Abstract
Decisions about whether or not to become a parent are significant parts of normative human development. Many studies have shown that married different-sex couples are expected to become parents, and that many social pressures enforce this norm. For same-sex couples, however, much less is known about social norms surrounding parenthood within marriage. This study examined injunctive norms and descriptive norms for the pursuit of parenthood as a function of age, gender, and sexual orientation. Participants in an internet survey included 1020 (522 heterosexual, 498 lesbian/gay) cisgender people from across the United States Findings showed that norms, especially descriptive norms, for the pursuit of parenthood for heterosexual people were much stronger than those for lesbian women and gay men, and that norms for lesbian women were stronger than those for gay men. These differences were more pronounced for older, heterosexual, and male participants. However, lesbian and gay participants, especially gay men, reported that lesbian and gay people ought to become parents to the same extent as heterosexual people. Overall, the results indicated that, regardless of sexual orientation, adults report that lesbian and gay married people ought to become parents, but that they expect only a minority of these couples will pursue parenthood. This research provided a glimpse into how Americans are envisioning family formation among same-sex couples today.
Highlights
Decisions about whether to become a parent are important parts of normative human development (Hoffman, 1975; Langdridge et al, 2005; Jaffe and Diamond, 2011)
There were three main research questions: (1) How do norms for parenthood differ depending on the type of couple pursuing parenthood? (2) How do these differences depend on the sexual orientation, gender, and age of those responding to the norm measures? (3) What do these results indicate about the norms for the pursuit of parenthood among married same-sex couples?
Most prior research on normative aspects of parenthood has been done with heterosexual people
Summary
Decisions about whether to become a parent are important parts of normative human development (Hoffman, 1975; Langdridge et al, 2005; Jaffe and Diamond, 2011). Married different-sex couples are expected to become parents, and many social pressures serve to enforce this process (Jamison et al, 1979; Mueller and Yoder, 1997, 1999; Kopper and Smith, 2001; DeJean et al, 2012; AshburnNardo, 2017). For same-sex married couples, less is known about the social processes and norms involved in the pursuit of parenthood. More and more lesbian and gay people are choosing to parent within same-sex relationships after coming. Norms for Pursuing Parenthood out, and this trend is expected to increase with changing social climates (Rabun and Oswald, 2009; Riskind and Patterson, 2010; Goldberg et al, 2012; Bauermeister, 2014). This study investigated norms for parenthood as a function of age, gender, and sexual orientation
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