TY - JOUR
T1 - How Parents’ Ideals are Offset by Uncertainty and Fears: A Systematic Review of the Experiences of European Parents regarding the Sexual Education of Their Children
AU - Noorman, Maaike A.J.
AU - den Daas, Chantal
AU - de Wit, John B.F.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study is part of a project funded by Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Seksualiteit under grant 19.006. The authors thank Kristin Jansen, Oka Storms, Hannan Nhass, Simon Timmerman, Nelleke Westerveld, Wilma Schakenraad and Shirin Eftekharijam from Movisie, the Dutch National Centre of Expertise of Social Issues.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Seksualiteit [19.006]. This study is part of a project funded by Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Seksualiteit under grant 19.006. The authors thank Kristin Jansen, Oka Storms, Hannan Nhass, Simon Timmerman, Nelleke Westerveld, Wilma Schakenraad and Shirin Eftekharijam from Movisie, the Dutch National Centre of Expertise of Social Issues.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Parents have a critical role to play in the sexual education of their children. We conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the experiences of parents regarding the role they play in the sexual education of their children. We included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies conducted among parents in Europe. We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus, and screened 20,244 unique records. Forty-nine studies enrolling 18,083 unique parents met inclusion criteria. The studies show that parents have ideals regarding the sexual education of their children that center around the importance of trust, open conversations, and honesty. However, challenges and concerns, related to parents’ and children’s gender, children’s age, children’s specific situations, and limited parental knowledge and communication skills prevented them from living up to these ideals. Parents pointed to the role of other institutions as ways to support and strengthen parents’ contributions to the sexual development of their children. We conclude that parents may require guidance and support to identify what is appropriate sexual education for their children, based on age, gender, and other characteristics, how to provide appropriate sexual education, and to strengthen their sexual communication skills and knowledge of contemporary sexual health issues.
AB - Parents have a critical role to play in the sexual education of their children. We conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the experiences of parents regarding the role they play in the sexual education of their children. We included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies conducted among parents in Europe. We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus, and screened 20,244 unique records. Forty-nine studies enrolling 18,083 unique parents met inclusion criteria. The studies show that parents have ideals regarding the sexual education of their children that center around the importance of trust, open conversations, and honesty. However, challenges and concerns, related to parents’ and children’s gender, children’s age, children’s specific situations, and limited parental knowledge and communication skills prevented them from living up to these ideals. Parents pointed to the role of other institutions as ways to support and strengthen parents’ contributions to the sexual development of their children. We conclude that parents may require guidance and support to identify what is appropriate sexual education for their children, based on age, gender, and other characteristics, how to provide appropriate sexual education, and to strengthen their sexual communication skills and knowledge of contemporary sexual health issues.
KW - Effective communication
KW - Young-people
KW - Attitudes
KW - Mothers
KW - Interventions
KW - Adolescents
KW - Fathers
KW - Abuse
KW - Barriers
KW - Behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132651238&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00224499.2022.2064414
DO - 10.1080/00224499.2022.2064414
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85132651238
SN - 0022-4499
VL - 60
SP - 1034
EP - 1044
JO - Journal of Sex Research
JF - Journal of Sex Research
IS - 7
ER -