Parents' Views of Adolescent Health Issues

To determine how important the parents of teenagers consider adolescent health issues to be and the kind of involvement they would like from their schools and physicians, a questionnaire was sent to 1090 families with children attending two public high schools in a suburban community. The 438 parents who completed the questionnaire (40% response rate) indicated that their adolescents had a mean age of 16.2 years, 52% were male, 54% were in grades 11 and 12, and 70% received regular care from a pediatrician. Most parents considered substance use, sexuality, mental health issues, nutritional concerns, and general medical issues to be issues requiring attention nationally; many considered these issues to require attention locally; fewer considered these issues to require attention for their teenager's friends; and only some indicated these issues require attention for their own teenagers. More than 95% of respondents said parents should discuss these topics with their teenagers, more than 80% said they themselves did, and more than 85% said they wanted these issues discussed with their adolescents in school. Approximately three quarters of parents said that they would bring their adolescent to their regular doctor for management of these issues, expected that their physician would be comfortable with such care, and wanted their doctor to discuss these issues with their teenagers. Most, however, thought that their teenagers would tell them if they needed help for these problems (including substance use and sexuality-related issues), approximately half believed it would be okay for the doctor to manage these problems confidentially, and fewer than 40% said they would be willing to pay higher fees necessary for the extra time required to manage these issues. Although some of these parents may have underestimated the health care needs of their adolescents, this study indicates that most were interested in having involvement from their physicians and schools and were generally aware of the importance of these issues.