To Have or Not to Have Children? That Is the Question. Factors Influencing Parental Decisions Among Lesbians and Gay Men

Gato, Jorge; Santos, Sara; Fontaine, Anne Marie

doi:10.1007/s13178-016-0268-3

Cited by 68 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Notwithstanding the notion that this attraction to parenthood may be transitory, the interviewed residents of Iceland, whether Icelandic or not, female or male, do not seem to have felt held back in their desire for children, contrary to what has been found in empirical studies on desires for children in other countries (Gato et al 2017). In Iceland, the negative characteristics which hold back gays and lesbians elsewhere are either absent or not sufficiently strong.…”

Section: Normalization Integration or Assimilation?contrasting

confidence: 72%

LGBT Desires in Family Land: Parenting in Iceland, from Social Acceptance to Social Pressure

Digoix

2020

European Studies of Population

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More than 20 years ago, Iceland opened civil union to same-sex couples with its confirmed partnership law (staðfest samvist, 1996). Since then, the country has attained a high level of equality between same-sex and different-sex couples in the domain of family law, and the law has strong provisions against discrimination toward LGBT people. The increasing visibility and acceptance of LGBT people is raising questions about the social process of integration. LGBT people are confronted with heterosexual norms, a confrontation that is difficult to bypass. In this context, some may find that they are losing their identity. Iceland is a familialist society, and a key entry into the social acceptance of homosexuality has been through marriage and parenting. There is a clear gender gap in family-making. Lesbians have access to ART whereas adoption is scarcely available and surrogacy still illegal, reducing access to parenthood for gay men. However, in Iceland's small LGBT community, parenting desire has increasingly become a reality for both females and males. Based on a survey consisting of 30 interviews, the paper studies how parenthood meets a wide range of personal desires, but also how it has become a normative pressure.

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Section: Normalization Integration or Assimilation?contrasting

confidence: 72%

LGBT Desires in Family Land: Parenting in Iceland, from Social Acceptance to Social Pressure

Digoix

2020

European Studies of Population

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“…Our cross-cultural study has been the first to investigate differences in anticipated parenthood of lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual individuals from two distinct cultural contexts. Despite the many legal and technological advances concerning samesex parenthood (Goldberg 2010), these differences can be better understood if we consider that there are still societal barriers that lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons have to face regarding parenthood (Gato, Santos and Fontaine 2016). The finding that lesbian, gay and bisexual participants anticipated more stigma upon parenthood than their heterosexual counterparts may be a consequence of the heteronormative context they experience in both Portugal and the UK.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perceptions of parenting. Perceptions of the parenting experience were measured using an adaptation of the Perception of Parenting Inventory (Lawson 2004;Gato, Santos and Fontaine 2016). Participants were instructed to think about what parenting a child would be like and the extent to which respondents valued or (devalued) different aspects of parenting was measured.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The subscale anticipated instrumental costs encapsulated in five items that evaluated the difficulties associated with having children (e.g., "Raising the child would be financially expensive"). Since this subscale included instrumental costs as well as emotional and physical costs, the "instrumental" qualifier was omitted (Gato, Santos, and Fontaine 2016). Continuity consisted of four items assessing perceptions of generativity and continuity of family (e.g., "The child would carry on my family line").…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prospective parenting: sexual identity and intercultural trajectories

Leal

Gato

Tasker

2018

Culture, Health & Sexuality

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This study explored the impact of sexual identity on attitudes towards parenthood among childless individuals from Portugal and the United Kingdom (UK). Compared to heterosexuals, lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals were less likely to: desire and intend to have children, be concerned about the prospect of childlessness or perceive children as a source of enrichment. They also people anticipated more stigma as parents than did heterosexuals. Compared to UK participants, all Portuguese participants, independently of sexual identity, desired and intended more to have children, were more concerned about childlessness, reported higher levels of parental commitment, and anticipated less stigma and expected more social support as parents. Portuguese lesbian, gay and bisexual participants desired more to have children than did those in the UK. Only in the UK did lesbian, gay and bisexual participants perceive children less as a source of enrichment than did heterosexuals and also anticipate negative costs associated with parenting. We concluded that the intersectional influence of different cultural climates on parenting aspirations should be taken into account in future research alongside sexual identity.

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“…Nevertheless, many gay men want to become parents in the future (Gates et al, 2007;Goldberg et al, 2012;Scandurra et al, 2019). Yet little is known about the decision-making process of childfree gay men toward becoming parents in the future (Mezey, 2013;Gato et al, 2017;Riskind and Tornello, 2017;Scandurra et al, 2019). The present study focuses on the parenting intentions of childfree gay men, compared to their lesbian and heterosexual peers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Parenting Intentions Among Childfree Gay Men: A Comparison With Lesbian Women and Heterosexual Men and Women

et al. 2020

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Introduction: There is a growing interest in the parenting intentions of gay men. Prior research has found that gay men are less likely to become parents compared to their heterosexual and lesbian peers, but we know very little about why this discrepancy exists. Our first aim was to investigate whether the strength of parenting intentions is similar or different among childfree gay men compared to lesbian women, and heterosexual men and women. Our second aim was to explore the extent to which the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model (attitude, subjective norms, and self-efficacy) is universal in predicting the strength of parenting intentions across gender and/or sexual orientation. Methods: The study was based on a United States cross-sectional, internetbased survey of childfree people who want to become parents in the future. The sample consisted of 58 gay men, 66 lesbian women, 164 heterosexual people (128 women and 36 men). Results: A Bayesian ANCOVA showed no support for a gender difference in the strength of parenting intentions. Moderate evidence was provided for gay men and lesbian women reporting a similar strength of parenting intentions compared to their heterosexual peers. Bayesian linear regression analyses showed that perceived positive and negative life changes were stronger predictors of the strength of parenting intentions for men than for women. Perceived positive life changes predicted the strength of parenting intentions similarily across sexual orientations. For gay men and lesbian women, perceived parental acceptance of future parenthood was a weaker predictor of the strength of parenting intentions compared to heterosexual people. Conclusion: Those who perceived parenthood as bringing positive life changes, especially for men, expressed stronger parenting intentions.

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To Have or Not to Have Children? That Is the Question. Factors Influencing Parental Decisions Among Lesbians and Gay Men

Cited by 68 publications

References 87 publications

LGBT Desires in Family Land: Parenting in Iceland, from Social Acceptance to Social Pressure

LGBT Desires in Family Land: Parenting in Iceland, from Social Acceptance to Social Pressure

Prospective parenting: sexual identity and intercultural trajectories

Understanding Parenting Intentions Among Childfree Gay Men: A Comparison With Lesbian Women and Heterosexual Men and Women

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