Sexual Risk Among African American Girls: Psychopathology and Mother-Daughter Relationships

Objective: To examine the associations among mental health problems, maternal monitoring and. permissiveness, mother-daughter communication and attachment, and sexual behaviors among African American girls receiving outpatient psychiatric care. Youths with mental health problems. report higher rates of HIV-risk behavior than do their peers, and African American girls have higher rate S of sexually transmitted infections than do girls of all other racial groups. Method: A sample of 12- to 16-year-old African American girls (N = 266, mean age = 14.46 years) and their female caregivers (73% biological mothers) completed computerized assessments of girls' mental health symptoms, maternal monitoring and permissiveness, and mother-daughter communication and attachment. Girls indicated their sexual risk behaviors (vaginal/anal sex, consistent condom use, number of partners). Results: African American girls who reported clinically significant externalizing problems, more permissive parenting, less open mother-daughter sexual communication, and more frequent mother-daughter communication were more likely to report having had vaginal and/or anal sex. Sexually active girls with greater maternal attachment were less likely to report inconsistent condom use. Conclusions: Findings revealed important risk. and protective factors for African American girls in psychiatric care. HIV-prevention programs may be strengthened by improving mother-daughter relationships and communication and by reducing girls'. mental health problems.