Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Warning: Anti-gay states may harm your health
by Dana Rudolph, Keen News Service
2011-03-02

This article shared 2820 times since Wed Mar 2, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Same-sex couples with adopted children living in states with anti-gay adoption laws and attitudes had more mental health issues in their first year of parenthood than couples with adopted children living in more accepting states, a new study has found. In addition, same-sex couples with adopted children who perceived higher support from their family and workplace and lived in more gay-friendly neighborhoods reported better mental health than those who did not.

While the results may seem like common sense, this is the first study to examine changes in depression and anxiety across the first year of adoptive parenthood in same-sex couples. It is also the first study to examine mental health among new gay male parents either adoptive or biological.

Dr. Abbie Goldberg, assistant professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., co-authored the work with JuliAnna Smith at the Center for Research on Families of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Their report appears in the February issue of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Psychological Association.

Goldberg profiled 180 individuals in 90 same-sex couples (52 lesbian couples and 38 gay male couples) at three separate times during their first year of parenting an adopted child.

She said in an interview that while the sample size is not huge, the data extends over time, which is an improvement over previous studies that have tried to make related observations looking only at one point in time.

Gay and lesbian adoptive parents living in states with unfavorable laws regarding adoption by gay people showed greater increases in symptoms of depression and anxiety (as measured by standard clinical scales) during the period of study than did individuals living in states with more favorable legal climates.

The effect was most pronounced among those with high levels of internalized homophobia—which was assessed by a questionnaire asking participants how strongly they agreed with statements such as, "If someone offered me the chance to be completely heterosexual, I would accept the chance."

In comparison, individuals with high levels of internalized homophobia, but who lived in states with favorable legal climates, experienced decreases in symptoms of depression during the period of study.

Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska and Utah have laws or policies restricting same-sex couples (or unmarried couples, which in those states means all same-sex couples) from jointly adopting. A number of other states also restrict "second-parent adoptions" in which one partner adopts a child who is already the legal child of the other parent.

An Arizona Senate committee passed a bill Feb. 2 that would give married couples preference in adoption placements. Five days later, a Utah Senate committee tabled a bill that would have allowed second-parent adoptions.

Goldberg explained in an interview that the anti-gay attitudes reflected in anti-gay adoption policies are likely to "trickle down into community attitudes." These attitudes, her data suggests, can have a negative effect on the mental health of gay and lesbian parents.

While studies show that many people, including straight ones, show an increase in depressive or anxious symptoms in early parenthood, Goldberg explained, most recover later. But, she added, higher levels of depression or anxiety "could have negative effects beyond the individual," including among their children, especially if the factors causing them—unsupportive workplaces, families, neighborhoods, or laws—don't change.

In addition to state legal climates, other factors in the study that predicted lower symptoms of depression and/or anxiety among new adoptive parents were workplace support, friend support, relationship quality and family support.

"Families of origin appear to continue to occupy a socially meaningful role in many lesbians' and gay men's lives, even as they begin to form families of their own," wrote Goldberg. " ... Nonsupport may have particularly deleterious consequences on mental health during the transition to parenthood."

This echoes the findings of Dr. Caitlin Ryan of San Francisco State University, whose Family Acceptance Project has found that acceptance of LGBT youth by parents and caregivers can help protect them against depression, substance abuse, and suicide in early adulthood. Conversely, LGBT young adults whose families rejected them were more than three times as likely to have suicidal thoughts and to report suicide attempts.

Goldberg's paper notes some of the limitations of her adoption study. A majority of participants lived in states that were "relatively supportive" of adoption by same-sex couples. The study also looked at the effect of anti-gay adoption laws but not at other anti-gay laws, such as marriage bans, and it did not consider the impact of certain factors, such as racial identity.

But Goldberg wrote that the study is "an important first step" towards understanding the mental health of new lesbian and gay adoptive parents.

Although this is the first study to look at lesbian and gay mental health among new adoptive parents, several previous studies have shown a general correlation between states with anti-LGBT laws and negative mental health in LGBT people. Most recently, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention released a comprehensive report on the causes of suicidal behavior in LGBT adolescents and adults. It concluded, "discriminatory laws and public policies have a profound negative impact on the mental health of gay adults."

