When a child comes out: factors influencing the experience of a potentially stressful event in Italian parents.

Name: When a child comes out: factors influencing the experience of a potentially stressful event in Italian parents.
Published: 2022
Keywords: coming out, parents, stressful experiences, LGBTQIA+ child, loss, Inequalities, discrimination, prejudice, aggression and violence, antisocial behaviour, Social integration, exclusion, prosocial behaviour, Kinship; diversity and identities, gender, interethnic relations, Clinical and health psychology

Biancotto, Nicola and Biancalani, Gianmarco and Ronconi, Lucia and Testoni, Ines (2022) When a child comes out: factors influencing the experience of a potentially stressful event in Italian parents. [Data Collection]

Collection description

Parents of LGBTQIA+ individuals often report experiencing confusion, stress, grief, and loss after their children come out. The current study explores whether this experience could resemble that of people who have recently lost someone close. This research, then, aims to compare the integration of stressful life events and social meaning-making processes in individuals whose children came out and those dealing with bereavement. Furthermore, it also aims to determine possible correlations between how parents cope with their children coming out and their socio-demographic characteristics and psychological variables. The sample includes 194 parents who experienced their children who completed an online questionnaire. Results show no significant differences between the present sample and the bereaved ones, especially considering parents who experienced their children coming out recently. There also seems to be a significant correlation between lower scores and several socio-demographic and psychological variables, such as advanced age, the gender identity of their child, high levels of alexithymic traits, and more traditional gender role beliefs. These findings show the resemblance between the two experiences and the influencing factors; therefore, they could inform how parents can be assisted in coming to terms with this event.

DOI:

10.25430/researchdata.cab.unipd.it.00000724

Keywords:

coming out, parents, stressful experiences, LGBTQIA+ child, loss

Subjects:

Social Sciences and Humanities > The Social World, Diversity, Population: Sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, demography, education, communication > Inequalities, discrimination, prejudice, aggression and violence, antisocial behaviour
Social Sciences and Humanities > The Social World, Diversity, Population: Sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, demography, education, communication > Social integration, exclusion, prosocial behaviour
Social Sciences and Humanities > The Social World, Diversity, Population: Sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, demography, education, communication > Kinship; diversity and identities, gender, interethnic relations
Social Sciences and Humanities > The Human Mind and Its Complexity: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, philosophy of mind > Clinical and health psychology

Department:

Departments > Dipartimento di Filosofia, Sociologia, Pedagogia e Psicologia Applicata (FISPPA)

Depositing User:

Nicola Biancotto

Date Deposited:

17 Oct 2022 06:57

Last Modified:

17 Oct 2022 06:57

Creators/Authors:

Creators	Email	ORCID
Biancotto, Nicola	nicola.biancotto@studenti.unipd.it	orcid.org/0000-0002-9074-7567
Biancalani, Gianmarco	gianmarco.biancalani@unipd.it	orcid.org/0000-0002-5745-2118
Ronconi, Lucia	lucia.ronconi@unipd.it	orcid.org/0000-0002-2360-9965
Testoni, Ines	ines.testoni@unipd.it	orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-6450