When young people feel unconnected to home, family, and school, they may become involved in activities that put their health at risk. However, when parents affirm the value of their children, young people more often develop positive, healthy attitudes about themselves. Although most adults want youth to know about abstinence, contraception, and how to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), parents often have difficulty communicating about sex. Nevertheless, positive communication between parents and children greatly helps young people to establish individual values and to make healthy decisions. Several facts about parent-child communication include: (1) parent-child warmth and communication promote health, achievement, and self-esteem; (2) parent-child communication about sexuality promotes sexually healthy behaviors; (3) parent-child communication about sex varies by race/ethnicity and gender, but parents are an important source of sexual health information for all youth; (4) negative or no communication can lead to negative results; and (5) parents play the most important role in sex education, but need resources and support. [This document was written by Nicholas Lagina in 2002 but updated by Alicia Whittaker in March 2010.]