Hi fellow redditors! Months ago I was posting in this sub looking for participants for my undergrad research project and promised that I would share the results when study was finished. So, for those who are interested, here they are! And to those who participated, thank you so SO much! I should also add that an overwhelming number of participants chose to donate their participation honorarium, which meant that I had the privilege of donating over $600.00 CAD to The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)!

(I was hoping to upload a little PDF that provided a bit more indepth information about the analyses, correlations, etc, but apparently reddit doesn't allow PDFs. If anyone is interested in looking at that, just send me a message!) And if you have any questions I will do my best to answer them (although today is my convocation ceremony, so I will probably answer questions tomorrow) Cheers!

Study Summary

The present study elucidates four important findings concerning family-based heterosexism: (1) Gay and Bisexual men (GBM) who report being raised in more heterosexist family environments also report higher levels of sexual orientation-related shame and psychological distress, (2) the association between family-based heterosexism and shame appears to occur via specific mechanisms, primarily negative parental reactions to coming-out and internalized heterosexism, (3) the association between family based-heterosexism and psychological distress occurs directly and indirectly via internalized heterosexism, and (4) family systems represent an important contributor to internalized heterosexism, feelings of shame, and distress for GBM.

These findings provide preliminary evidence of the important role families play in the lives of GBM, especially during early formative years. The results of this study support the intuitive notion that individuals who report being exposed to more heterosexist values during their childhood are also more likely to report a more negative personal view of themselves as a sexual minority man (i.e., internalized heterosexism), increased feelings of shame related to their sexual orientation, and increased psychological distress. Conversely, those reporting less heterosexism while growing up were more likely to report a more positive personal view of themselves as a sexual minority man, decreased feelings of shame related to their sexual orientation and greater psychological wellbeing. As such, this research highlights the importance of continuing work aimed at decreasing sexual stigma in social environments and suggests that families may be a targetable social microcosm for intervention efforts.

To our knowledge this is the first study to examine the family context as it relates to heterosexism and the first study to implement a scale created specifically to measure components thought to be associated with and representative of heterosexism. To this end, the FESSI represents a potentially important measure that could be of use to counsellors and psychologists, especially school counsellor. For example, counsellors or psychologists who work with younger clients who disclose their intentions to come-out to their parents could use the FESSI as a tool to gauge the likelihood that the individual’s parents would respond negatively. Individuals with high scores on the FESSI (i.e., more heterosexist family environment) could be provided with extra support for their coming out process, such as having a trained mediator or psychologist present for the coming-out event. Taking preventative steps could lessen the chances of negative and harsh parental reactions, thereby preserving or strengthening parent-child relations, which could have positive down-stream effects for the child (e.g., less shame, less internalized heterosexism, increased psychological wellbeing).

This research also highlights the importance of family-based interventions, especially those specifically catered to sexuality and gender minorities, as some families may require additional support and education in order to maintain positive relationships with their children. An example of such a program was created by Dr. Marlene Moretti based out of Simon Fraser University, who developed the Connect Parenting Program (Connect Parent Group, 2018). The Connect Parenting Program is an evidence-based 10-week program that promotes social, emotional and behavioral adjustment and attachment security in youth between the ages of eight and eighteen (Connect Parent Group, 2018). A recent addition to the Connect Parenting Program is the Transforming Connections module, which is specifically catered to parents and caregivers of transgender and gender non-conforming youth. (Connect Parent Group, 2018). A potentially valuable addition to the larger Connect Parenting Program would be a module dedicated to parents of non-heterosexual identifying youth, which could provide skills that allow them to better support their children as they begin to self-identify as non-heterosexual. Moreover, information on heterosexism could potentially be added to the Connect Parenting Program as a whole so that all youth and parents can learn about the potentially harmful effects of heterosexist attitudes and behaviour. Other family-based programs would also benefit from including material aimed at educating parents and family members about heterosexism

The FESSI would benefit from being utilized in future research so that its ability to accurately measure the construct of family-based heterosexism can be validated. Furthermore, the FESSI should also be used with a more diverse sample, as the present sample was primarily White, American, and consisted largely of individuals who grew up in Christian families. Use of the FESSI with a more diverse sample may elucidate important variabilities or differences among individuals from different cultural, ethnic or religious backgrounds.

The present study represents important initial steps toward measuring family-based heterosexism; however, it does little to elucidate why families (i.e., parents, guardians, or older siblings) engage in heterosexism. Therefore, future studies that examine motivations or families’ understanding of these attitudes and behaviors would allow for researchers and interventionists to determine which families may be more or less receptive to interventions. For example, some families engaging in heterosexist rhetoric may be ignorant to the potentially negative effects this could have on their kids, or may be ignorant to the fact that their words and actions are potentially hurtful at all, where as other families whose personal or religious beliefs strongly align with heterosexist sentiments may engage in more active heterosexist behaviour. Understanding the reasons behind family-based heterosexism would allow for differentiated family-based interventions.

Future studies should also examine similar variables in more diverse samples, including other sexual minorities (e.g., lesbian women, pansexual individuals), gender minorities (transgender and gender non-conforming individuals) as well as among heterosexuals. Given that heterosexism has been found to be correlated with other prejudices (e.g., racism and sexism; (Ficarrotto, 1990), a scale that accurately measures family-based heterosexism could be useful in predicting other forms of prejudice. Furthermore, research examining various forms of prejudice could potentially elucidate an underlying mechanism that would allow for the creation of a single measure that accurately predicts many types of prejudiced attitudes and behaviours.

While parents and families have long been researched in regard to the wellbeing of young people, the same focus has not been applied to gay and bisexual youth (Garofalo et al. 2008, McConnel et al., 2016). The present research begins to fill an important gap in sexual minority men’s research and answers the call made by researchers for an increased focus on contextual factors that impact the health and wellbeing of gay and bisexual youth, especially parents and family systems (Bouris et al., 2010; D’Augelli, Grossman, & Starks, 2005; Garofalo, Mustanski, & Donenberg, 2008; Horn, Kosciw, & Russell, 2009). This research helps to connect the larger body of work that has evaluated the effects of parental reactions to coming-out to the larger family context and provides preliminary evidence for the predictive nature of heterosexist family values as well as a new measure to gauge these family values.

Limitations

As with any research, the present study contains important limitations which must be acknowledged. First and foremost, the research is limited in its generalizability given the ethnically and religiously homogenous sample. Secondly, the present study did not measure, and therefore was unable to account for, contributions of heterosexism from the general social environment. Individuals with higher levels family-based heterosexism are probably more likely to grow up in communities with similar levels of heterosexism. Therefore, the current analysis cannot account for community level contributions. Thus, the findings here should be taken as preliminary support for the importance of family-based heterosexism while future studies should look to include general social attitudes of the individuals’ childhood environment as well as family-based heterosexism so that the independent effects of each can be more clearly elucidated. Regardless, the larger social community is a more difficult area for targeted interventions, whereas individual families may be more easily reached and more responsive to targeted interventions.