Two years after their child comes out as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), many parents still say it is “moderately” or “very hard” for them to adjust to the news, according to a new study from the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Those responses are the same, on average, as parents who have recently learned about their child’s sexual orientation.
The results are significant because previous studies suggest parents who have trouble adjusting are more likely to disapprove or adopt negative behaviors that can put LGB youth at risk of serious health problems, the researchers said.
“Surprisingly, we found that parents who knew about a child’s sexual orientation for two years struggled as much as parents who had recently learned the news,” said David Huebner, associate professor of prevention and community health at Milken Institute SPH. “Two years is a very long time in the life of a child who is faced with the stress of a disapproving or rejecting parent.”
This study is one of the first and largest to survey parents themselves. The study also includes data from parents rarely ever studied, Dr. Huebner said, noting that 26 percent of the parents surveyed had only learned their child identifies as LGB in the past month.
Dr. Huebner and his colleagues studied more than 1,200 parents of LGB youth ages 10 to 25. The researchers asked parents who visited a website with LGB resources to fill out a questionnaire.