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

Abstract

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.

What We Know and What Remains to Be Explored about LGBTQ Parent Families in Israel: A Sociocultural Perspective

“…Nowadays, more LGBTQ individuals are becoming parents than ever before due to changes in legislation and advances in fertility technologies [ 39 , 40 ]. Consequently, research on parenthood aspirations in this population has been growing worldwide, e.g., [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ], including in Israel, e.g., [ 38 , 46 ]. Previous studies have suggested that there are three main common factors that define whether an individual will actually become a parent in the future: parenthood desire (i.e., expressed wishes); parenthood intention (i.e., explicit reflecting/planning to become a parent); and estimated likelihood of parenthood (i.e., assessing the probabilities of becoming a parent, which also takes into account the sociocultural conditions) [ 38 , 47 , 48 ].…”

Predictor Variables of Childbearing Motivations in Brazilian Women and Men

“…We included heterosexual Brazilians of both genders and over the age of 18. The exclusion of non-heterosexual individuals is due to the fact that studies on CM carried out with these groups (Blake et al, 2017;van Houten, Tornello, Hoffenaar, & Bos, 2020) indicate the need to include and problematize a set of individual and contextual variables, which address concerns unique to their sexual minority status, that were not considered in this study. Data was collected virtually via the online platform Surveymonkey, between December 2018 and July 2019.…”

Childlessness and Barriers to Gay Parenthood in Czechia

“…Their childlessness does not relate to an absence of parental consciousness. Just as childless gay men who lack parental consciousness and see their childlessness as "naturally" given, childfree gay men consider their childlessness as a permanent way of life; but as opposed to the former, they construct this way as their genuine choice (e.g., van Houten et al, 2020).…”