The Role of Shame, Stigma, and Family Communication Patterns in the Decision to Disclose STIs to Parents in Order to Seek Support

Emily Scheinfeld ()
Additional contact information
Emily Scheinfeld: School of Communication & Media, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Emerging adulthood is identified as a time of personal growth wherein emerging adults engage in sexual exploration and risky behaviors, potentially resulting in the contraction of a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Due to the continued reliance on parents for support during this developmental period, emerging adults (EAs) may need to disclose their STI status to their parents. This study applies the health disclosure decision-making model (DD-MM) to extend our understanding of EA disclosures of sensitive health information such as STIs to parents. Data were collected from 204 college students. The results of mediational analyses provided some support for the mediating effects of family communication patterns on the relationship between relational quality and illness assessment (i.e., stigma) and willingness to disclose in a given scenario. The theoretical and practical implications of this are discussed.

Keywords: parent–child relationship; communication; health disclosure decision-making model; emerging adults; sexually transmitted infections (STIs); disclosure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/4742/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/6/4742/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:6:p:4742-:d:1090714

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().