Journal of Adolescent Research

Although parents greatly influence children’s early understandings of sexuality, little is known about how sexual communication transpires in Asian American families. Accordingly, the authors examined the amount and type of parental sexual communication recalled by 165 Asian American college students. Parents were perceived as providing very little information about a range of sexual topics. Communication was most minimal from fathers, among sons, and in homes marked with language barriers. At the same time, however, most participants could recall receiving restrictive sexual messages, in particular, daughters and participants having less acculturated parents. Qualitative results shed light on the specific types of sexual messages that parents provided. Together, results suggest that Asian American parents use implicit and nonverbal ways to communicate their sexual values.

Antipathetic relationships have received little empirical attention. This study examines these relationships by eliciting college students’ descriptions of the formation, patterns of interpersonal behaviors, and termination of antipathetic relationships during high school. Factors that differentiate inimical from other antipathetic relationships are also investigated. The Interview of Friendship and Antipathetic Experiences, a semistructured retrospective interview of high school relationships, was administered to 80 college undergraduate students (69% female, M age = 19.1 years). Quantitative analyses, supplemented by illustrative quotes, indicate that antipathetic relationships, relative to friendships or interactions with neutral peers, were marked by conflict during formation and aggression and avoidance during the relationship. Inimical relationships were differentiated from other antipathetic relationships by greater conflict in their formation, open expression of dislike, and aggression.

It is well known that many suicidal young people avoid asking for help; however, the reasons why are less understood. A sample of 101 American Indians (age 15-21 years) who had thought about or attempted suicide was asked open-ended questions about barriers to seeking formal and informal help while suicidal. The 74 participants who avoided at least one type of help most commonly reported internal factors, such as embarrassment, lack of problem recognition, a belief that nobody could help, and self-reliance. Structural barriers, such as lack of money or service availability, were only rarely cited. Findings indicate that efforts to increase help seeking among young, suicidal American Indians should target beliefs about emotional problems and help seeking.

This study explored adolescent females’ experiences of social physique anxiety (SPA) and related coping strategies. A final sample of 31 adolescent females ages 13 to 18 years discussed dealing with SPA during individual semistructured interviews. Resultant themes pertaining to the transactional experiences of SPA were coded using content analysis. There were 107 unique coping strategies reported, which were coded into 10 subthemes. The main coping categories included behavioral and cognitive avoidance, appearance management, diet, social support, physical activity, reappraisal, cognitive deflection and comparison to others, seeking sexual attention, and substance use. Informed by a stress and coping framework, it is evident that body-related thoughts and emotions are linked to various adolescent health behaviors.