Cluster analysis of caregiver and adolescent emotion regulation and its relation to sexual health and dating communication.

Objective: Adolescent emotion regulation (ER) has been positively linked to caregiver-adolescent sexual communication. With ER becoming increasingly conceptualized as an interpersonal process, it is likely that both adolescent and caregiver ER impact communication patterns to some extent; thus, each must be accounted for in scientific inquiry and intervention approaches. We aimed to identify distinct profiles of caregiver and adolescent ER and examine how each profile is differentially related to caregiver-adolescent communication about sexual health and relationships.

Methods: Participants included adolescent males (n = 117; Mage = 13.06; SD = 0.72) and their caregivers (Mage = 42.33; SD = 0.72) who were recruited as part of a dyadic, web-based dating violence prevention intervention trial for middle school boys.

Results: Using a self-report measure, three clusters were identified: families with Moderate ER strategy use (by both parents and adolescents), families with Low ER strategy use (by both parents and adolescents), and families with Mixed ER strategy use (moderate adolescent but low caregiver ER strategy use). Caregivers in the Moderate ER strategy use cluster reported discussing the greatest total number of sexual health and relationship topics. Adolescents in the Mixed ER strategy use cluster indicated the greatest perceived caregiver openness during discussions.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that adolescent ER may more strongly influence positive patterns of communication regarding sexual health and relationships than parent ER. Future research should compare the efficacy of adolescent sexual health and dating interventions with adolescents alone versus dyadic interventions to determine whether there is a clinically significant additive effect of including caregivers or if adolescent engagement alone may suffice.