With respect to a teen’s ability to postpone sexual activity, it turns out that dads may have up to TWICE the influence of moms. (If you are a mom reading this, you might want to forward this to your child’s father!) A study published in 2009 in the journal Child Development showed that dads’ knowledge of teens’ friends translated to less teen sexual activity. Even more influential was time spent together: “The impact of family time overall was even more striking. One additional family activity per week predicted a 9 percent drop in sexual activity.” What about Mom’s influence? The study hypothesized that Dad’s effect on Mom, supporting childrearing, may be a significant key to understanding these findings. That brings up the question: What if a father is absent or uninvolved? It just means that a mother has to be extra aware of her teens’ vulnerability, and encourage other positive influences such as involvement in sports or church (or other religious group), enlisting mentors, etc.
