Anticipation of the sexual and gender development of children adopted by same-sex couples

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

Jorge Gato (Author) Other; Anne Marie Fontaine (Author) FPCEUP

Journal

Title: International Journal of Psychology

Vol. 48 No. 3

Pages: 244-253

ISSN: 0020-7594

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 13 Citations

ISI Web of Science

Scopus - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-006-A9P

DOI: 10.1080/00207594.2011.645484

Abstract (EN): The present study aimed to characterize beliefs surrounding the sexual and gender development of children adopted by lesbian and gay couples. Participants were 768 Portuguese university students. Using a quasiexperimental design, participants were presented with identical descriptions of a couple interested in adopting a child, manipulating couple sexual orientation and child gender. Participants were then asked to anticipate three aspects of the sexual and gender development of the adopted child: sexual orientation, gender role behavior, and gender identity. MANOVAs and follow-up ANOVAs were conducted in order to analyze the data. Results indicated that participants, particularly males, considered children adopted by either lesbian or gay couples to have a lower probability of developing a normative sexual and gender identity than children adopted by heterosexual couples. Both men and women considered that children would emulate the sexual orientation of their same-sex parents, and that a boy's gender role behavior was more at risk if he was adopted by a lesbian couple. Moreover, men were apprehensive about the gender role behavior of a boy adopted by a gay male couple. Overall, these results indicate persistence of biased evaluations of the sexual and gender development of children adopted by lesbian and gay parents. Furthermore, both gender of the participant and gender of the child play an important role in these evaluations. Results are discussed and interpreted as a way of doing gender in the context of hegemonic masculinity.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific