Parental influence and HIV

According to a recent survey it was revealed that adolescents ages 13 to 19 contribute to 13 percent of all the new cases of infection, with females making a staggering contribution of 61 percent of the infections. It also pointed towards early sexual activity in the teen population. It was revealed that around four of ten adolescents have sex by the time they are in the 9th grade, whereas almost seven of ten have it by the time they reach the 12th grade. This paves way for approximately three million teens getting contracted with a sexually transmitted disease, each year.

This poses a great risk and calls for a higher urgency to deal with this situation, given that the rate of infection, with HIV is alarmingly going up. Two major aspects in this regard are that of unprotected sexual activity as well as the number of sexual partners. A major revelation in this regard has been that parental factors tend to affect the decisions adolescents make pertaining to their sexual lives.

Now, control of parents in diverse ways in relation to decision-making pertaining to sexual activity, like time of nightly curfew, friends, clothes, and diet as well as television programs. It was revealed that a greater authority related to a riskier sexual behavior. A bit of guidance or direction from the guardians might lead to permissive behaviors. On the other hand, controlling as well as rigid parents might lead to reactive as well as risky behaviors.

It is due to this reason that communication between the parents and the child is considered to be very important. This is because, till this date, a number of parents are not aware of their children's sexual experience. As per a research of mothers and their adolescent children it was revealed that seventy percent of the mothers believed that their sons had not yet had sex, whereas, only forty four percent actually were. Similarly, in case of daughters, eighty two percent thought that they were virgins, whereas only seventy percent of them actually were.

This calls for a higher level, of interaction between the children and the parents. However, unfortunately, it was also revealed that parents grossly overestimate as to how much they talk about HIV. It was revealed that kids remembered less than twenty five percent of the talks pertaining to the disease that parents said occurred. This led to the conclusion that parents need to talk more often with kids, in regard to the disease.