1 / 29

Challenges and opportunities for LGBT families: a research study Dr. Margherita Bottino

Challenges and opportunities for LGBT families: a research study Dr. Margherita Bottino. Conference on LGBT families in Europe Ljubljana, 4-6 March 2008. Real numbers of LGBT families. France: 7% ♂♂ e 11% ♀♀ (estimated) Usa: 22% ♂♂ e 34% ♀♀ (US 2000 Census Bureau)

adena-booker
Download Presentation

Challenges and opportunities for LGBT families: a research study Dr. Margherita Bottino

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Challenges and opportunities for LGBT families: a research studyDr. Margherita Bottino Conference on LGBT families in Europe Ljubljana, 4-6 March 2008

  2. Real numbers of LGBT families • France: 7% ♂♂ e 11% ♀♀ (estimated) • Usa: 22% ♂♂ e 34% ♀♀ (US 2000 Census Bureau) 16% ♂♂ e 35% ♀♀ (UCLA & Los Angeles Urban Institute Los Angeles: government source data, mainly adoption (> 65.000 [4% tot]) & fostering (10.300)) 6-10.000.000 parents of 14.000.000 children 45% married ♀♂, 43% unmarried ♀♂ (only evident data & big differences among states) 49% aspiring parents (2001)

  3. In Italy

  4. Famiglie Arcobaleno • Italian LGBT Families Association: from 10 (2005) to 144 (2007) families, 92 children (43 step fam. + 49 planned fam.) (2 new subscriptions every 2 weeks average) • Istituto Superiore di Sanità: at least 148.000 parents, minimum 100.000 children

  5. “Yes, I want to have children” • 49,3% ♂♂, 45,6% ♀♀ (national sample) • 57% ♂♂, 54% ♀♀ (national sample <24 yrs) • 41% ♂♂, 48% ♀♀ (town of Torino sample) Barbagli & Colombo (2001), Saraceno (2003)

  6. Gay families already exist Homosexual Parent An oxymoron? Not anymore…

  7. Scientific literature results • Damage • Gender traditional role expectations and behaviours • Homoerotism • Parenting practices and skills • Cognitive functioning, Self-Esteem and Psychological Well-Being • Tolerance • Stigma • Minority stress • Internalized homophobia

  8. Challenges OpportunitiesLGBT Families

  9. Challenge: society culture Common questions and statements: • Children must have a mother and a father • Children must have both a female and a male figure • Children will have psychological problems • Children will become homosexuals • Two men can’t raise children • Gay people live a promiscuos and unstable lifestyle • Gender and parenting roles will be confused Opportunity: • Research activity: provide scientific-based answers • Stimulate debate on homosexuality and gay culture, opening to wider society and public opinion

  10. Challenge: family reaction Strong impact of kind of reaction from: • Children (studies on more appropriate age for c.o.) • Parents (strongest effect) • Ex partners/biological parents • Extended family Opportunity: • Campaigning and working with associations and policy makers to promote acceptance, network (parents’ ass.), cultural and media products, knowledge, support and tolerance • Contact Hypothesis and person-positivity bias

  11. Challenge: school reaction Strong impact of reaction from school environment “where children meet society” • Difference between planned and step families • Difference between school years • Families’ strategies in school negotiation • Non-biological parent invisibility • Complex interplay: local community, school setting, individual teachers, families as a whole, individual child Opportunity: • Peer education: children, parents, teachers must face homosexuality. Education for all diversities. • Little revolution in (previously excluding) school forms, teaching curriculum & materials

  12. Challenge: legal recognitions • Importance of socio-legal situation on quality of life, well-being, family functioning and relationships, psychophysical health, self-esteem, internalized homophobia, minority stress… Opportunity: • Promoting studies that show deep impact on health and campaigning on it • Education in university, health services, public administrations, justice officers • Work in network with legal experts and associations (official requests for marriages and adoptions abroad to be recognized) • Political pressure to conform to European Union indications and ratify Council of Europe conventions (last one on adoption)

  13. Policy statement: parents’ sexual orientation is not relevant for parental skills • American Psychiatric Association, “Position statement on Adoption and Co-parenting of Children by Same-sex Couples”, 2002. • American Psychological Association, “Policy statement on Sexual Orientation, Parents, & Children”, 2004. • American Psychological Association, “Position statement on support of Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Civil Marriage”, 2005. • American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (1999), American Academy of Family Physicians (2002), American Academy of Pediatrics (2002), American Bar Association (1995, 1999 e 2003), American Medical Association (2004), American Psychiatric Association (1997 e 2002), American Psychoanalytic Association (2002), American Psychological Association (1976 e 2004), Child Welfare League of America (1988), National Adoption Center (1998), National Association of Social Workers (2002), North American Council on Adoptable Children (1998), Voice for Adoption (2006).

  14. Bibliography • Barrett, Helen, Tasker, Fiona, “Growing up with a gay parent: Views of 101 gay fathers on their sons' and daughters' experiences.”, Educational & Child Psychology, Vol 18(1) 2001, 62-77, British Psychological Society, United Kingdom. • Bos, Henny M.W., Frank Van Balen, Dymphna C. Van Den Boom, Theo G. M. Sandfort, “Minority stress, experience of parenthood and child adjustment in lesbian families”, Journal Of Reproductive And Infant Psychology, Vol. 22, N. 4, September 2004, 1–14. • Bottino, Margheritae Daniela Danna, La gaia famiglia, Asterios, 2005. • Herek, G. M., “Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A social science perspective”, American Psychologist, 61 (6), 607-621, 2006. • Lindsay, Jo et al., “Stigma or Respect: Lesbian-parented Families Negotiating School Settings”, Sociology, Vol. 40, No. 6, 1059-1077, 2006. • Lingiardi, Vittorio, Citizen gay. Famiglie, diritti negati e salute mentale, Il Saggiatore, Milano, 2007. • Pawelski, James G. et al., “The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children”, Pediatrics, Volume 118, Number 1, July 2006. • Ross, Lori E., “Perinatal Mental Health in Lesbian Mothers A Review of Potential Risk and Protective Factors”, Women & Health: a multidisciplinary journal of women's health issues,Volume: 41 Issue: 3, 113 – 128, 10/12/2005.

  15. Useful tools… On being different

  16. On different family structures

More Related