Concerns of emerging adults who were born and raised in planned lesbian-parent families

Abstract

In the sixth wave of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, the concerns of 76 (37 female and 39 male, all cisgender) 25-year-old donor-conceived offspring of lesbian parents were investigated through an open-ended question in an online survey and analyzed using thematic and content analysis. The number of concerns reported varied between 0 and 5 per respondent, with a mean of 1.78 (SD = 1.24). Nine participants reported no concerns at all. Among the remaining 67 participants, concerns focused on their family, work, education, personal health, and partner relationship. None expressed distress about the heteronormative society or growing up in a planned lesbian-parent family. Those who listed more concerns reported more internalizing problems. When the number of concerns was included in the analysis, homophobic stigmatization experienced at the ages of 17 and 25 was no longer significantly associated with problem behaviors.