Family Sex Communication, Parental Acculturation, and Religiosity Among Arab American Young Adults

Family sex communication is critical to promoting the development of healthy sexualities among young people and has yet to be studied among Arab Americans. We sought to (1) describe religiosity, perceived parental acculturation, and family sex communication among Arab American young adults, and (2) examine the association between parental acculturation and family sex communication, and whether it is mediated by religiosity or gender. We conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study. Participants (N = 100) were recruited via purposive sampling. Data were collected by in-person and online surveys and then analyzed using descriptive, bivariate, and multiple regression statistical analyses. Arab American young adults endorsed the importance of the family role in learning about sex, but rarely or never received information about sex from their families, and, when they did, experienced low comfort and learning. Young women, compared to men, received less information about sex from parents (13.69 vs. 15.90; P = 0.02) and perceived greater parental efforts to preserve Arab cultural values among their families (18.89 vs. 16.55; P = 0.05). Young adults who learned more in family sex discussions also engaged in more organizational (16.73 vs. 12.86; P < 0.0001) and nonorganizational religious activities (16.44 vs. 13.73; P = 0.06). There was a negative association between parental preservation of Arab cultural values with the amount of information learned from family sex discussions, and no evidence of mediation by religiosity or gender. Arab American young women receive less information about sex from their families than men, both because of their gender and their perceived parental acculturation.