Abstract

We investigated associations among three parent socialization practices (racial/cultural socialization, adoptive communicative openness, LGBT family socialization) and related child outcomes (social competence, understanding of adoption) among 96 lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parent families with school-age children (M_age = 8 years). No socialization practices differed as functions of child sex or parental sexual orientation. Parents in transracial (versus same-race) adoptive families reported higher racial/cultural socialization and lower adoptive communicative openness. Higher racial/cultural socialization was associated with higher LGBT family socialization; the latter was also associated with higher adoptive communicative openness. Although no parent-reported socialization practices were associated with children’s understanding of adoption, child-reported LGBT family socialization was correlated with greater understanding. Moreover, when simultaneously considering parent-reported socialization, higher child-reported LGBT family socialization statistically predicted greater social competence. These findings provide insights about how socialization practices relate to one another and to preadolescent child outcomes among adoptive families representing diverse identities.

摘要

我们调查了 96 个有学龄儿童的女同性恋、男同性恋和异性恋养父母家庭的三种父母社会化实践（种族/文化社会化、收养交流开放、LGBT 家庭社会化）和相关儿童成果（社会能力、对收养的理解）之间的关联（马_岁= 8 年）。没有任何社会化实践因儿童性行为或父母性取向而有所不同。跨种族（与同种族）收养家庭的父母报告了更高的种族/文化社会化和较低的收养交流开放度。较高的种族/文化社会化与较高的 LGBT 家庭社会化相关；后者也与更高的收养性交流开放性有关。虽然没有父母报告的社会化实践与儿童对收养的理解相关，但儿童报告的 LGBT 家庭社会化与更深入的理解相关。此外，当同时考虑父母报告的社会化时，更高的儿童报告的 LGBT 家庭社会化在统计上预测更大的社会能力。