IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v10y2023i1d10.1057_s41599-023-02019-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental health of children with gender and sexual minority parents: a review and future directions

Author

Listed:
  • Deni Mazrekaj

    (Utrecht University
    University of Oxford
    KU Leuven)

  • Yuxuan Jin

    (Utrecht University
    Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) - KNAW/University of Groningen)

Abstract

This article reviews the literature between 2015 and 2022 on mental health disparities between children with gender and sexual minority parents and children with different-sex parents. Although most studies indicate that children with gender and sexual minority parents do not experience more mental health problems than children with different-sex parents, the results are mixed and depend on the underlying sample. The review highlights important shortcomings that characterize this literature, including cross-sectional survey samples, correlational methods, lack of diversity by country, and a lack of research on children with transgender and bisexual parents. Therefore, substantial caution is warranted when attempting to arrive at an overall conclusion based on the current state of the literature. Suggestions are provided that can guide academic work when studying mental health outcomes of children with gender and sexual minority parents in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Deni Mazrekaj & Yuxuan Jin, 2023. "Mental health of children with gender and sexual minority parents: a review and future directions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02019-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02019-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-023-02019-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-023-02019-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bockting, W.O. & Miner, M.H. & Swinburne Romine, R.E. & Hamilton, A. & