Development of the Conceptual Future Parent Grief (CFPG) Scale for LGBTQ+ people.

Parenthood is highly valued around the world. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, however, have faced a history of discrimination and challenges related to becoming parents (e.g., legal and/or practical barriers to adoption or biological parenthood). As such, LGBTQ+ youth may believe that certain pathways to parenthood (or parenthood itself) are unavailable to them. These feelings could prompt experiences of ambiguous loss related to a future idealized self. No quantitative research, however, has been conducted to capture these possible experiences; scale development is an important step to attempt to quantify them. Here, we report results from two studies using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the factor structure of a new scale reflecting conceptual future parent grief (CFPG) among LGBTQ+ individuals. Participants also responded to several measures to explore validity with the CFPG scale. Following model respecification, a 9-item one-factor solution resulted, reflecting ambiguous loss, complex grief, and sexual stigma—all of which could contribute to difficulties in reconciling one’s LGBTQ+ and future parenthood identities. Significant associations with greater authenticity of LGBTQ+ identity, depressive symptoms, and sexual stigma provided evidence of convergent and divergent validity with the CFPG scale. Thus, ambiguous loss among LGBTQ+ people may connect to aspects of identity, mental health, and parenthood goals. Developing this scale represents a first step toward an assessment for LGBTQ+ individuals regarding future parenthood. Understanding more about CFPG among LGBTQ+ individuals could inform prevention efforts to reduce negative mental health symptoms and enhance positive LGBTQ+ identity development.