Latino and Black fathers often underestimate when their teenage sons become sexually active, resulting in delayed education about safe sex practices, a new study found.
The research paper published in the Annals of Family Medicine explored the link between what fathers know about their adolescent sons’ sexual behavior and their guidance on safe sex.
They found that fathers’ perceptions of when their sons are ready for sex correlate with their advice on condom use, which often doesn’t match when their sons actually begin engaging in sexual activity.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing went into the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx and surveyed 191 Latino and Black teenagers, from 15 to 19, as well as their fathers, on the teenagers’ sexual behavior and knowledge.
They found that many Latino and Black fathers often underestimated their sons’ sexual readiness. In addition to age, fathers considered…
