Psychological health among adult offspring of lesbian parents at a time of anti-LGBTQ+ oppression

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates potential differences in psychological health (i.e. life satisfaction, anticipated future life satisfaction, distress), social well-being, and experiences of victimisation among adult offspring born to lesbian parents when compared with participants from a nationally representative sample surveyed in the same historical context of renewed anti-LGBTQ+ oppression. The research involved 75 adult offspring (M = 30.93, SD = 0.93; sex assigned at birth: 39 female and 36 male; gender identity: 73 cisgender and 2 gender nonbinary; sexual orientation: 51 heterosexual and 24 sexual minority) of the first generation conceived through donor insemination by lesbian parents. These offspring were matched with 75 participants of a U.S. probability sample based on several factors, including age, race/ethnicity, education, sex assigned at birth, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The comparison group is presumed to have been raised by heterosexual parents. After applying Bonferroni’s correction to minimise the risk of Type I errors resulting from multiple comparisons, no significant differences emerged in the study variables between the two samples. Despite a climate of renewed anti-LGBTQ+ oppression, adult offspring of lesbian parents were doing well, possibly due to unique socialisation processes in childhood when their parents taught them to be resilient even in the face of socio-environmental challenges.