Negative Parental Responses to Coming Out and Family Functioning in a Sample of Lesbian and Gay Young Adults

Abstract

Parental responses to youths' coming out (CO) are crucial to the subsequent adjustment of children and family. The present study investigated the negative parental reaction to the disclosure of same-sex attraction and the differences between maternal and paternal responses, as reported by their homosexual daughters and sons. Participants' perceptions of their parents' reactions (evaluated through the Perceived Parental Reactions Scale, PPRS), age at CO, gender, parental political orientation, and religiosity involvement, the family functioning (assessed through the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales), were assessed in 164 Italian gay and lesbian young adults. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relation between family functioning and parental reaction to CO. The paired sample t test was used to compare mothers and fathers' scores on the PPRS. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the relevance of each variable. No differences were found between mothers and fathers in their reaction to the disclosure. The analysis showed that a negative reaction to CO was predicted by parents' right-wing political conservatism, strong religious beliefs, and higher scores in the scales Rigid and Enmeshed. Findings confirm that a negative parental reaction is the result of poor family resources to face a stressful situation and a strong belief in traditional values. These results have important implications in both clinical and social fields.

Coming out Through an Intersectional Perspective: Narratives of Bisexuality and Polyamory in Italy

“…Welfare is central in discussions about citizenship, especially in Mediterranean countries where State expectations that care will be provided within families persist (Naldini & Jurado, 2013;Pavolini & Raitano, 2015). Regarding stigma management within families of origin (Baiocco et al, 2015;Pistella, Salvati, Ioverno, Laghi, & Baiocco, 2016), I discussed how bisexual and polyamorous people decide to manage their visibility with their families of origins, revealing how the intersection of their identities leads to different options over stigma, depending on the level of economic independence from parents. In a context where family and kinship are central, networks of friends are also deemed a great source of wellbeing for subjects allocated outside the safety net of familialistic welfare, as identified by Nadia's polyfamily.…”

“…4. Given the qualitative and sociological approach of this research, please refer to Baiocco et al (2015), Lingiardi et al (2016), and Pistella et al (2016) for quantitative and psychological data on coming out and sexual stigma in Italy. 5.…”

Sports as a risk environment: Homophobia and bullying in a sample of gay and heterosexual men

“…Consequently, the fact that an athlete is gay, bisexual or transgendered (GBT), will be associated to some form of sexual interaction or sexual gratification for the GBT individual interacting their team mates. For these reasons, coming out in sports-related contexts by sexual minorities may also be associated with negative consequences, such as bullying and prejudice (Baiocco et al, 2015;D'Augelli, Pilkington, & Hershberger, 2002).…”

A Longitudinal Study of Interpersonal Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adolescents and Young Adults: Mediational Pathways from Attachment to Romantic Relationship Quality

“…Sexual minority individuals (including lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, and same-sex loving individuals) face unique barriers to the establishment of interpersonal expectancies consistent with secure attachment. Because of their sexual orientation, they are more likely to both anticipate rejection (Pachankis, Goldfried, & Ramrattan, 2008) and to experience rejection from parents (Baiocco et al, 2015), particularly during early stages of the coming out process (D’Augelli, 2006). Data suggest that experiences of rejection from peers are also common for sexual minority youth.…”