University Honors

Sexual education in public schools has notoriously provided little guidance to adolescentsduring their period of sexual growth and exploration. While seeking parental advice on sex mayappear as a reasonable alternative, that endeavor can prove to be just as unfruitful—especially inAsian American families. Many Asian American parents and children go through a processknown as acculturation, in which individuals of one culture learn and adopt the beliefs andvalues of another. However, the rate at which parents and children acculturate can vary—leadingto acculturation gaps. These acculturation gaps can have implications on parent-childinteractions, particularly for sensitive topics like sex. Insufficient sexual communication andeducation can unfortunately lead to worse health outcomes in adolescents, including sexualignorance, unsafe sex and even the development of sexually transmitted diseases. Usingacculturation measures tailored to the Asian American experience and additional sexcommunication and risk scales, this study aims to analyze whether differences in acculturationbetween Asian American children and their parents impact healthy sexual communication andhow those conversations, or lack thereof, have affected the sexual practices of emerging AsianAmerican young adults. Findings reveal that Asian American college students had low frequencyand low quality conversations about sex with their parents. Also, while sexual behavior mayhave not been impacted by a lack of sex communication within the family, acculturationalconflict did play a significant role in the quality of sex communication between Asian Americanparents and young adults.