Researchers found that teens who talked often with parents about sex felt closer to mom and dad and felt more able to communicate with their parents in general, and about sex specifically.  Valerie Huber is with the National Abstinence Education Association. 

“You really don’t need to have a study to show the results because we already knew that, that would be the case.  But it is nice to have empirical evidence that bolsters the value of parent-child communication.”

She hopes this can be a reminder to parents that their children do listen to what they have to say on private matters.

“Study after study has shown that teens really want to hear from their parents and what this study shows is that it’s not enough to have ‘the talk’ but it has to be a natural part of open conversation between parent and child.  And who better to be sex educators of their children than mom and dad.”

Dr. Den Trumbull with the American College of Pediatricians says it's up to Christian parents to give their teens a godly view of sex.  He says there are plenty of opportunities. 

“Whether it’s during a movie, whether it is a relationship with another friend that has occurred, but the parent’s going to have to be attentive to opportunities to talk about sex and talk about sexual activity with their adolescent.”

The study found that moms tend to discuss sexual topics with the kids twice as often as dads.