A Six-Month Outcome Evaluation of Media Aware Parent, a Parent-Based Media Mediation and Sexual Health Communication Program to Promote Adolescent Sexual Health

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sustained effects of a web-based program for parents of adolescents designed to help them engage in media mediation and high-quality parent-adolescent communication about sex, relationships, and media. A randomized control trial was conducted with parent-adolescent pairs (n=375 pairs). Adolescents were in 7(th)-9(th) grade. Pairs were randomly assigned to either the intervention Media Aware Parent or active control (medically accurate adolescent sexual health information). This study analyzed the impact of Media Aware Parent 6 months after pretest. Several outcomes significant at one-month posttest were sustained at 6 months, including enhanced parents' media-related cognitions (e.g. media skepticism) and adolescent awareness of family media rules. Parents' reports of restrictive media mediation and adolescents' reports of their parent engaging in supportive parenting, which were not significant at posttest, emerged as significant at 6 months, signifying that the program resulted in changes in parent behavior and the parent-adolescent relationship over time. The impact of the program on parent-adolescent communication quality and adolescent sexual health and media-related outcomes diminished over time, suggesting the need for program boosters to encourage parents to continue engaging in high-quality conversations with their adolescent children about sex, relationships, and media. IMPLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONThe positive impact of Media Aware Parent on parents' media-related cognitions and adolescents' awareness of family media rules were sustained at 6 months after pretest.Media Aware Parent resulted in parents reporting that they engaged in more restrictive media mediation and adolescents reporting that their parents engaged in more supportive parenting during a six-month follow-up.The short-term impact of Media Aware Parent on adolescent sexual health outcomes, adolescent media cognitions, and parent-adolescent communication quality diminished over time, suggesting the need for program boosters to maintain positive outcomes.