United States Normative Attitudes for Pursuing Parenthood as a Function of Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Age

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.

The Impact of Primary Care Providers’ Bias on Depression Screening for Lesbian Women

Primary care providers’ (PCPs) implicit and explicit bias can adversely affect health outcomes of lesbian women including their mental health. Practice guidelines recommend universal screening for depression in primary care settings, yet the guidelines often are not followed. The intersection of PCPs’ implicit and explicit bias toward lesbian women may lead to even lower screening and diagnosis of depression in the lesbian population than in the general population. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to examine the relationship between PCPs’ implicit and explicit bias toward lesbian women and their recommendations for depression screening in this population. PCPs ( n = 195) in Kentucky completed a survey that included bias measures and screening recommendations for a simulated lesbian patient. Bivariate inferential statistical tests were conducted to compare the implicit and explicit bias scores of PCPs who recommended depression screening and those who did not. PCPs who recommended depression screening demonstrated more positive explicit attitudes toward lesbian women ( p < .05) and their implicit bias scores were marginally lower than the providers who did not recommend depression screening (p = .068). Implications for practice: Depression screening rates may be even lower for lesbian women due to implicit and explicit bias toward this population. Training to increase providers’ awareness of bias and its harm is the first step to improve primary care for lesbian women. Policies must protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Binegativity Exacerbates the Effects of Sexual Victimization Disclosure on Posttraumatic Stress and Drinking Among Bisexual Women

Bisexual women experience higher rates of sexual victimization and mental health problems compared to heterosexual and lesbian women. Bisexual women also receive more unsupportive or overtly negative reactions when they disclose experiences of sexual victimization. The current study aimed to examine the interaction of negative social reactions and binegativity (i.e., experiences of stigma due to bisexual identity) in predicting posttraumatic stress, depression, and hazardous drinking among bisexual women. The sample consisted of 161 young adult bisexual women (ages 18–35) who disclosed a sexual victimization experience to at least one person. Moderation analyses were conducted via the PROCESS macro for SPSS. “Turning against” reactions to disclosure (e.g., victim blame and avoidance of the victim) predicted increased posttraumatic stress and hazardous drinking in the presence of binegativity. In addition, reactions to disclosure that acknowledged the experience but were unsupportive predicted increased drinking in the context of binegativity. Depression was not associated with either type of negative reactions, regardless of binegativity. Thus, findings suggest that binegativity in combination with negative responses to disclosure of sexual victimization are important factors in specific types of distress related to sexual violence among bisexual women. Implications for research, clinical intervention, and policy are discussed.

Guilty feeling pada Seorang Wanita Lesbian yang ada di Palembang

This research aims to understand the factors that cause a lesbian woman to feel guilty feeling good with their parents, God created it later in themselves. The impact after they undergo as a lesbian woman and the expression of guilty feelings towards her family. And also what are the factors that cause a lesbian woman. The researcher used a qualitative research design and used a phenomenological approach to determine the factors that cause lesbian women to feel a guilty feeling. In this study, researchers used 2 research subjects and 4 people as sources of information. The results of this study found that the cause of the subject to feel guilty feeling was due to fear of punishment that would be given by God the creator and also did not want his late father to feel disappointed with what they had done and also did not want his mother to feel the sadness that the subject had done. Then also the subject realizes that what has been done is an untrue act that has violated the established norms and rules. This is the factor that causes lesbian women to feel a guilty feeling

Testing Substance Use as a Mediator of Structural Stigma-Cardiovascular Health Associations in a Large Sample of Gay Men and Lesbian Women

Compared to heterosexual individuals, gay men and lesbian women experience multiple health inequities, including higher prevalence of substance use and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Gay men and lesbian women also face structural stigma, including laws that fail to protect or actively discriminate against them. These phenomena can be understood by considering two theories previously tested among gay men and lesbian women: minority stress and cognitive escape. Minority stress theory suggests being stigmatized for one's minority identity relates to negative health sequelae, while cognitive escape theory suggests escape-related behaviors may mediate links between chronic stress exposure and health. Using 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, we ran binary logistic regressions to test models in which binge drinking and cigarette smoking independently mediated links between structural stigma and health among gay men and lesbian women. Structural stigma was operationalized at the U.S. state level as number of sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws. Health was operationalized as presence of any CVD. Models were tested in an aggregated sample, and also in subsamples by sex. In bivariate and component-path analyses, structural stigma predicted smoking across samples. Structural stigma-binge drinking associations were more salient among lesbian women compared to gay men. Per Sobel test results, smoking mediated associations between structural stigma and CVD in the gay men sample, suggesting gay men may smoke to escape from structural stigma, with negative implications for cardiovascular health.

Tolerance and the labor supply of cohabiting gays and lesbians

Tolerance of sexual minorities is presumed to matter, but its effects are under-studied. Because tolerance can affect both experiences at work and division of labor in the household, we study the relationship between tolerance and the time cohabiting gay men and lesbian women spend in paid work across the United States. In the average state, the increase in tolerance between 2003 and 2015 is associated with an increase in paid work of about 1 week per year among cohabiting gay men. Though not robustly statistically significant, the increase in tolerance is associated with a decrease in paid work among cohabiting lesbian women relative to heterosexual women.