Coming out to your parents
Abstract: “Our aim was to gain an understanding of adolescents’ experiences of disclosing their sexual orientation as lesbian or gay to their parents. In order to capture these experiences, we conducted interviews with 6 people who had told at least 1 parent of their sexual orientation as lesbian or gay. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis we identified 4 themes from the emotions described by the respondents when they disclosed their sexual orientation to their parents. These 4 themes were feelings of alienation, uneasiness and fear, self-acceptance and being comfortable with one’s sexuality, and feeling whole. The conclusion we drew from the accounts of the people we interviewed is that disclosing one’s sexual orientation to one’s parents is liberating.”
“Findings reported in previous research have shown that parental reactions to their sons’ and daughters’ disclosure of gay or lesbian sexual orientation can differ depending on how parents raise their children and the kind of relationship they have with their offspring. In families with cohesion, adaptability, and authoritative parental styles disclosure is met with less negative reactions than in those characterized by disconnection, rigidity, and authoritarian styles (Willoughby et al., 2006). Savin-Williams and Dubé (1998) constructed a developmental model of parental reactions to their offspring’s disclosure of their homosexuality.”
References: Perrin-Wallqvist, R. (2015). Coming out as gay: a phenomenological study about adolescents disclosing their homosexuality to their parents. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2224/spb.2015.43.3.467
Posted by: Aliyah Deiz