Considering Same-Sex Parenting: A Qualitative Study with Portuguese Childless Young Adults

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/0102.3772e3646%20

Keywords:

Young adults, Lesbians and gay men, Parental desires, Parental intentions, Interviews

Abstract

The present period is characterized by important social and legal changes with potential repercussions in the lives of lesbian and gay people. This study aimed to identify perceptions of Portuguese childless young adults regarding the possible parenthood project. Interviews were conducted with seven people who self-identified as lesbian, gay and bisexual and who volunteered to participate in the study. Interview transcripts were subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Emerging themes revealed that desire and intention to have children arose associated with the consideration of challenges related to heterosexism, but also associated with reflection on the conditions and resources to be mobilized to tackle it. Implications for the optimization of individual experience at this level are presented.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aboim, S., Costa, C., & Gomes, N. (2012). Famílias LGBT e políticas públicas. In Observatório das Famílias e Políticas de Família (Org.), Seminário Políticas Públicas e Novas Parentalidades. http://www.observatoriofamilias.ics.ul.pt/images/OFAPseminario2012/aboim%20_costa_%20gomes_%20familias%20lgbt%20e%20politicas%20publicas.pdf

Alarcão, M. (2006). (Des)Equilíbrios familiares: Uma visão sistémica (3a ed.). Quarteto.

American Psychological Association. (2005). Lesbian and gay parenting. Author.

American Psychological Association. (2012). Guidelines for psychological practice with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients. American Psychologist, 67(1), 10-42. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024659

Baiocco, R., & Laghi, F. (2013). Sexual orientation and the desires and intentions to become parents. Journal of Family Studies, 19(1), 90-98. https://doi.org/10.5172/jfs.2013.19.1.90

Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55(1), 83-96. https://doi.org/10.2307/1129836

Belsky, J. (2008). Social-contextual determinants of parenting. In R. Tremblay, M. Boivin, & R. Peters (Eds.), Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development (2ª ed. pp. 1-6). Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development.

Berkowitz, D. (2011). Maternal instincts, biological clocks, and soccer moms: Gay men´s parenting and family narratives. Symbolic Interaction, 34(4), 514-535. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2011.34.4.514

Berkowitz, D., & Marsiglio, W. (2007). Gay men: Negotiating procreative, father, and family identities. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(2), 366-381. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00371.x

Bos, H., van Balen, F., & van den Boom, D. (2003). Planned lesbian families: Their desire and motivation to have a child. Human Reproduction, 18(10), 2216-2224. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deg427

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1977). Toward an experimental ecology of human development. American Psychologist, 32, 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.32.7.513

Brown, S., Smalling, S., Groza, V., & Ryan, S. (2009). The experiences of gay men and lesbians in becoming and being adoptive parents. Adoption Quarterly, 12(3), 229-246. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926750903313294

Chabot, J., & Ames, B. (2004). ‘‘It wasn’t ‘let’s get pregnant and go do it’”: Decision making in lesbian couples planning motherhood via donor insemination. Family Relations, 53(4), 348-356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0197-6664.2004.00041.x

Costa, P. A., & Bidell, M. (2017). Modern families: Parenting desire, intention, and experience among Portuguese lesbian, gay, and bisexuals individuals. Journal of Family Issues, 38(4), 500-521. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X16683985

Costa, P. A., Caldeira, S., Fernandes, I., Rita, C., Pereira, H., & Leal, I. (2013). Atitudes da população portuguesa em relação à homoparentalidade. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 26(4), 790-798. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-79722013000400020

Elder, G. (1998). The Life Course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69(1), 1-12.

Finlay, L. (2014). Engaging Phenomenological Analysis. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11(2), 121-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2013.807899

Frost, D. M., LeBlanc, A. J., de Vries, B., Alston-Stepnitz, E., Stephenson, R., & Woodyatt, C. (2017). Couple-level minority stress: An examination of same-sex couples’ unique experiences. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 58(4), 455-472. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146517736754

Gato, J. (2016). Beyond comparison: New trends in research with families with GLB members in Europe. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 12(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1080/1550428X.2016.1127095

Gato, J., Santos, S., & Fontaine, A. M. (2017). To have or not to have children? That is the question. Factors influencing parental decisions among lesbian and gay men. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 14(3), 310-323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-016-0268-3

Gianino, M. (2008). Adaptation and transformation: The transition to adoptive parenthood for gay male couples. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 4(2), 205-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/15504280802096872

Goldberg, A. E. (2010). Lesbian and gay parents and their children: Research on the family life cycle. American Psychological Association.

