Objective:

to determine the relationship of the elements of family dynamics, such as communication and cohesion, with risk behaviors of adolescents and their parents.

Materials and Methods:

Descriptive, correlative, cross-sectional study in a non-probabilistic sample for the convenience of 50 adolescents with their respective parents belonging to a tele-secondary school in the city of Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, during the months of October and November 2014. Prior informed consent, a sociodemographic data card and the Pan American Health Organization Parentadolescent communication scale “How is your family?” were applied, that measured parent-child communication and risk behaviors. Also, Olson’s Faces III scale was applied which assessed parent-child cohesion. The analysis of the Chi-square test and the Spearman coefficient was performed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

Results:

the mean age of the adolescents was 13.3 ± 1.23 years. Parental cohesion and communication was not associated with adolescent risk behavior (p = 0.218> 0.05 and p = .981> 0.05, respectively). The risk behavior of the parent was associated with the risk behavior of adolescents (p = 0.002 <0.05).

Conclusion:

family dynamics was not associated with risk behaviors of adolescents, but it was associated with risk behavior of the parent which is important for the nursing professional in the field of health promotion to provide family strategies that impact on the behavior of parents and on their well-being.

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