Mother-daughter communication about sex and sexuality

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore mother-daughter perceptions of their communication in terms of sex and sexuality in Washington County, Minnesota. A secondary, but equally important focus of the research was to investigate the value of a four-session workshop designed to explore mother-daughter communication about sex and sexuality. This study included mother-daughter dyads (n=12) who completed a pre-workshop survey on mother-daughter communication about sex and sexuality, participated in four workshop sessions, and then responded to a post-workshop survey on mother-daughter communication about sex and sexuality. Results indicated no significant difference in perceptions of communication about sex and sexuality issues between mothers and adolescent daughters (F=1.95; p=. 177). However, there was a significant difference for mothers and daughters in this study in terms of their perception of mother-daughter communication about sex and sexuality issues from pre-workshop to post-workshop (F=8.73; p=.007). These findings suggest the workshop model used in this study may have had a positive effect on the perception of mother-daughter communication about sex and sexuality issues.