Learning Objective #1: Identify factors leading to early sexal debut in African American adolescents

Learning Objective #2: Identify factors known to delay adolescent sexual debut

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African American(AA)adolescents have their sexual debut (first voluntary penile-vaginal penetration) earlier in adolescence thus are at a disproportionately greater risk for more sexual partners, STIs, unwanted pregnancies,abortions, adolescent motherhood and fatherhood. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (2001) more than 16% of AA adolescents had sex as early as age 13 compared with 4.7% of White adolescents. AA adolescents contracted AIDS at 10 times the rate of White adolescents under 18 years of age, had more STI's, and more than twice the number of pregnancies and abortions compared with White adolescents (CDC, 2003). Also associated with earlier adolescent sex was physical maturation which occurred earlier in African American adolescents (Herman-giddens et al., 1997). Although researchers identified that fathers' reproductive health communication with their adolescents influenced the timing of adolescent sex, a dearth of studies of AA father-adolescent reproductive health communication exists. The negative sequelae of early adolescent sex compromise AA adolescent reproductive health, perpetuate the socio-ecomomic disadvantage, and increase the national economic burden. Understanding African American father-adolescent reproductive health communication would add to the body of research on AA adolescent reproductive health and would contribute to Healthy People 2010's objective and WHO's 2003 mandate to delay adolescent sex in this ethnic group. Therefore the purpose of this qualitative study is to retrospectively explore AA father-adolescent reproductive health communication in face-to-face tape recorded interviews.