How LGBTQ Adults Maintain Ties with Rejecting Parents: Theorizing "Conflict Work" as Family Work

"Saying 'I'm not okay' is extremely risky": Postpartum mental health, delayed help-seeking, and fears of the child welfare system among queer parents

Parent mental health challenges in the postpartum and early parenthood have profound implications for parent, child, and family well-being. Little research has focused on postpartum mental health challenges and barriers to help-seeking among queer birthing people, including members of this community who may be particularly vulnerable to mental health difficulties, such as queer cis women partnered with men, trans/nonbinary parents, and queer parents who are young, low-income, and/or of color. This mixed-methods study of queer parents (n = 99), all of whom were assigned female at birth (AFAB) and gave birth to a child within the past several years, explores parents' postpartum mental health difficulties and perceived barriers to seeking help. Using a structural stigma framework, this study found that participants reported high rates of postpartum mental health difficulties (89%) and reported various barriers to seeking support including fears of discrimination and being deemed "unfit" by providers, which might lead to child welfare system involvement. Young parents and low-income parents were particularly fearful of child welfare system contact and potential child removal. Factors that encouraged help-seeking (e.g., desire to be a good parent; partner pressure to seek help) and implications for family practitioners are discussed.

Childhood Parental Neglect, Abuse and Rejection Among Transgender Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

We aimed to estimate the proportions of childhood parental neglect, abuse, and rejection and to evaluate the co-occurrence of these experiences among transgender women in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This was a cross-sectional study with a convenience sample enrolled between July 2019 and March 2020, using an adapted version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Proportions and corresponding confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Kendall correlation with Tau-b estimator was used in the bivariate analyses. We gathered data from 139 participants. The most prevalent types of childhood traumas were emotional abuse (60.43%, 95% CI [51.79, 68.62]), physical abuse (57.55%, 95% CI [48.90, 65.89]) and sexual abuse (44.60%, 95% CI [36.18, 53.27]). Severe to extreme physical and emotional abuse occurred among 40.29% (95% CI [32.06, 48.93]) and 5.75% (95% CI [2.51, 11.02]) of participants, respectively. The proportion of parental rejection (eviction) was 32.37% (95% CI [25.04, 40.69]) and occurred with the other forms of abuse, except sexual abuse. Multiple types of childhood abuse, neglect, and parental rejection were observed among transgender women in our sample. The harmful effects of childhood abuse on the mental and physical health of people in the transgender population are of concern, particularly considering the cumulative effect produced by the co-occurrence of such events and their harmful lifetime effects. It is urgently necessary to debate and formulate public policies to ensure the right to gender expression from childhood.

Treating Evangelical Christians: Challenges and Opportunities

Evangelical Christians constitute one-quarter of the U.S. population and can present challenges to mental health treatment, such as beliefs that psychiatric problems result from personal sin and that secular professionals pose a threat to their faith. Understanding the origins of the tensions between evangelical faith and psychiatric practice as well as the interrelated nature of many evangelical Christians' emotional and spiritual lives can help clinicians understand how to more effectively treat this population. Strategies that build on common ground provide opportunities for establishing trust and navigating differing viewpoints.

Why LGBTQ Adults Keep Ambivalent Ties with Parents: Theorizing "Solidarity Rationales"

Many LGBTQ adults have ongoing relationships with their parents that are ambivalent, typified by both solidarity (e.g., frequent contact, emotional or financial exchange) as well as conflict (e.g., parents' heterosexism and cissexism). Yet, why LGBTQ people remain in-rather than end-their ambivalent intergenerational ties is underexplored. We analyze qualitative in-depth interview data with 76 LGBTQ adults to answer this question. We find that LGBTQ adult children deploy narratives that privilege intergenerational solidarity over strain-what we call "solidarity rationales"- to explain why they remain in their ambivalent intergenerational ties. Four solidarity rationales were identified: 1) closeness and love, 2) parental growth, 3) the unique parent-child role, and 4) the importance of parental resources. Identifying LGBTQ adults' solidarity rationales pulls back the curtain on the compulsory social forces driving persistent intergenerational relationships. This study also advances our thinking about how socially marginalized people cope with complex social ties that include interpersonal discrimination and stigma.

Family rejection of non-hetero sexuality-Sexual orientation and behavior anonymity among sexual minority men in slum communities-BSGH 001

It can be challenging for sexual minority men (SMM) to decide whether or not to disclose their sexual orientation or behavior. The implications of this decision are significant, especially when considering how their family might react. We interviewed individuals living in slum communities (n = 12) in Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. Our study found that two factors primarily influenced the decision of SMM to disclose their sexual orientation. Firstly, SMM feared facing harm from their families and, secondly, the close ties of SMM families to religious institutions in their communities, which taught against LGBTQ+ activities in the country. These findings contribute to understanding why SMM in Ghanaian slum communities choose to keep their sexual orientation anonymous. While no single intervention is enough to address the challenges associated with coming out, participants in the study agreed that a social support intervention that provides opportunities to educate and inform their families and community on LGBTQ+ activities could help them assimilate comfortably in their communities.

Parent-Adult Child Estrangement in the United States by Gender, Race/ethnicity, and Sexuality

Objective

To provide nationally-representative estimates of parent-adult child estrangement.

Background

Population-level research is needed on parent-adult child estrangement to understand the full range of family dynamics in the U.S.

Method

We estimate logistic regression models using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult supplement to determine estimates of estrangement (and subsequent unestrangement) from mothers (N=8,495) and fathers (N=8,119) by children's gender, race/ethnicity, and sexuality. We then estimate hazards of first estrangement from mothers (N = 7,919) and fathers (N = 6,410), adjusting for adult child's and parents' social and economic characteristics.

Results

Six percent of respondents report a period of estrangement from mothers, with an average age of first maternal estrangement of 26 years old; 26 percent of respondents report estrangement from fathers, with an average age of first paternal estrangement of 23 years old. Results further show heterogeneity by gender, race/ethnicity, and sexuality; for example, daughters are less likely to be estranged from their mothers than are sons, Black adult children are less likely than White adult children to be estranged from their mothers but more likely to be estranged from fathers, and gay, lesbian, and bisexual adult children are more likely than heterosexuals to be estranged from fathers. The majority of estranged adult children become unestranged from mothers (81%) and fathers (69%) in subsequent waves.

Conclusion

This study provides compelling new evidence on an overlooked aspect of intergenerational relationships, concluding with insight into the structural forces that unequally contribute to estrangement patterns.

Network loss following the 2016 Presidential Election among LGBTQ+ adults

Growing levels of political polarization in the United States have been associated with political homogeneity in the personal networks of American adults. The 2016 Presidential Election in the United States was a polarizing event that may have caused further loss of connections to alters who had different politics. Kinship may protect against loss of politically different ties. Additionally, loss of ties with different political views may be particularly pronounced among LGBTQ+ people as they are more likely to be impacted by public policy decisions compared to their heterosexual counterparts. We analyzed two waves of the University of California, Berkeley Social Networks Study's (UCNets) Main Sample and LGBTQ+ Oversample of older adults that occurred in 2015 and 2017, which provided an opportunity to assess alter loss after the 2016 Presidential Election. When evaluating all adults, we found that politically different alters were more likely to reflect kin ties than partner or friend ties. We also found that politically different kin are less likely to be dropped suggesting that kinship acts as a moderating effect of different political views on alter loss. LGBTQ+ respondents were more likely to drop kin alters with different political views than their cisgender heterosexual counterparts. We discuss the implications these results have for political polarization interventions as well as the social networks impact politics can have on LGBTQ+ individuals.