Literature Review
Most literature on parent/child coming out issues pertains to adult LGBT children and is written by social workers, psychologists, and physicians. Very little has been written regarding parents and adolescent coming out conflicts, and even less so about LGBT minorities.
Key words: adolescence, coming out, gay and lesbian adolescents, Latino parents and youth, parents, intergroup conflict, social identity, family influence, teenage suicide, parent-adolescent conflict, religion and traditional family values.
A small body of studies discusses parent/adolescent conflict resolution, but not in the context of LGBT youth. However, in all case studies the effects of coming out to families, invites feelings of personal loss (Newman …show more content…
Since family operates as one of the principal themes for articulating and supporting the ethnic identity of gay Latino adolescents (Merighi & Grimes, 2000). I am focusing on one Latino.
Methodology
Given this understudied group and the search for information embodied in the research question, I chose a case study methodology with a sample of one parent and one child to examine the coming out conflict experience.
Participants
My subjects were Crissy and her mother, Wendy. They were interviewed independent of each other. I used an open-ended interview format. That is, there were some basic questions asked of both parties, but I also attempted to get free responses and to follow up with further questions about their conflict. Each interview lasted slightly over an hour.
Data Collection
I placed more emphasis on themes rather than questions so that each participant could take me in the direction they wanted. I used open-ended questions when interviewing Wendy to encourage her to reflect on her thoughts and feelings concerning her interests (needs and desires) and aspirations for herself and for Crissy? I also asked for her thoughts on homosexuality and bisexuality in general, and how Crissy’s disclosure affected her on a personal level. Wendy moved back and forth between the present and the past as she described observations about Crissy and experiences in both their …show more content…
Pruitt and Kim (2004) say that a social conflict is where the party aspires to an outcome that the other is unwilling to provide. Similar to a much larger conflict, they have competing interests, different identities, and differing attitudes. Wendy and Crissy are also engaged in an intergroup conflict. Tajfel and Turner (2004) developed social identity theory to explain that the sheer existence of an out-group is enough to provoke intergroup discrimination of the ingroup.
Wendy’s needs and wants are that her bisexual daughter be “normal” again. She wants Crissy to “stop being bisexual,” and to stop socializing with lesbian girls. On the other hand, Crissy feels that she cannot succumb to her mother’s needs about her sexuality. She wants her mother to accept her for who she is and to be able to be herself with her larger family.
Wendy has never known anyone who is lesbian or bisexual, she said. How can Crissy be part of the family if she claims to be lesbian? Crissy will be rejected, she said. Based on my discussion with her, Wendy no longer identifies with her daughter and is afraid that Crissy will only identify as bisexual. Crissy identifies with both cultures–Latino and
Most literature on parent/child coming out issues pertains to adult LGBT children and is written by social workers, psychologists, and physicians. Very little has been written regarding parents and adolescent coming out conflicts, and even less so about LGBT minorities.
Key words: adolescence, coming out, gay and lesbian adolescents, Latino parents and youth, parents, intergroup conflict, social identity, family influence, teenage suicide, parent-adolescent conflict, religion and traditional family values.
A small body of studies discusses parent/adolescent conflict resolution, but not in the context of LGBT youth. However, in all case studies the effects of coming out to families, invites feelings of personal loss (Newman …show more content…
Since family operates as one of the principal themes for articulating and supporting the ethnic identity of gay Latino adolescents (Merighi & Grimes, 2000). I am focusing on one Latino.
Methodology
Given this understudied group and the search for information embodied in the research question, I chose a case study methodology with a sample of one parent and one child to examine the coming out conflict experience.
Participants
My subjects were Crissy and her mother, Wendy. They were interviewed independent of each other. I used an open-ended interview format. That is, there were some basic questions asked of both parties, but I also attempted to get free responses and to follow up with further questions about their conflict. Each interview lasted slightly over an hour.
Data Collection
I placed more emphasis on themes rather than questions so that each participant could take me in the direction they wanted. I used open-ended questions when interviewing Wendy to encourage her to reflect on her thoughts and feelings concerning her interests (needs and desires) and aspirations for herself and for Crissy? I also asked for her thoughts on homosexuality and bisexuality in general, and how Crissy’s disclosure affected her on a personal level. Wendy moved back and forth between the present and the past as she described observations about Crissy and experiences in both their …show more content…
Pruitt and Kim (2004) say that a social conflict is where the party aspires to an outcome that the other is unwilling to provide. Similar to a much larger conflict, they have competing interests, different identities, and differing attitudes. Wendy and Crissy are also engaged in an intergroup conflict. Tajfel and Turner (2004) developed social identity theory to explain that the sheer existence of an out-group is enough to provoke intergroup discrimination of the ingroup.
Wendy’s needs and wants are that her bisexual daughter be “normal” again. She wants Crissy to “stop being bisexual,” and to stop socializing with lesbian girls. On the other hand, Crissy feels that she cannot succumb to her mother’s needs about her sexuality. She wants her mother to accept her for who she is and to be able to be herself with her larger family.
Wendy has never known anyone who is lesbian or bisexual, she said. How can Crissy be part of the family if she claims to be lesbian? Crissy will be rejected, she said. Based on my discussion with her, Wendy no longer identifies with her daughter and is afraid that Crissy will only identify as bisexual. Crissy identifies with both cultures–Latino and