Bisexual Children Research Articles

Predictors of attitudes toward potentially having a lesbian, gay, or bisexual child among Chinese heterosexual adults.

Parental acceptance is a robust protective factor for lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) individuals' mental health, yet its predictors have not been frequently studied in China. The present study examined predictors of Chinese heterosexual adults' attitudes toward potentially having an LGB child. Participants were 700 Chinese nationals (37.6% women and 62.4% men) aged 18-64 who identified as exclusively heterosexual and did not have an LGB child. We found that beliefs about the changeability of sexual orientation and beliefs in negative outcomes of being LGB predicted negative attitudes toward having an LGB child in domains of emotion, cognition, and behavior. Moreover, more exposure to LGB individuals predicted reduced disapproval and negative actions as well as increased positive actions. These findings revealed the key factors to changing Chinese people's attitudes toward having an LGB child. Clinical implications for therapists and counselors working with Chinese LGB individuals and their parents are discussed.

The Influence of Concerns About a Child's Sexual Orientation on Mental Health Among Parents of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Children in Hong Kong.

Sexual minority stress affects not only lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, but also their families. Due to the pervasiveness of stigma and discrimination, parents of LGB children often express concerns about the public perception of their child's sexual orientation and its possible impact on children, parents, and families. The concerns are particularly pertinent to parents in Chinese families, where there is a strong bond between parents and children. The present study seeks to understand the different dimensions of concerns among Chinese parents of LGB children and examine how these concerns affect their mental health. A total of 146 parents of LGB children in Hong Kong were recruited to participate in a survey regarding attitudes and concerns about their child's sexual orientation. The results revealed three areas of concern, which reflect parental worries about how a child's LGB identity may negatively impact the child, parent, and family. Parents who viewed homosexuality and bisexuality as innate and accepted their child's sexual orientation were likely to show fewer concerns. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that parental acceptance was negatively related to depression and anxiety symptoms through lower levels of child-oriented and family-oriented concerns. As accepting a child's sexual orientation is the key to reducing parental concerns and mental health problems, family-focused psychoeducation is needed to provide parents with accurate information about sexual orientation and foster supportive attitudes toward their LGB child. Clinicians and human service providers should also address child-oriented and family-oriented concerns among parents of LGB adolescents who are more inclined to be concerned about their child's sexual orientation.

Parental acceptance of lesbian, gay, and bisexual children in Taiwan: Towards relationship‐based practice

AbstractObjectiveTo delineate the process and contributors to parental acceptance of their child's lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity.BackgroundResearch has depicted the processes through which parents accept their LGB child. This study extends the scope of inquiries to a non‐Western context and delineates the factors for shifts in parental attitudes.MethodTwelve mothers and four fathers in Taiwan participated in interviews recounting their responses to learning of their child's LGB status. Following grounded theory methodology, we coded and analyzed data using constant comparative analysis.ResultsTwo themes were identified. The first involved parents' initial reactions to their child coming out, which were dominated by emotional unrest and lingering concerns regarding their child's future. The second highlighted the mechanisms of change, including seeking support and knowledge, emotional connections with LGB children, and social and legal changes. The results of this study provide contextualized descriptions of how Taiwanese parents navigate their child's disclosure of their LGB identity.ConclusionContemporary parents need psychosocial support from peers and professionals to understand and accept their LGB child.ImplicationsThis study highlights the importance of a contextual understanding and relationship‐based approach to support parental acceptance of their LGB child.

Dyadic simulation to prepare students for counseling transgender children and their parents

ABSTRACT Transgender individuals are at risk for discrimination, which can lead to poor mental health outcomes. Social workers are often the health professionals to provide assistance during periods of transition. Social work education programs use simulation-based learning experiences to train students to think independently and respond empathically to clients. Nineteen undergraduate social work students participated in a dyadic simulation with transgender individuals and their cisgender parents, and they received lower performance scores compared to a similar group of students engaged in a simulation with bisexual child and parent dyads. This paper presents research findings and makes recommendations for simulation preparation activities to better prepare novice social workers for direct practice with transgender children and their parents. We conducted this simulation study at a private university in the United States of America.

Research Note—Dyadic OSCE Subscales: Measuring Students’ Ability to Work With Parents and LGBTQ Children

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of two pilot studies focused on examining social work students’ ability to interview two clients at once to provide evidence supporting the use of new dyadic subscales. Students participated in a simulation scenario with either a parent and bisexual child or a parent and transgender child. Licensed social workers rated the students by using two dyadic subscales: five items designed to assess students’ communication skills in a dyadic client interview and five items designed to evaluate students’ reflections on their experience facilitating a dyadic client interview. This article provides initial reliability scores and describes how subscale items improved internal consistency for the objective structured clinical examination Performance Rating Scale and Reflection Rating Scale.

Formative Assessment and Learning in a Parent–Bisexual Child Dyadic OSCE-SW

ABSTRACT We investigated the feasibility of a formative objective structured clinical examination adapted for social work (OSCE-SW) with a parent–bisexual child dyad and evaluated self-efficacy and performance learning outcomes for undergraduate social work students. Eighteen undergraduate students participated in a simulation involving two embedded participants. Participants received an average score of 35.7 out of 50 potential points on the performance rating scale during a 15-min OSCE-SW scenario. We observed no change in self-efficacy before and after the OSCE-SW experience. The authors recommend implementing additional dyadic OSCE-SW scenarios, including scenarios focused on parent–bisexual child relationships and other types of marginalized dyadic relationships.

