Educating the parents further on how to talk to their teens about sex and about preventative measures should be a priority. If parents are unable to provide the information to their children, then they will more than likely talk to their friends and that's when they receive inaccurate information. Inaccurate information then leads to negative consequences which could have been prevented if only they have received the correct information from their parents in the first place from the beginning.
Parents need to learn the most current facts about high risk behavior and learn different techniques on how to talk and on how to present the information to their teens. Getting the conversation started is often the hardest part. There are a few ways to handle this difficulty. For example, if sex or sexuality is mentioned by or in examples such as a pregnant family member, schools teaching sexual education, television, and talking to a doctor at appointments or visits during puberty can all be used as great conversation starters. Avoiding the subject can have a greater negative impact than one might think. Adolescents are still highly influenced by their strong family values. Therefore, the information given by the parents will be taken into consideration. Also the trust between parent and child will grow since the parent took the first step in talking about a taboo subject (Somers, 2001). It is important for teens to try to be open minded and engaging socially to their parents regarding sex due to the fact that those who share this matter to their parents and are sexually active are possibly going to practice safe-sex and hold up their first experience on sex. On the other hand, recent studies have shown that a growing number of teens actually want to learn more from their parents about sex.
Such an educational program for parents can be provided by the schools or community centers that will have sufficient information and possibly even professionals that can answer questions.