Let’s Talk, Habibi answers the call to "bridge generational differences in Arab American parent-child dyads … to promote family-based sex communication”

Arab-American adolescents are engaging in sexual activity, but are not receiving adequate education or resources about sexual health which can put them at risk for negative sexual health outcomes. Positive parent-child sex communication is associated with: daughters feelings prepared for their bodily changes, adolescents being older at first intercourse, girls being less likely to be forced into sex, and sexually active youth being more likely to use birth control. Additionally, research has repeatedly established that parent-child sex communication does not lead to increases in adolescent sexual experimentation. Let’s Talk, Habibi wants to make these conversations easier and more positive for parents and adolescents.

 

Most Arab-American adolescents report learning about sex from their peers and the internet, not their parents/family members. Research with Arab-American adolescents found that parent conversations about sex were usually “unspoken” which only reinforced prevailing social norms. Young immigrants and children of immigrants often find themselves navigating between their parent’s more sexually conservative values and the sexual norms and behaviors of their peers and larger social context.