Goldberg, A. E., Downing, J., & Moyer, A. (2012). Why parenthood, and why now? Gay men’s motivations for pursuing parenthood. Family Relations, 61(1), 157-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2011.00687.x

Goldberg, A. E., Gartrell, N., & Gates, G. (2014). Research report on LGB-parent families. The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/lgb-parent-families-july-2014.pdf

Herek, G. (2009). Sexual stigma and sexual prejudice in the United States: A conceptual framework. In D. A. Hope (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 54. Contemporary perspectives on lesbian, gay, and bisexual identities (pp. 65-111). Springer Science + Business Media.

Hoghughi, M. (2004). Parenting-an introduction. In M. Hoghughi & N. Long (Eds.), Handbook of parenting. Theory and research for practice (pp. 1-18). Sage.

Lei n. 2, de 29 de fevereiro de 2016. (2016). Elimina as discriminações no acesso à adoção, apadrinhamento civil e demais relações jurídicas familiares.

Lei n. 9, de 31 de maio de 2010. (2010). Permite o casamento civil entre pessoas do mesmo sexo.

Lei n. 17, de 20 de junho de 2016. (2016). Alarga o âmbito dos beneficiários das técnicas de procriação medicamente assistida, procedendo à segunda alteração à Lei n. º 32/2006, de 26 de julho.

Lei n. 32, de 26 de julho de 2006. (2006). Procriação medicamente assistida.

Lincoln, Y., Lynham, S., & Guba, E. (2011). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences, revisited. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (4ª ed, pp. 97-128). Sage.

Meyer, I. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674-697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674

Mezey, N. J. (2013). How lesbians and gay men decide to become parents or remain childfree. In A. E. Goldberg & K. R. Allen (Eds.), LGBT-parent families. innovations in research and implications for practice (pp. 59-70). Springer Services + Business Media.

Miller, W. (1994). Childbearing motivations, desires and intentions: A theoretical framework. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 120(2), 223-258.

Miller, W. (2011). Differences between fertility desires and intentions: Implications for theory, research and policy. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 9, 75-98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41342806

Mills, M., Rindfuss, R. , McDonald, P., & te Velde, E. (2011). Why do people postpone parenthood? Reasons and social policy incentives. Human Reproduction Update, 17(6), 848-860. https://doi.org/10.1093/humupd/dmr026

Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses. (2013). Relatório de evidência científica psicológica sobre relações familiares e desenvolvimento infantil nas famílias homoparentais. Author.

Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. (2006). Desenvolvimento humano (8a ed.). Artmed.

QSR International. (2008). NVivo (Version 8) [Computer Software]. QSR International Pty.

Rabun, C., & Oswald, R. F. (2009). Upholding and expanding the normal family: Future fatherhood through the eyes of gay male emerging adults. Fathering, 7(3), 269-285. https://doi.org/10.3149/fth.0703.269

Ramos, V., Atalaia, S., & Cunha, V. (2016). Vida familiar e papéis de género: Atitudes dos Portugueses em 2014 (Research brief 2016). Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa. http://www.observatoriofamilias.ics.ul.pt/

Riskind, R., & Patterson, C. (2010). Parenting intentions and desires among childless lesbian, gay, and heterosexual individuals. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(1), 78-81. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017941

Smith, J. A. (2011). Evaluating the contribution of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Health Psychology Review, 5(1), 9-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2010.510659

Smith, J. A., & Osborn, M. (2008). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. In J. A. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative Psychology. A practical guide to research methods (2a ed., pp. 53-80). Sage.

Stacey, J. (2006). Gay parenthood and the decline of paternity as we knew it. Sexualities, 9(1), 27-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460706060687

Touroni, E., & Coyle, A. (2002). Decision-making in planned lesbian parenting: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 12(3), 194-209. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.672

Xavier, P., Alberto, I., & Mendes, F. (2017). Same-sex parenting: Identification of social representations in a sample of Portuguese professionals. Journal of Homosexuality, 66, 274-296. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2017.1400314

Yardley, L. (2008). Demonstrating validity in qualitative psychology. In J. A. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative Psychology. A practical guide to research methods (2a ed., pp. 235-251). Sage.

Yin, R. (2011). Qualitative research from start to finish. The Guilford Press.

Published

2020-09-02

How to Cite

Xavier, P. ., Alberto, I., & Mendes, F. (2020). Considering Same-Sex Parenting: A Qualitative Study with Portuguese Childless Young Adults. Psicologia: Teoria E Pesquisa, 36. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102.3772e3646

Issue

Section

Estudos Empíricos