The report, published in the January issue of the Journal of Homosexuality, was the result of a conference on LGBT suicide risk sponsored by the Foundation, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). SPRC is a congressionally mandated and federally funded initiative, managed through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

And HHS Healthy People 2020 report, which came out in December 2010 and sets the nation's 10-year goals and objectives for health promotion and disease prevention, stated that "Research suggests that LGBT individuals face health disparities linked to societal stigma, discrimination, and denial of their civil and human rights. Discrimination against LGBT persons has been associated with high rates of psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, and suicide."

©2011 by Keen News Service. All rights reserved.


This article shared 2820 times since Wed Mar 2, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Brown Elephant Returns To Northalsted 2024-03-26
- Brown Elephant's Lake View location is moving to Northalsted and already accepting donations. Howard Brown Health, the largest LGBTQ+ health center in the midwest, operates three Brown Elephant resale shops in the Chicagoland area to help ...


Gay News

An interstate trans healthcare crisis: Illinois prepares for influx of people seeking gender-affirming care 2024-03-26
- With hard-won rights, such as access to hormone replacement therapy or permission to use one's chosen pronouns in school, breaking down in states across the country, trans residents of all ages are left with a choice: ...


Gay News

Planned Parenthood of Illinois expands Orland Park health center 2024-03-26
--From a press release - ORLAND PARK, Ill. - Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) announces the expansion of its existing Orland Park Health Center at 14470 S. LaGrange Rd., Suite 106. The 1,800-square-foot expansion is projected to increase sexual and reproductive ...


Gay News

Wyoming is latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors 2024-03-24
- On March 22, Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, The Hill noted. In doing so, it joined 23 other states that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment. Legislators in both ...


Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18
- Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

WORLD Leaked messages, Panama action, author dies at 32, Japan court, out athletes 2024-03-15
- Hundreds of messages from an internal chat board for an international group of transgender health professionals were leaked in a report and framed as revealing serious health risks associated with gender-affirming care, including cancer, according to ...


Gay News

UK health service to stop routinely prescribing puberty blockers to minors 2024-03-14
- NHS (National Health Service) England confirmed that children will no longer routinely be prescribed puberty blockers at gender-identity clinics, the BBC reported. The decision came after a review found there was "not enough evidence" that they ...


Gay News

One Roof Chicago launches youth-focused workforce development program 2024-03-14
- One Roof Chicago (ORC) is set to launch its first training, education and job placement program for LGBTQ+ young adults in late spring. This Community Health Workers and Elder Care program is a part of ORC's ...


Gay News

Howard Brown experts discuss advocacy and allyship for Chicago's trans community 2024-03-14
By Alec Karam - Howard Brown Health's Trans & Gender Diverse People's Rights & Patient Care panel convened March 12 to discuss both resources for—and opportunities to provide allyship to—the city's trans and gender diverse communities. The event hos ...


Gay News

Howard Brown Health faces October trial if settlement isn't reached with union 2024-03-13
- Howard Brown Health could go to trial over unfair labor practice allegations if the LGBTQ+ health center doesn't reach a settlement with its agreement soon. Chicago's regional director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed ...


Gay News

Pro-choice activists protest crisis pregnancy center on International Women's Day 2024-03-11
- The rainy weather on March 8 didn't deter a passionate group of pro-choice protesters from gathering in Old Town on International Women's Day. Following the opening of Women's Care Center—a crisis pregnancy center—directly next to Pl ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Altercation, mpox research, Univ. of Fla., George Santos, tech battle 2024-03-08
- Video footage uploaded to Facebook showed an altercation between a state trooper and two prominent Philadelphia LGBTQ+ leaders, the Washington Blade reported, republishing an article from Philadelphia Gay News. Celena ...


Gay News

Pride 365 event emphasizes year-round support for LGBTQ+ employees 2024-03-07
- Queer employees are queer all year-round. The need for employers to accordingly support and uplift them year-round was the core message at Howard Brown Health and Citywide Pride's Pride 365 "Out of Office to Out in ...


Gay News

AMA launches toolkit to increase screenings for HIV, STIs, hepatitis, tuberculosis 2024-03-06
Press release - CHICAGO — With disruptions in clinical care caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and viral hepatitis across the U.S., the American Medical Association ...


Gay News

APA adopts policy supporting transgender, gender diverse and non-binary individuals 2024-02-28
- From a press release: WASHINGTON—The American Psychological Association (APA) has adopted a landmark policy affirming evidence-based care for transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary children, adolescents and adults, noting that recent ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.