Sexual Orientation, Marriage and Parenthood

Patterson, Charlotte J.; Riskind, Rachel G.; Tornello, Samantha L.

doi:10.1002/9781118320990.ch13

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Stigma related to sexual orientation and adoption may also operate differently depending on the cultural and sociopolitical context and geographic region in which it occurs (Farr et al, in press), clearly connected with the importance of considering broader external contexts that could contribute to family stress (Boss et al, 2016). For example, LG parent adoptive families living in areas or countries with generally favorable attitudes and policies related to same-gender couples may be provided some protection from the negative effects of stigma-whereas those living in areas characterized by less LG-affirming attitudes or outright discriminatory policies may exacerbate such effects Patterson et al, 2013). While our sample is largely representative of other adoptive family samples who pursue private, domestic infant adoption in the US (Pinderhughes and Brodzinsky, 2019), future research would benefit from larger and more diverse samples in terms of geographic location, country of residence, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and pathway to parenthood, among other factors (Fish and Russell, 2018).…”

Section: Limitations Future Research Directions and Practice And Pomentioning

confidence: 99%

Stigma Experiences, Mental Health, Perceived Parenting Competence, and Parent–Child Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents in the United States

Farr

Vázquez

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Adoptive parents often face stigma related to "non-traditional" family structures. Lesbian and gay (LG) adoptive parents often face additional stigmatization based on sexual identity, which in turn may negatively affect parents' mental health. Despite controversy about LG parenting, research demonstrates that family processes are more strongly associated with individual outcomes than family structure. Thus, family systems and minority stress theories provided our conceptual foundation in examining how adoptive LG parents' stigma experiences were associated with mental health, parenting competence, and parent-child relationships. Participating families (N = 106; n = 56 LG parent families) were originally recruited from five US domestic private infant adoption agencies and completed two waves of data collection (W1, W2; 91% retention) when children were preschool-age (M age = 3.01 years) and school-age (M age = 8.36 years), respectively. Data for the current study are largely drawn from W2. Via Qualtrics, parents completed assessments of mental health symptoms, adoption stigma, and perceived childcare competence. LG parents also reported on their experiences of homonegative microaggressions, and children responded to a measure about their relationships with parents. No significant differences emerged as a function of parental sexual orientation and gender except that lesbian mothers, heterosexual mothers, and gay fathers all reported higher parenting competence than heterosexual fathers. Although parents' mental health did not significantly predict parent-child relationship quality, parents' perceived competence and LG parents' current homonegative microaggression experiences did (e.g., greater competence, greater closeness; more microaggressions, lower closeness). Consistent with our conceptual framework, our results-derived from parent and child reports-demonstrate that although adoptive and LG parent families experience stigma, family processes (rather than structure) are most associated with individual outcomes. Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners should work together to employ identity-affirming practices to reduce stigma and support adoptive family functioning and well-being.

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Section: Limitations Future Research Directions and Practice And Pomentioning

confidence: 99%

Stigma Experiences, Mental Health, Perceived Parenting Competence, and Parent–Child Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents in the United States

Farr

Vázquez

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…Besides extending empirical knowledge on parenting beyond the heteronormative perspective, it should be noted that investigating the correlates of attentional bias in same-sex parent families could be advantageos, as it might shed further light on the underlying mechanisms of human caregiving behaviors. About the role of maternal involvement in childcare, it has been consistently evidenced that same-sex mothers share parenting more equally than do mothers and fathers within different-sex parent families ( Patterson et al., 2004 ; Patterson, Riskind, & Tornello, 2013 ). This might result in individual differences in maternal involvement that are not largely defined according to the traditional sex roles as in different-sex couples of parents, in which mothers usually devote much time in childcare as compared to fathers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attentional bias to infant faces might be associated with previous care experiences and involvement in childcare in same-sex mothers

Gemignani,

Giannotti,

Rigo

et al. 2024

International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology

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“…Investigations of parenting in lesbian mother families have found lesbian mothers to share parenting more equally than do heterosexual parents ( Patterson, 2013 ; Patterson et al , 2014 ). However, a qualitative longitudinal study designed to produce in-depth data on the dynamics of lesbian mother families with donor-conceived children found that, in the preschool years, biological mothers were more likely to be the primary caregiver, and two-thirds of the mothers acknowledged some jealousy and competitiveness regarding bonding with the child ( Gartrell et al , 1999 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between mothers and children in families formed by shared biological motherhood

et al. 2023

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STUDY QUESTION Does shared biological motherhood, in which a woman gives birth to the genetic child of her female partner, result in more positive mother–child relationships than donor insemination, in which only one mother is biologically related to the child? SUMMARY ANSWER Mothers in both family types showed high levels of bonding with their children and viewed their relationship with their child positively. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY There is some evidence of feelings of inequality regarding their relationship with their child between biological and non-biological mothers in lesbian mother families formed by donor insemination, with a qualitative longitudinal study showing a tendency for children to form stronger bonds with their biological than their non-biological mother. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Thirty lesbian mother families created through shared biological motherhood were compared with 30 lesbian mother families formed by donor-IVF. All families had two mothers who both participated in the study, and the children were aged from infancy up to 8 years old. Data collection took place over 20 months beginning in December 2019. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Each mother in the family was interviewed separately using the Parent Development Interview (PDI), a reliable and valid measure of the nature of the parent’s emotional bond with their child. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded separately by one of two trained researchers who were unaware of the child’s family type. The interview produces 13 variables that relate to the parent’s representations of themselves as a parent, 5 variables that relate to the parent’s representations of the child, and a global variable that assesses the extent to which the parent can reflect on the child and their relationship. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Families formed through shared biological parenthood did not differ from families created by donor-IVF in terms of the quality of mothers’ relationships with their children as assessed by the PDI. Neither were differences identified between birth mothers and non-birth mothers across the entire sample, or between gestational and genetic mothers within the families formed by shared biological parenthood. Multivariate analyses were conducted to minimize the role of chance. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Ideally, larger samples of families and a narrower age range of children would have been studied, but this was not possible as we were reliant on the small number of families formed through shared biological motherhood in the UK when the study began. To maintain the anonymity of the families, it was not possible to request information from the clinic that may have shed light on differences between those who responded to the request to participate and those who did not. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The findings show that shared biological motherhood is a positive option for lesbian couples who wish to have a more equal biological relationship to their children. One type of biological connection does not appear to have a greater influence on the quality of parent–child relationships than the other. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant ES/S001611/1. KA is Director, and NM is Medical Director, of the London Women’s Clinic. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER N/A.

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Sexual Orientation, Marriage and Parenthood

Cited by 5 publications

References 32 publications

Stigma Experiences, Mental Health, Perceived Parenting Competence, and Parent–Child Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents in the United States

Stigma Experiences, Mental Health, Perceived Parenting Competence, and Parent–Child Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents in the United States

Attentional bias to infant faces might be associated with previous care experiences and involvement in childcare in same-sex mothers

Relationships between mothers and children in families formed by shared biological motherhood

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