Parental Stress, Heterosexism, and Depressive Symptoms Among Sexual Diverse Parents

Background: Parental depression contributes to multiple adverse psychosocial, academic, and developmental outcomes among children (Weissman et al., 2016). Studies have consistently found parental stress to be associated with more severe parental depression among majority cisgender—heterosexual parent samples (Baranczuk & Pisula, 2022; Park & Lee, 2022). No studies have investigated this relationship among sexual and gender diverse (SGD) parents despite their higher rates of depression relative to their cisgender—heterosexual counterparts (Woodford et al., 2015). Further, there is a need to explore whether parental stress interacts with minority stress among SGD parents who contend with unfounded assertions that children’s positive development requires being parented by cisgender—heterosexual adults (Horne et al., 2021). This study examined the potential moderating roles of a) heterosexist parenting experiences and b) state SGD protective policy tally in the associations between parental stress and depressive symptoms in a sample of 511 racially and geographically diverse SGD parents in the U.S. We hypothesized that: 1) parental stress would be associated with more severe depressive symptoms; 2) heterosexist parenting experiences would moderate the association between parental stress and depressive symptoms, such that this association would be stronger at higher levels of heterosexist parenting experiences; 3) state SGD protective policy tally would moderate the association between parental stress and depressive symptoms, such that this association would be stronger at lower levels of state SGD protective policies.

Methods: Cross-sectional anonymous online survey-based data were collected in November 2024. Participants were recruited by Qualtrics Panels which invited its panelists to participate if they met the following criteria: 1) age 18 or older, 2) sexually diverse, 3) parenting a child less than 18 years old, 4) U.S. resident. Participants who completed the 15-minute Qualtrics-hosted survey were directly compensated by Qualtrics Panels. Sample instruments included the Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (Kroenke et al., 2001), the Parental Stress Scale (Barry & Jones, 1995), the Parenting subscale of the Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire (Balsam et al., 2013), and Equality Maps Overall Policy Tally (Movement Advancement Project, 2025). Hypothesis testing involved the use of hierarchical multiple regression analysis and simple slopes testing.

Results: SGD parents with higher levels of parental stress had more severe depressive symptoms. Heterosexist parenting experiences significantly moderated the positive association between parental stress and depressive symptoms, such that the association was stronger at higher versus lower levels of heterosexist parenting experiences. State SGD protective policy tally was not a significant moderator.

Conclusion and Implications: Our findings point to the need for policy, practice, and research actions to mitigate the harmful interactive effects of parental stress and heterosexist parenting experiences on the mental health of SGD parents. In particular, as schools are central locations in the lives of children and parents (Goldberg et al., 2020), we recommend that schools interrogate how their policies and practices may inhibit SGD parents’ school involvement and increase their vulnerabilities for heterosexist parenting experiences. We additionally recommend research examining whether SGD parents’ sense of belonging in various communities may buffer the negative association between parental stress and depressive symptoms.