Effects of Adolescent Identity upon Parental Mental Health

Rutgers The St Univ Of Nj New Brunswick, New Brunswick NJ

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purposes of this proposed pilot study are: 1) to gain insight into parent-child relationships following parental discovery that a child is gay or lesbian, and 2) to identify protective factors as well as those that put parents and children in these families at risk for mental health symptoms. Using a qualitative, emic approach, parents and children from the same families will be interviewed to determine how parents react, whether they experience mental health symptoms, what factors are related to their reactions, and how their reactions influence their children's mental health. Sixty sets of lesbian and gay youth and their parents will be given semi-structured interviews, and interview transcripts will be analyzed using a combination of cross case analysis and grounded theory methods. The intent of this study is to build knowledge about family dynamics and their influences and to identify variables to be tested in a larger sample. Furthermore, this project is an initial step in an overall plan of research aimed at developing and testing clinical interventions that facilitate parental adjustment, reduce the likelihood of mental health symptoms in parents and coming out lesbian/gay youth, and minimize family disruption.