Nature of communication: voices of 11-14 year old African-American girls and their mothers in regard to talking about sex.

Background: Within the female population between the ages of 13 and 19, African Americans (AA) made up 70% of the cases of HIV seroconversionwithin the US in 2006. In light of this health disparity, prevention strategies should begin prior to age 13. The primary sex educator in families is the mother. Examining how mothers communicate with their daughters about sex and how their daughters respond could help healthcare professionals develop interventions to decrease this population's sexual risk.

Objective: This qualitative study explored what AA mothers say to their daughters about sex, in what context the discussions occur, and how the daughters respond to their mothers' messages.

Methods: Forty-two mother-daughter dyads were recruited from 4 inner-city community centers. Seven separate groups were conducted with mothers and daughters (ages 11-14) using focus group methodology and principles of Participatory Action Research.

Results: Four codes emerged from the data, reflecting both verbal and nonverbal sexual communication. These were: level of disclosure; mixed messages; emotional tone; and knowing.

Conclusions: Both becoming less reactive and more knowledgeable about her daughter's information processing may facilitat mother to create an environment that provide a positive emotional tone. This can then lead to increasing the daughter's comfort in initiatin a conversation with her mother about her intimate feelings and experiences.

Implications: Findings from this study could assist in developing interventions geared towards open sexual communication with the goal of delaying sexual debut.