Sex, Drugs Top Issues Parents Want Doctors to Discuss with Kids

When parents bring their children in for routine check-ups many are hoping the doctors and nurse practitioners caring for them will do more than just check blood pressure, listen to their heart and provide any necessary vaccinations.

Parents with adolescent-age children also want health care providers to talk with their kids about issues related to sexuality, diet, drug abuse and tobacco use, according to a report released today by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

The National Poll on Children’s Health – which asked parents of 11- to 17-year-old kids to rate 18 health-related topics for health care providers to address during an adolescent’s routine check-up – found that diet/nutrition, exercise/sports and the physical changes of puberty were the overall top three issues parents want discussed, followed by drugs, tobacco, sexually transmitted diseases and depression/suicide.

Top 10 topics parents consider very important for doctors to discuss with adolescents, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health:

1. Diet/nutrition
2. Exercise/sports
3. Physical changes of puberty
4. Drug use
5. Tobacco use
6. Sexually transmitted diseases
7. Depression/suicide
8. Obesity
9. Drinking
10. Eating disorders

The adolescent health issues that didn’t make the top 10 list: bullying, pregnancy prevention, relationships with family/friends, safety, school performance, sexual abstinence, violence and religion/faith. The poll also revealed that how parents ranked health topics varied based on their children’s race, ethnicity, gender and age.

“With more than 35 million adolescents living in the United States, understanding which health topics parents value most during routine check-ups is an important component of providing the best care possible to children,” says lead researcher Amanda F. Dempsey, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, a member of the CHEAR Unit team in the Division of General Pediatrics at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

While physicians and nurse practitioners have some guidelines they can follow for appropriate topics to discuss with adolescents parents are rarely asked what they think should be addressed during these routine check-ups, Dempsey notes.

Using data from a national online survey conducted in July and August in collaboration with Knowledge Networks Inc., the National Poll on Children’s Health sought to find out which topics parents feel are the most important for health care providers to cover during check-ups, and if those topics varied by a child’s race/ethnicity, gender and age.

The survey was administered to a random sample of 2,060 adults, ages 18 and older, who are a part of Knowledge Network’s online KnowledgePanelSM. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect U.S. population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. About two-thirds of the sample were parents.