Understanding Parent Reactions to Coming Out as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual: A Theoretical Framework

AbstractExisting theories and the development of new theoretical models have been used to better understand the experiences of parents who have lesbian, gay, and bisexual children. However, these models tend to only capture a single aspect of the parent experience. This article combines existing theory and data from published research studies to propose a theoretical framework that can be used to explain parent reactions to coming out. Next steps include refining and empirically testing the proposed framework.

Piloting Lead with Love: A Film-Based Intervention to Improve Parents’ Responses to Their Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Children

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are at increased risk for a variety of poor health outcomes, relative to their heterosexual counterparts, and recent research implicates family responses to a child's sexual orientation as an important predictor of these health difficulties. Lead with Love is a 35-min documentary-style preventive intervention created to improve parents' behaviors toward their lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) children, by providing parents with support, information, and concrete behavioral guidance. The film was made available free online, and was promoted widely with a multi-media marketing campaign. In this paper we describe the theoretical and empirical rationale for the intervention, and report findings from pilot data collected in the first year after the film's release. Specifically, we gathered data to examine the feasibility of reaching parents of LGB youth with this intervention, to determine whether it was acceptable, and to provide preliminary indicators of its potential efficacy. In the first 12 months after launch, 10,949 individuals viewed the film online. The film successfully reached parents of LGB youth (n=1,865), including the hardest to reach parents: 21% had only learned about their child's sexual orientation in the past month, 36% reported having an LGB child was "very" or "extremely" hard for them, and 86% had never obtained any other formal support for having an LGB child. Parents who completed a follow-up assessment immediately after the film reported significant pre- to post-film increases in self-efficacy for parenting an LGB child.

Mom and Dad Come Out: The Process of Identifying as a Heterosexual Parent with a Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Child

Currently, there is a dearth of literature regarding the experiences of heterosexual parents with lesbian, gay, or bisexual identified sons or daughters. This manuscript will explore the experiences of 13 parents in 9 separate families who have adult sons or daughters who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. A qualitative study using grounded theory was conducted to investigate their experiences toward the “successful integration of their identity.” All parents in this study were defined as successful by their lesbian, gay, or bisexual identified child. Both the research results as well as the emergent model for parent success are presented in this article. Implications for clinical practice and future research are also discussed.

Sex, Religion, Media

Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Part I: The Engagement and Avoidance of Sex and Religion in Media Production Chapter 3 Bernarr Macfadden's Physical Culture: Muscles, Morals, and the Millennium Chapter 4 The Whore of Babylon, Suggestibility, and the Art of Sexless Sex in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah Chapter 5 Religious and Sexual Images in Rock Videos: A Second-by-Second Analysis Chapter 6 Sexuality and the Church: The Development of a Muddled Middle Chapter 7 A Broken Trust: Canadian Priests, Pedophilia, and the Media Chapter 8 The Silence of the Jewish Media on Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community Part 9 Part II: Media Content, Conservatives, Sex, and the Liberal Establishment Chapter 10 I don't need to see the tattooed lady takin' it off: Evangelicals and Representations of Sexuality in Contemporary Film Chapter 11 Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association Chapter 12 Magazine Coverage of the Man the Networks Love to Hate Chapter 13 Morality Politics Associated with Abstinence-Only Sex Education Sought as a Remedy to Welfare Dependency Part 14 Part III: Media Content, Liberals, Sex, and the Conservative Establishment Chapter 15 The Organ in the Sanctuary: Silent Film and the Paradigmatic Image of the Suspect Clergy Chapter 16 Cult Sex: The Mass Media Reporting of Sexual Issues Surrounding New Religious Movements Chapter 17 Issue Culture Analysis and the Gay/Lesbian Religious Controversy Chapter 18 The Word on Sex: Biblical Interpretation on the Web and Constructed Realities Chapter 19 Between Law and Love: Christianity, Politics, and Sexual Citizenship Part 20 Part IV: Media Agenda-Setting and Cultivation of Religion and Sex Chapter 21 The Disenchantment of Modern Sexuality: Packaged by Media into Weber's Iron Cage Chapter 22 Family, Peers, Religiosity, Electronic Media, and the Risk of Adolescent Sexual Activity Chapter 23 Media Cultivation and Perceptions of Sexual Morality in Church of Christ Adolescents Chapter 24 Oh God, My Kid Is Gay! The Effects of Religious Belief and Media Consumption on Parental Ability to Accept a Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Child Chapter 25 Conclusion Chapter 26 Index

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual (GLB) Children: Implications for Early Childhood Development Professionals

This paper focuses on the issues of gay, lesbian, and bisexual children from the perspective of early child development professionals. Early child development professionals' response to children's sexual curiosity conveys to them important messages — either positive or negative — about themselves as sexual beings. Positive responses lay the foundation for sexual health by helping children feel good about being male or female, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and good about adults in their lives who help them understand their confusion. Background information about homosexuality and bisexu‐ality in American society, needs of gay, lesbian and bisexual children, and strategies and challenges in personnel, curriculum, policies, and parental involvement will be included.

Penile Responses of Child Molesters and Normals to Descriptions of Encounters with Children Involving Sex and Violence

In total, 14 heterosexual, 7 homosexual, and 4 bisexual child molesters from a maximum security psychiatric institution were compared with 8 low SES men from the local community and 6 nonsex offenders from the same institution. Penile tumescence changes were measured in response to 22 audiotaped descriptions involving consenting sex with an adult partner, sex with a child (at 3 levels of force and violence), nonsexual violence with a child victim, and neutral interactions with a child. Half of the target persons in the stories were male and half female. Child molesters preferred stories depicting sex with children to sex with adults, showed sexual interest in children of both genders, and did not respond to depictions of nonsexual violence. Compared to other child molesters, those who had physically injured their victims responded relatively more to children than adults and to coercive sex with children. Comparison subjects showed no sexual interest in any of the stories involving children.