Perceptions of stigma and self-reported school engagement in same-sex couples with young children.

Abstract

Little research has explored same-sex parents’ school engagement, although there is some evidence that same-sex parents’ perceptions of openness versus exclusion in the school setting –as well as other interrelated contexts – may have implications for their relationships with and perceptions of their children’s schools. The current cross-sectional study used multilevel modeling to examine the relationship between same-sex parents’ perceptions of stigma in various contexts and their self-reported school involvement, relationships with teachers, and school satisfaction, using a sample of 68 same-sex adoptive couples (132 parents) of kindergarten-age children. Parents who perceived their communities as more homophobic reported higher levels of school-based involvement. Parents who perceived lower levels of sexual orientation-related stigma at their children’s schools reported higher levels of school satisfaction. Parents who perceived lower levels of exclusion by other parents reported higher levels of school-based involvement and better relationships with teachers. However, perceived exclusion interacted with parents’ level of outness with other parents, such that parents who were very out and reported high levels of exclusion reported the lowest quality relationships with teachers. Our findings have implications for scholars who study same-sex parent families at various stages of the life cycle, as well as for teachers and other professionals who work with diverse families.

Community Characteristics, Victimization, and Psychological Adjustment Among School-Aged Adopted Children With Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Parents

“…Perhaps LG parents also experience less trust that schools (which are frequently heteronormative in their policies and practices, and employ staff who lack comfort with LG-parent families; Goldberg and Smith, 2014) will effectively support their families, and are less likely to turn to them if their child is mistreated. At the same time, research on LG parents of young children suggests that they are highly involved at school, in part because they hope that their proactive advocacy will facilitate more favorable treatment (Goldberg and Smith, 2014;Goldberg et al, 2017). In turn, LG parents may indeed turn to school-based supports amidst child victimization, especially if they are highly involved and therefore expect positive treatment.…”

“…Although research has gradually begun to address the experiences of LGparent families (Goldberg, 2010), rarely has it considered their intersections with the school context. Studies of LG parents of young children have examined their school decisions (Goldberg et al, 2018) and school involvement (Goldberg and Smith, 2014;Goldberg et al, 2017) and several studies of LG-parent families with school-aged children have explored children's experiences with teasing and victimization (Bos and van Balen, 2008;Kosciw and Diaz, 2008;Rivers et al, 2008;Farr et al, 2016).…”

Tolerance Versus Support: Perceptions of Residential Community Climate Among LGB Parents

“…Indeed, a study of how the LGB community changed after gaining a legal protection in Colorado found that involvement declined because they had won what they were fighting for (Russell, Bohan, McCarroll, & Smith, 2011). Looking specifically at parents, Goldberg and Smith (2014) found that LGB parents were more involved in their children's schools when they perceived those schools as less supportive. Also, Holman and Oswald (2011) found that negative attention regarding LGB parents' sexuality was most likely to occur in organizational settings such as schools, hospitals, courtrooms, and workplaces.…”

“…For example, lesbian and gay parents reported a tremendous sense of relief and family security associated with gaining the right to adopt in Florida (Goldberg, Moyer, Weber, & Shapiro, ). Further, adoptive sexual minority parents who perceived that their neighborhoods were more “gay‐friendly” were less likely to perceive that instances of mistreatment were motivated by anti‐LGB bias (Goldberg & Smith, ). Similarly, in an ethnography of Black gay women in New York City, most of whom were mothers, Moore () described how the women sought out specific community settings because they provided support for the mothers' identities and families.…”

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

“…), including LG adoptive parent families (Lamb, 2012;Farr, 2017). Even so, in the US, adoptive parents often face stigma (e.g., concerns about parenting ability; Miall, 1987) related to "non-traditional" family structures (i.e., differing from married heterosexual parents with biologically related children), and LG adoptive parents often face additional stigma based on sexual identity (Goldberg, 2009;Herek, 2010;Goldberg and Smith, 2014;Lo et al, 2019). For example, the question of whether samegender couples could raise children as effectively as do differentgender couples was a central debate in the ruling for marriage equality in the US, a ruling that held important legal implications about whether (married) same-gender couples could jointly adopt children (American Psychological Association [APA], 2015;Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2015.…”