Long-Term Effects of Homophobic Stigmatization Experienced in Adolescence on Emerging Adult Offspring of Lesbian Parents

• In Event: Microaggressions Experiences and Developmental Outcomes Among Offspring of Sexual and Gender Minority Parents Over Time

Abstract

Existing studies on lesbian-parent families have found that both the parents and offspring experience homophobic stigmatization—the latter due to their parent’s sexual orientation (e.g., Bos & Van Balen, 2008). Social ecological theories (e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 2001) suggest that development throughout the life course depends on processes between the individual and their social environment. Homophobic stigmatization is an environmental circumstance that may influence psychological development. Little is known about the long-term effects of homophobic stigmatization experienced during adolescence on problem behavior, nor about mechanisms behind these effects. Based on the psychological mediation framework (Hatzenbuehler, 2009), it is conceivable that intrapersonal processes, such as psychological health and meaning in life, may affect individual responses to stigmatization and mediate possible long-term influences on problem behavior. In the present study of 25-year-old offspring of lesbian parents, we investigated the long-term effects of homophobic stigmatization experienced during adolescence on problem behaviors in emerging adulthood via psychological problems during adolescence and meaning in life during emerging adulthood.

It was hypothesized that among offspring in planned lesbian-parent families, the association between perceived homophobic stigmatization during adolescence, and internalizing and externalizing problem behavior during emerging adulthood, would be mediated by a serial path through psychological problems during adolescence and meaning in life during emerging adulthood.

The sample consisted of 72 emerging adults (37 females and 35 males, all cisgender). All were 25 years old and born in the U.S., and had been conceived through donor insemination by lesbian-identified parents. Participants were predominantly White, heterosexual, and highly educated.

The current investigation is part of a larger longitudinal study on lesbian-parent families that began when the prospective mothers were pregnant. Data for the current study were collected when the offspring were 17 and 25 years old. At both time intervals, an online survey was completed, with parental consent for, and assent by, the 17-year-olds, and their own consent as adults when they were 25. For the current study, the data were drawn from the State-Trait Personality Inventory (psychological problems) and a 1-item question on homophobic stigmatization administered to the 17-year-olds, and the Meaning in Life Scale and Adult Self-Report (internalizing and externalizing problems; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2003) administered when they were 25 years old.

When the offspring were 17 years old, 40.3% (n=29) indicated that they had been treated unfairly because of having lesbian parents. Bootstrapping serial mediation analyses showed that the path from experienced homophobia through psychological problems during adolescence, and meaning in life during emerging adulthood, was significant for internalizing problems (B = 0,060, SE = 0,034, 95% CI = [0.005 – 0.139]), but not for externalizing problems (B = 0.010, SE = 0.034, 95% CI = [-0.055-0,091]. We conclude that long-term effects of homophobic stigmatization during adolescence persist into adulthood, influencing internalizing problems in particular.

Authors

• Henny Bos, Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
  Presenting Author

• Nicola Carone, University of Pavia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Esther Rothblum, San Diego State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Audrey S Koh, University of California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nanette Gartrell, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law
  Non-Presenting Author