The past decades have witnessed some of the most prolific changes in rights and experiences for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) individuals and their families. Research during this period also witnessed a significant increase in the study of these changes. The current content analysis systematically reviewed all LGBT-related articles published in top-ranked, general family science journals from 2000 to 2015 to gauge the state of this growing field. Specifically, basic descriptives, theoretical foundations, methodological plurality, and inclusivity were examined. Results revealed that less than 3% of articles published were LGBT-related, most were atheoretical and infrequently included variables unique to this population (e.g., outness, discrimination), used purposive cross-sectional samples, focused most on lesbian and/or gay couples, and included primarily White and middle-class individuals in samples. Areas of strengths and future opportunities are discussed.

Stepfamily relationships remain important over the life course to both children and parents. Unfortunately, limitations in availability of longitudinal data that include useful measures of stepfamily relations remain, thereby scholars must rely mostly on cross-sectional examinations. As a way to more rigorously test some of the mixed cross-sectional findings related to the links among stepcouple stability and parent-adult child relationships (closeness, involvement) for three parent-child subsystems (motherchild, father-child, stepparent-child), we used an alternative modeling strategy to test three plausible models. Multiple group analyses also were used to compare associations for stepmother and stepfather families. Stepfamilies (N ϭ 330) from the National Survey of Families and Households with data from both adult children and primary respondents (resident parent or stepparent) were included. All three models fit the data. The best-fitting model suggests the most probable order of association is that parental involvement is associated with parent-child closeness which, in turn, is associated with stepcouple stability. Results also suggest that multiple parent-child relationships and stepcouple relationship stability are generally positively linked for both stepmother and stepfather households, although some differences emerged. Taken together, findings underscore the influence of cross-household stepfamily relationships even when children are adults.

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