A Preliminary Examination of Adolescent Girlsʹ Perceptions of the Parental Knowledge of Their Boyfriends

Study Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe adolescent girlsʹ perceptions of their parentsʹ contact with and knowledge of the girlsʹ boyfriends. A second objective was to determine if knowledge was related to demographic characteristics of the girls or aspects of the relationship with their boyfriend. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of data from an interview with adolescent girls enrolled in a longitudinal study. Setting: Urban adolescent medicine clinic. Participants: Adolescent girls (n = 109) with a mean age of 17.6 (range 14.9–19.3 yr). Eighty percent were African-American and 20% were Caucasian. Results: Most girls reported that their parents had some contact (either in person or on the phone) with their boyfriends. Thirteen girls reported that their parents did not know their boyfriends well, 40 reported that their parents knew their boyfriends somewhat, and 56 reported that their parents knew their boyfriends well. Age, race, and sexual experience were not related to how well the parents knew the boyfriend. Girls who had been involved with their boyfriends longer, believed that their relationship would last longer, were more satisfied, were more likely to tell their boyfriends private information and were more likely to describe their parents as knowing their boyfriends well. Conclusions: These results provide an initial description of girlsʹ perceptions of their parentsʹ relationships with their boyfriends. It would be important to understand how to utilize the information regarding these parental-boyfriend relationships to further adolescent girlsʹ development of healthy (both psychologically and physically) relationships.