Parental communication about sex is an important aspect of sexual socialization. However, research has primarily focused on sexual communication’s presence, frequency, or topics, with less research on the specific messages parents communicate. Further, few studies have differentiated between communication received before and after youth initiated sex. Therefore, in this paper, we coded open-ended survey responses to explore the sex-related messages young adults report receiving from their caregiver(s) before they began engaging in sex. As part of a larger study, 381 U.S. young adults (M_age = 21.0 years, SD = 2.0) completed an online survey and responded to an open-ended question about messages their caregiver(s) communicated before they began engaging in sex. Participants identified as cisgender women (62.2%), cisgender men (12.1%), and gender diverse (25.7%), and were primarily lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, or otherwise non-heterosexual (LGBQ+; 70.6%) young adults. Through thematic analysis, we identified six themes for caregivers’ sex-related messages: sex-restrictive, safety and consequences, no, negative, sex-positive, and informational messages. In addition, we found that messages varied by young adults’ gender identity and sexual orientation. Our findings suggest that young adults may not receive proper education about healthy sexual relationships and demonstrate the need for interventions with caregivers, as well as sexual health resources for adolescents and young adults, particularly LGBTQ+ youth.

父母关于性的沟通是性社会化的一个重要方面。然而，研究主要集中在性沟通的存在、频率或主题上，而对父母传达的具体信息的研究较少。此外，很少有研究区分青少年开始性行为之前和之后收到的沟通。因此，在本文中，我们对开放式调查回复进行了编码，以探索年轻人在开始发生性行为之前从其照顾者那里收到的与性相关的信息。作为一项更大规模研究的一部分，381 名美国年轻人（M _age = 21.0 岁，SD = 2.0）完成了一项在线调查，并回答了一个关于他们的照顾者在他们之前传达的信息的开放式问题。开始发生性行为。参与者被确定为顺性别女性 (62.2%)、顺性别男性 (12.1%) 和性别多元化 (25.7%)，主要是女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、酷儿、质疑者或其他非异性恋 (LGBQ+；70.6%) 年轻人成年人。通过主题分析，我们确定了护理人员与性相关的信息的六个主题：性别限制、安全和后果、不、消极、性积极和信息性信息。此外，我们发现信息因年轻人的性别认同和性取向而异。我们的研究结果表明，年轻人可能没有接受有关健康性关系的适当教育，并表明需要对照顾者进行干预，以及为青少年和年轻人，特别是 LGBTQ+ 青少年提供性健康资源。