Perceived maternal expertise, trustworthiness and accessibility in parent- adolescent communication among adolescents

Abstract

Background: Proper maternal guidance, trust, and availability will foster adolescents’ emotional growth, academic success, and social relationships. This study was conducted to determine the adolescents’ perceived maternal expertise, trustworthiness, and accessibility.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 261 adolescents from 11th and 12th grades. Data were collected using baseline information forms and the Perceived Maternal Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Accessibility scale for adolescents.
Results: Adolescents rated maternal expertise and maternal trustworthiness at relatively high levels. In contrast, maternal accessibility’s mean was appreciably lower and its variance was larger. The adolescents perceived maternal expertise and trustworthiness were strongly positively correlated. Meanwhile, expertise correlated moderately with accessibility, and trustworthiness correlated modestly with accessibility. The adolescents perceived maternal expertise, trustworthiness, and accessibility were significantly associated with the expectation of open communication from parents on sexual and reproductive health.
Conclusion: The findings confirm that mothers are broadly seen as expert and trustworthy but are less consistently perceived as accessible to adolescents. Moreover, adolescents’ perceptions of maternal expertise, trustworthiness, and accessibility showed significant association with adolescents’ expectations of open communication. Efforts to ensure real access with respect to time, space, privacy, and consistency are essential for strengthening healthy adolescent development and for open, meaningful parent-adolescent communication.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2349.2880.202601

How to cite this article:
Matthew S, Subrahmanyam N. Perceived Maternal Expertise, Trustworthiness and Accessibility in Parent-Adolescent Communication Among Adolescents. Ind J Youth Adol Health. 2026;13(1):19-26.