Ricerc@Sapienza

The experience of coming out (CO) - the act of disclosing one's sexual orientation to others - is often a pivotal event in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer, and those who otherwise identify as a minority in terms of sexual orientation (LGBQ+). The CO process is fundamental for identity integration among LGBQ+ people. Prior research on CO has mainly focused on the narratives of the LGBQ+ people while, to our knowledge, only a few studies have investigated the CO process analyzing the parents' perspectives after the offspring disclosure.
Thus, the primary purpose is to investigate mothers' and fathers' experiences and narratives of the CO process of their offspring. Our research project will approach this issue with four main goals:
(1) provide descriptive qualitative and quantitative data on the parents' perception of the CO over time;
(2) explore how the CO process may represent a crucial and stressful event for the parents and, at the same time, a possibility for generativity;
(3) investigate how the parents may negotiate or re-configure their bond with the kinship system and re-consider the value systems they refer to (i.e., moral, religious, and political system);
(4) test the moderating and mediating roles of parents' personal and demographic variables on the relationship between initial favorable/adverse reactions to CO, homophobic, and heterosexist attitudes.
We will adopt a variety of research methodologies, including qualitative and quantitative-based research. An ad-hoc online survey will be used to collect data regarding the key variables (n = 100; 50-80 years of age). Moreover, we will conduct semi-structured interviews (n = 40; 50-80 years of age) to extend the existing scientific literature concerning the perceptions that parents of LGBQ+ people attribute to the CO process. The findings of this project could have important implications for researchers and mental health professionals who might work with parents of LGBQ+ people.