In the current study, the majority of Iranian mothers followed the authoritative sex education style. This result is consistent with the study of Shin et al. (2)and Binti Abdullah et al.(8). While it is inconsistent with the study of Nasution et al., that reported mothers with strict views considered sex education taboo and believed that society considered issues related to sex education as abnormal and, therefore, their embarrassment senses prevented them from adequately teaching their children (9). In the other study by Merghati-Khoei et al. In Iran, parents believed that children could be protected by strict sex education, which is inconsistent with the results of the current study(10). Therefore, in a strict sex education style, parents have a closed view about the sex education of their children. Such cases may be associated with negative consequences such as future behavioral and moral deviations of the children (3). These differences may be due to cultural and beliefs that are different even between people of one nation.
The results showed in the parents with higher education level, the score of authoritative sex education style increased significantly, but the scores of strict and permissive styles decreased significantly. The higher educated mothers that had authoritative style also reported that their source of information about sex education was their field of study, but the participants in both strict and permissive sex education styles did not use any information source. Along with the present study, we can mention the studies of Vaghari et al.(11)and Faizah et al.(12). Advanced personal knowledge and general information can affect personal thinking, attitudes, and perceptions (11).
In a study by Martin et al., Higher educated mothers showed a better attitude towards their children's sex education, while less educated mothers showed a more closed or even more permissive attitude towards their children's sex education(13).
According to the results, mothers who followed the authoritative style of sex education had a higher socioeconomic level than the two strict and permissive styles, which means that they were in a better financial condition and their child was in a lower birth rank. The majority of these mothers lived with their spouses and had better control over their children's technology and mobile phone use. Asuquo et al.(14)in Nigeria is consistent with the findings of the present study.
In contrast to the current study, Devi and Yadav showed no significant correlation between the sex education style of rural parents and the family's financial status (15).
This difference seems to be related to cultural differences between urban and rural communities. Work diversity may be less in rural areas than in urban areas. In general, rural parents have a stronger taboo on sex education and related topics and may have much less access to public resources on sex education(16).
This study indicated that mothers who followed an authoritative sex education style had more control over their children's technology and mobile phone use. A study by Keikha et al. (17) is consistent with this finding. In the study of Ihmeideh and Shawareb, parents who had a strict style set hard rules for their children to use the Internet. They punished their children for connect to the social media(18).
In this study, mothers with authoritative style had fewer children than mothers with strict style. In the majority of these mothers, the children under study were daughters who were under education in private (non-public) schools. They were the first child of their family. Also, most of these mothers had participated in the sex education training.
A study by Zedan et al. showed that the more children a family has, the less care, support, and encouragement they have (19) which is in line with the present study. One of the inconsistent results is the study of Sourinejad et al. that indicated mothers with two or more children have higher authoritative style scores than single mothers (20). Attitudes and expectations of parents change through the experience of the first child.
Parental behavior with the first child seems different from the next child. Of course, if the family's financial status is complicated, parents may have a limited time meeting the educational needs of all their children, and many school-aged children may start working to support the family's financial situation. This issue reduces family oversight and support for children (21).
According to the results of this study, most mothers that had one son followed a strict style of sex education, while mothers with one daughter followed an authoritative style.
Regarding the authoritative style of sex education in the participants and gender of their children, Purwanti et al. showed that parents have a deeper relationship with their daughter than their son when they educate their child, which is consistent with current studies (22). However, Sharifi et al. reported that a strict sex education style is more common among parents with daughters than the mothers with sons(23) which is inconsistent with the current study. This indicates Iranian families with daughter children have more concern about sex education of their children.
Comparing two strict and authoritative styles showed that the majority of children that had mothers with authoritative style and strict style were educating in the private (non-public) schools and public schools respectively. In this regard, a study by Qarebaghi et al. found that most mothers with children in public schools adhered to a strict sex educational style(24). In contrast to the current study, McKay et al. showed that there was not much difference in the type of answers given about sex education between students' parents in public and private (non-public) schools. They showed parents of children attending
Catholic schools have shown a stricter attitude towards sex education, but actually, there was no difference between the parents of public and Catholic schools (25).
Comparing the two strict and the authoritative styles, we found that mothers with authoritative style had more participated in the sex education classes and had more information than the others. Mothers who followed a strict or permissive sex education style had less information on issues related to their child's exposure to sexual abuse and harassment. Consistent with the current study in the study by Lo et al. the parents who had authoritative educational views were more aware of sex education of children and various types of child abuse than other views (26). In their study, Khanjari et al. were found that 20% of mothers had a permissive sex education style (27).
According to the results, a significant association was observed between authoritative style and marital status and most authoritative mothers lived with their husbands. Regarding the study of Jamaluddin which was along with the present study, the divorced parents had a lower level of knowledge about sex education of their children than the married parents(21).
Rosenkrantz and Houston concluded that mothers living alone for some reason are more violent and somewhat stricter than their children (28).
This study has some limitations. Since this study was conducted in the pandemic of the COVID-19, various factors, including social distance, may have reduced the tendency of mothers to stay longer in comprehensive health service centers, affecting the accuracy of answering questions. The results of this study and the participants’ attitudes may also be influenced by Iran's Islamic culture and the related teachings about the limitations of relationships between the opposite genders.