| Changes in parent-child relationships and parent religious beliefs before and after a child came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual were examined in this mixed methods study. Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methodology was used to extract themes from 50 semi-structured interviews with self-identified Christian parents of LGB youth, and follow-up nonparametric analysis was used to assess statistically significant changes. Research indicates that parent reactions and relational dynamics after a child comes out at LGB can effect youths' psychological adjustment, self-esteem, mental health, as well as parental adjustment (D'Augelli, Grossman, & Starks, 2008). Initial parent reactions are typically dominated by emotion and often negative (Freedman, 2008; Phillips & Ancis, 2008; Savin-Williams, 2001). However, research suggests that parent reactions, attitudes, and thoughts about a child's sexuality shift in a positive direction over time, and most parents eventually develop an attitude of tolerance or acceptance (Ben-Ari, 1995; Freedman, 2008; Merighi & Grimes, 2000; Savin-Williams & Dube, 1998). The experiences of religious parents are underrepresented in the existing research in this area. A couple studies explore Christian parents' reactions to a child coming out, but no existing studies measure changes in parents' religious beliefs in this context. Results of this study indicated that for themes of overall relationship quality and emotional closeness, parents reported significantly negative changes directly following their child coming out, but increased positive changes over time. Parents also showed a significant shift in beliefs regarding sin and homosexuality between pre-disclosure to the time of the interview, with a significant proportion of parents moving from the belief the homosexuality is a sin to a position of questioning their beliefs. Implications of the data on providing integrative clinical services to Christian families of sexual minorities are discussed. |
