Lesbian and Gay Parents' Beliefs about Talking with Their Children about Their Sexual Minority Status: Associations with Child Adjustment

Background and Purpose: Increasing numbers of lesbian and gay (LG) individuals are forming families through adoption. Little is known, however, about the unique socialization practices of LG parents, although several recent studies indicate these practices do occur. Given implications for positive child outcomes, more information about LG parent beliefs and self-efficacy related to specific cultural socialization practices are needed.

Thus, our study: 1) examines LG parents’ beliefs and perceptions about providing children with tools to manage bias and discrimination related to being part of a sexual minority parent family, 2) explores parents’ confidence levels in enacting these socialization practices, and 3) explores associations between parent beliefs and child wellbeing.

Methods: Participants were from the Modern Adoptive Families study, an online survey of diverse adoptive families (n=1534). This subsample included 245 LG parents (164 mothers, 81 fathers; M_age = 45 years). Adopted children had been placed early (M_age=2.06 years, SD=3.08), were with their families an average of 7.57 years (SD=5.32), and were an average of 9.57 years during data collection (SD=6.08, range=<1-29.6). Most respondents were White (90%), married/partnered (86%), college-educated (90%), and financially secure (57% reported family income >$100,000).

Participants reported socialization beliefs and feelings of self-efficacy with two new measures modified for LG parents from established measures about racial socialization and self-efficacy: the 29-item Transracial Adoptive Parenting Scale (TAPS) and the 7-item Racial Socialization Self-Efficacy subscale (RSSES).

Children’s emotional problems at placement (yes/no) and current psychological functioning (Likert-scale of 1-5; 1= poor, 5=excellent) were reported by parents. LG parents were significantly more likely to adopt children with emotional problems (33.46%) than were heterosexual parents (n = 1289; 26.89%; χ²(1)=4.73, p=.03). Emotional problems at placement were associated with lower psychological adjustment.

Results: An ordered logistic regression was conducted to examine the effect of parents’ endorsement of and self-efficacy with socialization practices on current child psychological functioning, controlling for child current age and a lagged indicator of emotional problems at placement. Respondents reported high ratings (Ms=3.72-4.84; maximum score: 5) across items, endorsing socialization practices and indicating high confidence enacting these practices.

Higher endorsement of socialization practices was associated with decreased odds of excellent adjustment (OR=.10, p<.001). However, a significant interaction between emotional problems and parents’ socialization scores (OR=13.9, p=.006) suggests that for children with emotional problems at placement, parents’ endorsement of socialization practices are associated with greater adjustment. Stronger effects were found for younger children 2-5.9 years (OR=.26, p <.03)

Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest socialization practices among LG parents may be particularly important for children placed with emotional problems. Importantly, since these data are correlational, it is possible that high endorsement of socialization practices is a response to children’s lower adjustment.

Findings are consistent with previous research indicating LG parents’ endorsement of socialization practices unique to sexual minority parent families. Moreover, these results indicate some positive associations between these socialization practices and children’s wellbeing. Findings may be informative to practitioners in supporting socialization practices and their potentially positive benefits among LG parent families.