Within the judicial and clinical communities, the stigmatization of children with lesbian mothers is often seen as inevitable. Even lesbian mothers themselves often impose secrecy upon their children based on fears that stigmatization will occur. In two studies, college students were asked to indicate how willing they would be to enter into relationships with lesbians and their children. Relational stigma was greater toward lesbians that their children and acceptance decreased as relational closeness increased. However, between 80 and 100 percent of students were willing to be acquaintances, friends, or best friends with children of lesbians. Although there were no sex differences in acceptance of lesbians, women were more willing to engage in relationships with children of lesbians than were men. Persons who believed that homosexuality was caused by environmental factors were less willing than persons with other beliefs to date or marry the child of a lesbian.

To ascertain the extent to which children of lesbian mothers are stigmatized, 338 undergraduate students were asked to complete a child behavior checklist for a hypothetical child of either a divorced lesbian or a divorced heterosexual mother. Respondents attributed more problematic behavior in a variety of domains to the child of the lesbian mother, although this stigmatization was not compounded if lesbian mothers were depicted as living with adult female partners. Implications for child custody determinations and future research are considered.

Recent custody rulings in this country have indicated that lesbian mothers are viewed more negatively than other parents with stigmatizing attributes, e.g., a history of mental illness or criminality. The current study compared willingness to engage in relationships with a variety of adults with potentially stigmatizing conditions (including lesbians) as well as the children of these stigmatized individuals among a sample of college students. The hypothesis that perceived controllability of homosexuality would be related to stigmatization of lesbians and their children was also tested. Findings included the following: (1) Participants reported a greater willingness to engage in relationships with children of stigmatized parents than with individuals who personally possess a stigmatizing attribute; (2) Participants reported a greater willingness to engage in relationships with adults with physically based stigmas and their children than with adults with mental/behavioral stigmas and their children, and (3) Participants who reported a belief that homosexuality is a controllable condition were less willing to engage in relationships with lesbians than respondents who reported a belief that homosexuality is uncontrollable. Discussion includes not only an evaluation of the results and limitations of the study, but also comments concerning judicial and societal stigmatization of lesbians and their children.

T oriented temperament researcher who, after repeated forays into the chapters contained in this book, may have wrongly concluded that he or she has little role to play in future temperament research. What we hope to show is that, paradoxically, increased understanding of the biological roots of temperament is not an impediment to future behavioral research in this area. Rather, we argue that increasing knowledge about the biological basis of temperament offers a unique set of research challenges that can only be answered via continued input from behaviorally oriented temperament researchers. Before dealing with this issue, we frst summarize the main points that are raised in this book, by way of framing the issues to be discussed in an appropriate context (a good behavioral strategy).We thank John E. Bates and Charles A. Nelscm for their incisive comments m a preliminary dmft of this chapter.

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