Parent-child connectedness: a pressing need to be addressed in rural and urban India

Laila Garda, KEM Hospital Research Centre
Mallika Alexander, KEM Hospital Research Centre

High prevalence of HIV/AIDS among adolescents has prioritized their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) concerns at national level. Parent Child Connectedness (PCC) buffers young people from challenges and risks they face. A pre post design assessed an intervention addressing PCC among 800 unmarried adolescents and their parents. This paper focuses on PCC prior to intervention. Operationalization of PCC in terms of trust, communication and structure from quantitative data indicate adolescents describing mothers as compared to fathers as better communicators (60 -80% as compared to 25 to 50%), listeners (90% as compared to 75%), person adolescents are closer to and spend time with cross gender connectedness being limited. General communication was more with mothers and SRH communication overall was limited. Considerable room for improvement in communication and relationship level needs to be considered utilizing not only communication but interlinking components of PCC to assist transition into safe and informed adulthood.