16 November 2009 / Accepted: 28 April 2010 / Published online: 11 May 2010 The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Sexual communication is a principal means of transmitting sexual values, beliefs, expectations, and knowledge between parents and children. Although this area has received considerable research attention, more studies with representative samples are needed to assure that ﬁndings are reﬂective of populations of interest. A representative statewide sample of households with ado- lescents (N = 907) from a large and diverse state in the United States was employed to examine the content and extent of sexual communication between parents and their adolescents, and the inﬂuence of selected primary demo- graphic (age and gender), socio-demographic (Hispanic ethnicity, education, and religious attendance), and psy- chological (self-reported comfort, knowledge, and sexual communication difﬁculties) factors on the number of topics discussed. More than two-thirds of the parents reported experiencing some type of sexual communication difﬁ- culty, such as developmental concerns and embarrassment. Hierarchical regression results indicated that self-reported comfort, knowledge, and sexual communication difﬁculties strongly predicted the number of topics discussed, beyond the effect of demographic variables. These ﬁndings rein- force the notion that sexual communication between par- ents and adolescents can be universally challenging, and P. Jerman (&) N. A. Constantine Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development, Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA, USA e-mail: pjerman@phi.org N. A. Constantine Division of Community Health and Human Development, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA e-mail: nconstantine@berkeley.edu 123 parents of both genders, all ages, and all socio-demo- graphic characteristics might beneﬁt from education and support. Keywords Parent–adolescent communication Sex education Representative sample Demographic predictors Psychological predictors Introduction Research on child development in the family context and on parent–child relationships has expanded over the last 20 years (the terms child and children are used in this article to refer to offspring aged 18 years and younger). The accumulated evidence strongly suggests that parental nurturance and involvement can enhance children’s receptivity to parental inﬂuence, thereby enabling more effective socialization (Steinberg 2001). One type of socialization that typically occurs within families is sexual socialization, with parents teaching and inﬂuencing their children about physical development, physical affection, modesty, nudity, gender differences, sexual behaviors, and marriage, among other topics (Lefkowitz and Stoppa 2006; Shtarkshall et al. 2007). Parent–child communication about sexual issues, or sexual communication, is an important aspect of sexual socialization. Communication is a fundamental process through which parents convey ideas, values, beliefs, expectations, infor- mation, and knowledge to their children. Parents typically have the opportunity to communicate with their children on a daily basis, and as such, parents can play a critical role in shaping their children as they move into adolescence and eventually into adulthood. Many parents would like to communicate with their children about sexual issues, but