Mother And Daughter Communication On Sexual Issues In Namibia

The study describes how mothers and daughters communicate about sex and sex related matters by focusing on four underlying dimensions – content, style, timing, and frequency of communication. A sequential mixed method research design was utilized to gather data from participants. Data analyses of questionnaires were based on a random sample of 32 mothers and 204 teenage daughters from four secondary schools. Results from analysis of questionnaires revealed that sexual communication among many mothers and daughters are still relatively limited. Mothers generally leave the discussions of sex and sex related issues until quite late in their daughters’ lives. When mothers do communicate with their daughters about sex and sex related matters, the topics are generally infrequently discussed. In terms of mothers’ style of communication, daughters wish their mothers would communicate about sex and sex related matters directly, openly, supportively and empathically and without being judgmental. Qualitative research methods were also utilized to gain a more in-depth understanding of mothers’ and daughters’ perceptions of their communication about sexuality. A structured interview was utilized to discover themes that appear in the discussion of sex and sex related issues between mothers and daughters. The emergent themes included level of comfort and preparedness to talk about sex, the belief that sexual intercourse should be preserved for marriage, tradition/culture as a factor influencing communication on sex, lack of time and apprehension.