Mother-daughter communication on intimate relationships: voices from a township in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Abstract

Sex education and conversations about intimate relationships are generally regarded to be important and can contribute to young women's positive or negative reproductive health development and general well-being. The findings contained in this article suggest that in a resource poor South African township, mothers and their daughters struggle to initiate and conduct meaningful discussions about sex. These discussions are often framed in terms of possible negative consequences of intimate relationships, such as unplanned pregnancy, dropping out of school, or possible Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. However, these discussions are clearly not altogether effective as several young research participants had an unplanned baby. Emotional aspects that are normally associated with intimate relationships are missing from the mother-daughter conversations.