Abstract
As measurement of sexual minority (SM) people's demographic characteristics has evolved over time, it is of interest to understand how identity intersections within SM communities, such as SM parents, have also changed. The current study aimed to investigate how SM parents may or may not differ in demographic characteristics from SM childfree adults and how the demographic characteristics of SM parents may differ across three cohorts. Participants could be part of one of three age cohorts, with each cohort reflecting distinct historic or cultural events related to LGBTQ+ people's experiences. We used data from a national probability study of 1502 SM adults conducted between 2016 and 2017 to compare demographic characteristics by parent and cohort status. SM parents (n = 297) and childfree adults differed in sexual and gender identity, relationship status, educational attainment, urbanicity, and poverty status. There were differences among SM parents based on cohort status in sexual and gender identity, partner status (and gender of the partner), educational attainment, poverty status, and urbanicity. However, there were no differences based on racial/ethnic identity or geographic region among SM parents. This work contributes to the ongoing literature on SM parent families by providing a view of the ways in which SM parents have, and have not, changed demographically over time in the United States.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70012 |
| Journal | Family Process |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2025 The Author(s). Family Process published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Family Process Institute.
Funding
This work was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD grant 1R01HD078526) and through supplemental grants from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and the Office of Research on Women's Health. This research was also supported by grant, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Human Development. The authors acknowledge support from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska\u2010Curie grant agreement No 897016. Funding: Funding: This work was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD grant 1R01HD078526) and through supplemental grants from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and the Office of Research on Women's Health. This research was also supported by grant, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Health and Human Development. The authors acknowledge support from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 897016. The Generations Investigators are: Ilan H. Meyer, PhD (Principal Investigator), David M. Frost, PhD, Phillip L. Hammack, PhD (Principal Investigator), Marguerita Lightfoot, PhD, Stephen T. Russell, PhD, and Bianca D. M. Wilson, PhD (Co-Investigators listed alphabetically). The authors also acknowledge generous support for Russell from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research | |
| Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment | |
| H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions | |
| University of Texas at Austin | |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | 1R01HD078526 |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development | |
| National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health | P2CHD042849 |
| National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women's Health | |
| Horizon 2020 | 897016 |
| Horizon 2020 |
Keywords
- sexual minority adults
- sexual minority parent
- sexual minority parent demographics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)