Minority Stress and Positive Identity Aspects in Members of LGBTQ+ Parent Families: Literature Review and a Study Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Evidence Synthesis

Preliminary development of a brief parent-report gender identity alignment/distress screener for children

This research develops a brief, and preliminary, parent-report screener to assess gender identity alignment/distress in children. The increasing prevalence of children not identifying with their sex at birth, the length and outdated language of existing gender identity measures, and the need to assess gender identity among children (as opposed to adolescent/adult measures) motivate a screener. A survey containing 14 items from existing instruments was administered to a diverse set of 1110 parents of children ages 3-12. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, followed by multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) modelling, were used to develop a 5-item, unidimensional screener that may assess gender identity alignment/distress. The screener may be suitable to identify children who experience misalignment between their gender and sex assigned at birth and parents or children for whom this misalignment causes distress. These families may benefit from additional resources and conversations between paediatric staff and children about their gender identity, including education for parents, and/or referrals for specialty care. Future research should further streamline and validate this preliminary screener, examine its convergence with gender identity and distress measures and explore including children's perspectives.

Mindfulness and time perception: A systematic integrative review

Several recent studies have explored the relationships between mindfulness and time perception, an area of research that has become increasingly popular in the last 10-15 years. In this article, we present a systematic integrative review of the evidence on this subject. We also integrate the field's findings into a conceptual framework which considers the multifaceted nature of both mindfulness, and time perception research. To identify the relevant literature, we searched the following databases using relevant keywords: PsycINFO; Medline; EBSCO Host Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection; and Web of Science. These searches were last performed on the 4th of May 2022, and additional hand searches were also conducted. To be included, articles had to be in English and contain original data about the potential relationship(s) between mindfulness and time perception. Articles which did not present usable data about the relationship(s) between the variables of interest were excluded. In total, 47 research articles were included in the review (combined sample size of ∼5800 participants). Risks of bias in the selected studies were evaluated using two separate assessment tools designed for this purpose. Through an integrative narrative synthesis, this article reviews how mindfulness may relate to time perception for various reference frames, and for various time perception measures and methods. It also provides new insights by exploring how a wide range of findings can be integrated into a coherent whole, in light of some relevant time perception models and mindfulness theories. Altogether, the reviewed data suggest the existence of complex and multifaceted relationships between mindfulness and time perception, highlighting the importance of considering many factors when planning research or interpreting data in this field. Limitations of the current review include the scarceness of data for certain categories of findings, and the relatively low prevalence of studies with a randomized controlled design in the source literature. This research was partly funded by a grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Microaggression and discrimination experiences among diverse youth with LGBTQ+ parents in the United States

Family-based microaggressions and discrimination experienced by youth with LGBTQ+ parents are important to understand from their perspectives. Using mixed methods, we examined such experiences among 12- to 25-year-old youth (N = 51) with at least one LGBTQ+ parent in the United States. Youth were diverse in race/ethnicity, family structure, gender and sexual identities, socioeconomic status, and geographic region. Using interviews, we explored LGBTQ+ family-based microaggressions (reported through scale items with feedback) and discrimination (assessed via thematic analysis). Microaggressions and discrimination based on having LGBTQ+ parents were common, yet there were distinctions in direct and indirect stigma across the quantitative items and qualitative themes. These results underscore the value of mixed methods research with youth and implications for future research, practice, and policy.

Long-Term Effects of Family Resilience on the Subjective Well-Being of Offspring in the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study

The current study used a family resilience approach to investigate why some offspring of sexual minority parents thrive despite homophobic stigmatization while others do not. Specifically, the study explored the role of two specific family functioning mechanisms (i.e., during adolescence, disclosure of offspring's personal life to their parents, and family compatibility) in the association between experienced homophobic stigmatization at age 17 and subjective well-being at age 25, among 71 offspring (37 females and 34 males, all cisgender) of the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS). The results showed that, overall, the offspring reported healthy subjective well-being as emerging adults. However, among NLLFS offspring with less family compatibility as adolescents, homophobic stigmatization was related to higher scores on negative affect when they were emerging adults. Psychological counseling that supports adolescent-parent communication may help prevent the negative effect of homophobic stigmatization on the subjective well-being of offspring with sexual minority parents.