Abstract

Hostility toward same-sex parenting is widespread. Literature supports one persistent argument against same-sex parenting which focusses on the concern for children’s wellbeing, whereas lesbian and gay parents’ ability is sometimes evaluated positively. In particular, the belief that children need both a father and a mother impacts the evaluation that same-sex parents are unfit to raise well-adjusted children. The present research aimed to investigate linking mechanisms and conditional processes underlying the evaluation of same-sex parents’ ability. Cisgender heterosexual Italian participants (N = 320) read one of four vignettes describing a family situation – two types of same-sex (step)parents (i.e., lesbian and gay (step)parents) vs. two types of different-sex (step)parents (i.e., heterosexual (step)parents) – in which a child misbehaved in the context of a mild family disagreement. After reading the vignette, the participants rated parenting ability and to what extent the child’s misbehavior was attributable to the parenting relationship. Moderated-mediation analyses indicated that same-sex (step)parents were perceived as being less capable parents compared to different-sex (step)parents by giving them greater responsibility for the child’s misbehavior, among participants with medium and high levels of gender role beliefs. Implications for research on sexual discrimination are discussed.

摘要

对同性育儿的敌对情绪普遍存在。文学支持一个反对同性育儿的持久论点，该论点关注对儿童福祉的关注，而男女同性恋父母的能力有时会得到积极评价。特别是，认为孩子既需要父亲又需要母亲的信念会影响对同性父母不适合养育适应良好的孩子的评价。本研究旨在调查潜在的同性父母能力评估的联系机制和条件过程。Cisgender异性恋意大利参与者（N = 320）阅读描述家庭状况的四个短片之一-两种同性（继父母）父母（即同性恋和同性父母（继父母））与两种类型的不同性别（继父母）的父母（即异性恋） （父母）（继父母）–孩子因家庭轻度分歧而行为不端。阅读小插图后，参与者对育儿能力进行了评估，并在多大程度上将孩子的不良行为归因于育儿关系。中度调解分析表明，在性别角色观念中上和高度较高的参与者中，同性（分步）父母与其他性别（分步）父母相比，被赋予较低的责任，这是因为他们对孩子的行为不当承担更大的责任。讨论了对性别歧视研究的意义。