Table 2: Comparison of means for comfort talking to parents at age 13/14, having excluded those who never talked to parents (2 = least comfortable, 6 = most comfortable)

Table 1: Social patterning of comfort talking abut sex with parents at age 13/14

	Comfort talking to mothers about sex		Comfort talking to fathers about sex
	Male	Female	Male	Female
Sex experience
Yes	4.10	4.44	3.97	3.36
No	4.06	4.50	3.98	3.42
Age of sexual debut		p<0.001		p<0.01
<15 years old	4.08	4.30	4.02	3.20
>15 years old	4.17	4.58	4.05	3.47
No. of sexual partners		p<0.01
1/2	4.06	4.52	3.95	3.40
3+	4.19	4.29	3.98	3.27
Condom use		p<0.05		p<0.001
Always	4.11	4.52	3.95	3.51
Not always	4.06	4.38	4.00	3.23
Contraceptive use				p<0.05
Always	4.09	4.50	3.92	3.45
Not always	4.11	4.38	4.04	3.25
Housing type
Council or rented	4.05	4.51	4.06	3.42
Privately owned	4.09	4.47	3.98	3.40
Mother’s age		p<0.01		p<0.05
<40	4.13	4.58	4.02	3.46
>39	4.11	4.43	4.02	3.35
Mother’s social class
Non-manual	4.07	4.49	3.97	3.40
Manual	4.11	4.50	4.05	3.40
Father’s social class
Non-manual	4.09	4.47	3.98	3.43
Manual	4.07	4.51	4.01	3.38
Mother’s qualifications		p<0.01
Don’t know / none of the above	3.95	4.28	3.89	3.31
Left school at age 16 or younger	4.01	4.36	3.94	3.27
‘O’ grades	4.03	4.49	4.02	3.39
Highers	4.13	4.59	3.97	3.49
Attended college	4.13	4.52	4.02	3.44
Attended university	3.90	4.64	3.82	3.33
Advanced qualification	4.12	4.60	3.94	3.44
Degree	4.11	4.41	4.02	3.42
Father’s qualifications				p<0.001
Don’t know / none of the above	4.05	4.42	3.94	3.19
Left school at age 16 or younger	4.05	4.43	4.04	3.24
‘O’ grades	4.02	4.48	3.94	3.45
Highers	4.07	4.51	3.95	3.40
Attended college	4.06	4.49	3.95	3.52
Attended university	3.93	4.50	3.82	3.60
Advanced qualification	4.07	4.63	4.00	3.58
Degree	4.14	4.44	4.01	3.36
Ethnicity	p<0.01		p<0.05
Indian subcontinent	3.42	4.08	3.42	3.11
White	4.08	4.49	3.99	3.40
Other	3.97	4.47	3.73	3.50
Religiosity
Very religious	3.95	4.43	4.32	3.47
Religious	3.97	4.53	3.95	3.43
Unsure	4.10	4.43	3.96	3.36
Not religious	4.10	4.50	4.01	3.42
Not at all religious	4.04	4.48	3.93	3.38
Friends at other schools			p<0.05
None	4.02	4.51	3.92	3.37
A few	4.09	4.48	4.02	3.41
Half	3.96	4.50	3.78	3.34
Most	4.07	4.35	3.89	3.37
All	4.18	4.36	4.00	3.55
Friends left school	p<0.05	p<0.05		p<0.05
None	4.02	4.46	3.95	3.37
A few	4.13	4.51	4.02	3.44
Half	3.69	4.17	3.66	2.98
Most / All	4.04	4.32	4.00	3.37
Friends smoke †
None	4.09	4.49	4.14	3.37
A few	4.07	4.48	3.99	3.34
Half	4.02	4.34	4.00	3.35
Most	3.92	4.31	3.81	3.18
All	4.05	4.36	4.14	2.74
Parents live with
Both parents	4.09	4.47	4.00	3.39
Mother only	4.00	4.51	3.90	3.38
Father only	3.96	4.57	3.79	3.69
Neither parents	4.00	4.32	4.11	3.59
No. older brothers				p<0.01
0	4.07	4.51	3.98	3.43
1	4.08	4.42	3.97	3.33
2	4.13	4.38	3.92	3.16
3+	3.80	4.61	3.74	3.80
No. older sisters		p<0.01	p<0.05
0	4.10	4.53	4.00	3.41
1	3.98	4.36	3.93	3.36
2	4.11	4.44	3.78	3.42
3+	3.78	4.29	4.47	3.27
No. younger brothers
0	4.08	4.47	3.99	3.38
1	4.01	4.50	3.92	3.40
2	4.13	4.54	4.11	3.48
3+	4.53	4.21	3.55	3.24
No. younger sisters				p<0.05
0	4.03	4.45	3.94	3.38
1	4.14	4.50	4.06	3.35
2	4.15	4.68	3.97	3.68
3+	4.08	4.62	3.75	3.59
Position in family		p<0.01		p<0.05
Only child	4.09	4.61	4.05	3.56
Youngest	4.04	4.41	3.95	3.34
Middle	4.00	4.40	3.91	3.31
Eldest	4.12	4.56	4.01	3.45
First born of own sex		p<0.001
Yes	4.07	4.53	3.98	3.41
No	4.08	4.37	3.96	3.36
Siblings gender composition
Mixed	4.08	4.47	3.98	3.37
All same sex	4.06	4.48	3.97	3.42
Parental monitoring	p<0.05	p<0.01
High	4.11	4.52	4.01	3.41
Low	4.01	4.36	3.92	3.35
Spending money
High	4.07	4.49	3.96	3.42
Low	4.06	4.49	3.96	3.38

† Proportion of friends who smoke was only asked in cohort 2.