“I Wish They Would Have a Class for Parents About Talking to Their Kids About Sex”: College Women’s Parent–child Sexual Communication Reflections and Desires

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine what college women wish their parent–child sexual communication (PCSC) would have been like. Background Parents/guardians have a critical role in assisting their children on every aspect of their development, including sexual development, but parents/guardians face numerous barriers in communicating with their children about sexuality. Using a lifespan development perspective (Baltes, 1987 ), we sought to understand how young adults wish their parents/guardians would have communicated with them in order to make recommendations for PCSC. Method To fulfill this purpose, college students sampled between 2016 and 2017 were asked to complete an online survey that utilized sentence stems. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following research question: In what ways do college women wish their parents/guardians had discussed human sexuality with them? To analyze the data, the constant comparative method was utilized (Corbin & Strauss, 2008 ). Results Findings illustrate the importance of the environment, approach, and timing of PCSC. College women discussed how they desired their PCSC to be situated in a comfortable and open environment with their parent/guardian delivering the content by providing different perspectives, having discussions, being competent, and stating things bluntly. Finally, college women emphasized the need to discuss sexuality in an age-appropriate manner and throughout the lifespan. Policy Implications Funding should be allocated to community-based parent education programs that teach parents and guardians how to go about PCSC.