"Rural areas have a higher teen pregnancy rate when compared to national averages; research indicates that adolescents in rural areas are more likely to have had sex and less likely to use contraception compared to teenagers in metropolitan areas, highlighting a need for better interventions. Although effective school-based programs have been identified, curricula have not been widely disseminated in the United States. There is strong evidence that parents can play an important role to positively impact adolescent outcomes related to sexual health, including reducing teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV transmission. However, it remains unclear how parents are currently employing this role and how to effectively engage parents in this role. Thus, the proposed study engaged 19 parents of first-born young adolescents (age 11-14) in a semi-structured interview to understand their experience, strengths and needs in their role as sex educators. Findings from this investigation describe parents' desire to be the primary educators in the sex education of their adolescent children and the importance this role plays within the family system. Data show the relevancy of the barriers parents face lacking adequate resources to know when to introduce and discuss developmentally appropriate sex education content. Finally, research findings indicate that parents are unaware of the risk facing rural adolescents in particular, which may contribute to this risk. Recommendations for future research and intervention approaches are discussed."--Abstract.
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