Teen girls confide more in parents than boys about dating

WASHINGTON - When it comes to talking to parents about dating issues, teen girls tend to disclose more than boys, and both sexes generally prefer to talk to their mothers, a new study shows.

However, the study found that girls and boys were equally close-mouthed about issues involving sex and what they do with their dates while not under supervision.

Results showed that the amount of information parents hear from their teenagers about dating depend on a variety of matters, including age, gender, and what aspect of dating the topic involves.

“Many parents become frustrated because they feel that the lack of communication with their teenage children is evidence of increasing distance or diminishing influence,” explained Christopher Daddis, study co-author and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University (OSU) at Marion.

“What we found is that adolescents are willing to talk to their parents about some issues, but those issues may change as they grow older and they feel more autonomous,” he added.

The study involved a survey of 222 adolescents at a central Ohio high school. About half of them were boys and half were girls.

Students were asked to rate how willing they were to disclose specific information to their parents about 22 issues relating to their romantic lives.

Daddis found that adolescents were more willing to talk to their parents about their date’s identity and how they showed affection.

Specifically, girls disclosed information more often than boys, and with both sexes the mother was their primary confidante.

The study found that teens who reported a higher level of trust with their parents also disclosed more.

However, all adolescents - girls and boys - disclosed little about what they did when not under supervision and whether they had sex.

The researchers also found that teens were more likely to discuss issues that they thought could involve harm to others and that may have severe consequences, an Ohio State University release said.

“We found that adolescents were more willing to talk to their parents about an issue if they felt that it would render harm to themselves or have some consequences that may affect others,” Daddis said.

The findings appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescence.