T11-O-02 How are gender typicality/atypicality and experienced parenting during childhood and current sexual orientation related to psychiatric symptoms

Abstract

The objective was to examine how childhood gender typicality/atypicality and sexual orientation of men and women are related to recalled quality of relations to parents and to the level of current symptoms of depression and anxiety. Questionnaires were completed by 3604 Finnish 33 to 43 year old twins from a population based sample. The measures used were an abbreviated version of Recalled Gender Identity/Gender Role Questionnaire, Measure of Parenting Style, Brief Symptom Inventory 18 and Sell Assessment of Sexual Orientation. Matched pairs of homosexual and heterosexual participants with equal levels of gender atypical behavior were created for men and women, respectively. This resulted in 158 male and 296 female participants for the analyses. Heterosexual male and lesbian participants reported more paternal over-control and parental abusiveindifference compared to gay male and heterosexual female participants. Both hetero- and homosexual participants with a history of childhood gender atypicality reported more negative parent-child relations and elevated levels of depression and anxiety when compared to gender typical homoand heterosexual participants. Gender typical heterosexual participants reported less psychiatric symptoms than the other groups. The findings suggest that gender atypicality in childhood causes later distress both among hetero- and homosexual participants. The elevated level of psychological distress among homosexual individuals might to some extent be caused by their generally higher levels of childhood gender atypical behavior. Negative parenting was positively related to psychiatric distress as an adult irrespective of the gender atypicality.