LGBTQ+ Youth and Families: Growing up in the context of stigma
Chair(s): Susie Bower-Brown (University College London)
More and more youth are identifying as LGBTQ+, with recent survey data indicating that 17% of Generation-Z identify as LGBTQ+ (Ipsos, 2024). Simultaneously, shifts in social attitudes and advancements in fertility treatments mean that more children are growing up with LGBTQ+ parents. Despite these growing numbers of LGBTQ+ youth, parents and families, developmental psychology has historically been centered on the experiences of cisgender, heterosexual individuals, leaving significant gaps in our understanding of LGBTQ+ populations. In a global context where restrictions around gender-affirmative healthcare are increasing and the rights of LGBTQ+ parents are under threat, it is now more important than ever for developmental psychology to engage with the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth, parents and families.
Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research from Belgium, the Netherlands, UK and US, this symposium will explore wellbeing, social relationships and stigma amongst LGBTQ+ youth, parents and families. Maisie Matthews will examine international survey data on child and parent wellbeing in bisexual father families, providing one of the first empirical insights into family functioning in this understudied group. Dr Jessie Hillekens will explore the demographic characteristics and social relationships of non-binary youth in the Netherlands and Belgium, providing much needed evidence that contradicts reductive stereotypes. Dr Susie Bower-Brown will explore the UK’s media and political discourse around gender diverse children, drawing on the concept of ‘moral panic’ and ecological systems theory to understand the impact of this hostile discourse on gender-diverse youth.
Together, these presentations offer new theoretical and empirical insights into the wellbeing and social experiences of LGBTQ+ youth, parents and families, in the context of societal stigma. The symposium will conclude by outlining key directions for research, policy, and practice, discussing the factors necessary to ensure that all young people, regardless of their family structure, gender identity and/or sexual orientation, can thrive.
Presentations of the Symposium
Social, familial, and psychological factors affecting wellbeing in bisexual father families
Maisie Matthews
Social Research Institute, University College London, UK
Despite a significant proportion of LGBTQ+ parents identifying as bisexual, experiences and outcomes among bisexual parent families remain under-researched. Bisexual fathers as a population have historically been invisible within samples of same- or different- gender parents, meaning the factors affecting outcomes within these families are as yet identified. With bisexual populations in general showing poorer mental health outcomes, understanding influences on wellbeing among bisexual fathers and their children will be critical in informing both empirical understandings and guidance for support. This study takes a minority stress and family resilience approach to investigate the risk and protective factors contributing to father and child wellbeing within bisexual father families. Findings from an international survey of 400 bisexual fathers will be presented. In the survey, fathers completed a range of measures of social, familial, and psychological factors (e.g. stigma, social support, family communication, internalised stigma). Fathers also completed measures of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem, and a parent-completed measure of child adjustment. Preliminary correlation analyses indicate that experiences of stigma are associated with greater anxiety and lower self-esteem among fathers, whilst social support, family communication, and couple satisfaction are associated with lower depression and greater self-esteem. Anxiety and depression among fathers appear correlated with greater adjustment difficulties in children, whilst fathers’ social support and self-esteem levels are associated with fewer child difficulties. Hierarchical regression analyses will be conducted to identify predictors of father wellbeing and child adjustment, as well as any interacting and moderating variables. Findings from this study will provide valuable insight into the mechanisms underpinning wellbeing within bisexual father families, and identifying risk and protective factors will shape guidance for future intervention and support for these fathers and children whose wellbeing outcomes have previously been invisible within academic research.
Nonbinary identities are not ‘elitist’ or ‘woke’: Demographic characteristics and social relationships of nonbinary youth in three community samples in the Netherlands and Belgium
Jessie Hillekens1, Fernando Salinas-Quiroz2, Lysanne te Brinke3
1Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands, 2Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development (EPCSHD), School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA, 3Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Popular conspiracy theories assume that nonbinary gender identities are ‘elitist’ and ‘woke’ advocating that these identities only exist among white, higher educated samples. At the same time, nonbinary youth are often excluded in quantitative research so that we know very little about who they are and no research has structurally examined demographic characteristics of youth who identify outside of the binary. Moreover, despite known lower psychological adjustment among nonbinary youth, it remains unclear whether this might be driven by how they are treated by others in school. Arguably, nonbinary youth might be more often rejected by peers and teachers which could serve as a critical precursor of lower psychological adjustment. Combining three datasets including community samples spanning adolescence and young adulthood in the Netherlands and Belgium, this study therefore 1) examined demographic characteristics of nonbinary youth and 2) investigated social rejection as a potential explanation of their lower psychological adjustment. Consistently across three different datasets, nonbinary youth were on average older and more often came from lower socio-economic and ethnic minority backgrounds. Additionally, they were more likely to be rejected by peers and teachers, undermining their trust in others and their feelings that they can be their true selves. Consequently, lower trust in others and feelings of being able to be their true selves significantly correlated with youth’s psychological adjustment. Our preliminary findings therefore clearly contradict popular conspiracy theories and show that nonbinary identities are not ‘elitist’ or ‘woke’, but rather more prevalent among youth from more disadvantaged familial backgrounds. Furthermore, we point towards social rejection in school as a potential critical explanation of poorer psychological adjustment among nonbinary youth. Our study thus highlight the contextual difficulties that nonbinary youth face and call for action to ensure their social inclusion in schools.
A Trans Moral Panic? Exploring the media and policy backlash against gender-diverse youth in the UK
Susie Bower-Brown
Social Research Institute, University College London, UK
Within recent years, the UK has become an increasingly hostile place for the growing group of young people whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. In 2023, the UK Government proposed plans to ban children from socially transitioning at school, and in 2024, the use of puberty blockers by gender-diverse youth was prohibited, significantly limiting trans and non-binary youth’s access to gender-affirming medical care. The potential impact of policy and media discourse on child development has been outlined in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which aims to understand child development through a holistic lens. Although this theory has been highly influential in developmental psychology, much research has focussed on the child’s immediate environment, labelled by Bronfenbrenner as the ‘microsystem’. As a result, the role of the wider social and political landscape remains underexplored. This presentation aims to bring particular focus to Bronfenbrenner’s exosystem, defined as the social structures that shape child development, and the macrosystem, which encompasses the cultural, legal and political landscape. Drawing on Cohen’s (2002) concept of ‘moral panic’, a theory that outlines the way in which social objects (e.g. gender-diverse youth) can become defined in the media as a threat to societal values, this presentation will examine the current UK backlash against gender diversity in childhood. This presentation will then draw on qualitative survey data with 74 binary-trans, non-binary and gender-questioning youth to consider the impact that this discourse is having on the wellbeing and identity development of gender-diverse young people. The presentation will conclude by bringing together moral panic theory and ecological systems theory to consider the unique social experiences of youth who are considered a ‘threat’ to societal values, before reflecting on directions for future research, theory and policy.
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