Predictors of mental health in emerging adult offspring of lesbian-parent families

Abstract

Emerging adulthood is a new, distinct life stage for 18-to 29year-olds in the United States. In the sixth wave of data collection in a longitudinal cohort study (started in 1986), predictors of mental health were examined in the emerging adult offspring within lesbian-parent parent families. The donor-conceived offspring were 25 years old. In cross-sectional analyses, we assessed whether their mental health (life satisfaction and behavioral/emotional problems) was associated with personal characteristics, family characteristics, quality of important relationships, and experiences of homophobic stigmatization. The findings revealed that the predictors of mental health in these offspring were typical of what has been previously reported on emerging adults. However, offspring who reported stigmatization because of their parents' sexual identity had higher rates of behavioral/emotional problems than those who did not. KEYWORDSEmerging adults; sexual minority parent families; offspring of lesbian parents; mental health; homophobic stigmatizationIn the United States and other high-income countries, emerging adulthood is a distinct life stage for individuals between 18 and 29 years old (e.g., Arnett, 2000;Fussell & Furstenberg, 2014). In the field of developmental psychology, there has been considerable interest in emerging adulthood, particularly in young people with economic security. Research on this life stage (e.g., Settersten, Ray, & MacArthur Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood and Public Policy, 2010) has primarily focused on U.S. populations. There are also studies of emerging adulthood within specific subgroups, such as women and racial/ethnic minorities (e.g.

“We Were Among the First Non-traditional Families”: Thematic Perceptions of Lesbian Parenting After 25 Years

“…Also, there were no significant differences in their educational or job performance or mental health (including emotional and behavioral problems). However, NLLFS adult offspring who had been stigmatized in multiple ways because of their parents’ sexual orientation and had low scores on meaning in life were found to have higher rates of emotional or behavioral problems than the remaining NLLFS offspring (Bos et al, 2019; Koh et al, 2019).…”

“…Few studies have examined mental health outcomes in adults who were born into SMP families (Golombok and Badger, 2010; Gartrell et al, 2018; Koh et al, 2019). The ongoing U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) began in 1986 with a goal of providing prospective data on the first generation of planned lesbian-parent families (Gartrell et al, 1996).…”

Meaning in Life as a Moderator between Homophobic Stigmatization and Coping Styles in Adult Offspring from Planned Lesbian-Parent Families

“…The rationale of focusing on emerging adults is based on the developmental perspective that at this stage of life, offspring born and raised in sexual minority parent families have the cognitive ability to interpret homophobic discrimination associated with their parents' sexual orientation (Koh et al, 2019;Prendergast & MacPhee, 2018). The emerging adult life phase is characterized as a time for exploring one's identity, and finding meaning in the realms of romantic relationships, work, and world views (Arnett et al 2014).…”

“…Experience of homophobic stigmatization was assessed by asking the 25-year-old offspring how often they had been stigmatized as adults for being raised by (a) lesbian mother(s) (0 = Never to 4 = Very frequently). This stigmatization scale (Koh et al, 2019) consisted of six items (e.g., "Peers asked annoying questions"). Because of the distribution and small cell sizes, for each item, the answer categories 1 = Rarely, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Often, and 4 = Very frequently were collapsed.…”

“…(Gartrell & Bos, 2010). At the 6th Wave, the most frequently mentioned experiences of homophobic stigmatization were that people asked the adult offspring annoying questions (72.8%) 1 and made jokes (58.2%) 1 related to their parents' sexual orientation (Koh et al 2019).…”