Legal Parenting Rights as Predictors of Minority Stress, Parenting Stress, and Relationship Satisfaction among Sexual Minority Women
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Minority Stress
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Sexual minority (i.e., nonheterosexual) individuals are at greater risk than heterosexual individuals for substance use and poor mental health attributed to exposure to minority stress (Meyer, 2003). Minority stress is stress that places an additional burden on sexual minority people over and above the stress experienced by heterosexual people. Sexual minority men may also be subject to minority stress related to intersecting identities or individual characteristics (e.g., HIV status, race). This study obtained initial feedback about the AWARENESS intervention from sexual minority men living with HIV who use substances and determined the feasibility of the intervention to address minority stress related to intersecting identities. AWARENESS is a 9-session cognitive-behavioral intervention targeting minority stress as a driver of greater substance use and poorer mental and physical health. Ten sexual minority men living with HIV who were episodic substance users (>1 episode of illicit drug use or binge drinking in the previous 3 months) began the intervention. Feedback on the intervention was obtained through open-ended interviews analyzed using thematic analysis and Likert scale questionnaires about experiences with the intervention. Therapists tracked identities discussed in relation to minority stress to evaluate feasibility of AWARENESS to address intersectional minority stress. Participants identified they gained cognitive-behavioral skills to cope with intersectional minority stress and described destigmatization and integration of identities. Participants discussed an average of 3.2 identity characteristics in addition to sexual minority status in relation to intervention content. This study lays the groundwork for additional testing of this intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Studies have compared sexual minority mothers (mostly lesbian) to heterosexual mothers on mental health, but little research has compared sexual minority women with and without children. This was the first study to compare sexual minority women who did or did not have children, using a population-based sample with three age cohorts. Unlike prior convenience studies, this study finds parents more likely to be bisexual, in a relationship with a man, and non-urban. Bisexual parents scored higher than lesbian parents on psychological distress and lower on life satisfaction and happiness; they also reported less connection to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Among lesbians, the oldest non-parents reported more happiness and less psychological distress than the youngest non-parents. Parents with other identities perceived more social support from friends and reported lower levels of internalized homophobia than bisexual parents. The results will help professionals and policymakers understand how parenthood status affects women across sexual identities.
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Minority Stress
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Heterosexism
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Previous researchers have found evidence for differences in parenting goals between lesbian and gay people and their heterosexual peers. However, no previous research has quantified the parenting goals of bisexual people or evaluated parenting goals as a function of sexual partner gender. In addition, political and social climates for sexual minority people had improved rapidly since the last representative data on lesbian and gay peoples' plans for parenthood were collected. We analyzed data from 3,941 childless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual participants from the 2011-2013 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG; United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 2014), a nationally representative sample of United States residents aged 15 to 44 years. We found that statistically significant, within-gender sexual orientation differences in parenting plans persist, despite social and legal changes. Consistent with hypotheses, bisexual men's parenting desires and intentions were similar to those of their heterosexual male peers and different from those of their gay male peers, while bisexual women's reports were more mixed. Also consistent with hypotheses, the gender of the most recent sexual partner was a strong predictor of parenting goals. We discuss implications for mental and reproductive health-care providers, attorneys, social workers, and others who interact with sexual minority adults. (PsycINFO Database Record
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This paper addresses the developmental and contextual experiences of sexual minority (lesbian, gay, and bisexual; LGB) and sexual non-minority (heterosexual) youth. The first part of the paper examines risks experienced by both groups from previous research studies; and, the second part of the paper focuses on comparing the risks of LGB and heterosexual youth using the results of a new study of 105 youth attending a community-based organization providing recreation and social services. The study focused on the relationships between mental health variables (i.e., self-esteem, personal mastery, anxiety, and depression) and risky recreational sexual activities. Findings indicated that sexual minority youth (ages 15-21) scored significantly higher on measures of anxiety and depression than their heterosexual counterparts. They also experienced more verbal and physical abuse, higher substance use, and self-harming activities than the heterosexual youth. The most risks were identified among the bisexual youth when compared to the lesbian, gay, and heterosexual youth, including high risk for risky sexual behaviors.
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Sexual Violence
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