Self of the parent: An expanded social cognitive perspective on parent-child sexual communication

Common theories used to study parent-child sexual communication (PCSC) often do not account for social location, trauma, and the multidimensional experience of being a parent, limiting our ability to understand PCSC behavior. To address this gap, we propose an expanded theoretical perspective based on social cognitive theory (SCT) that focuses on the relationship between self of the parent (including trauma history), PCSC behavior, and social location. With this perspective, we call attention to the SCT concepts of goals, outcome expectancies, self-efficacy, and observational learning, directly apply them to PCSC processes, and highlight how each is related to social location (e.g., race) and trauma. We call upon PCSC researchers to explore how social location and trauma affect a wide variety of components of self of the parent, how social location and trauma affect PCSC behavior, and how social location and trauma affect the relationship between self of parent and PCSC behavior.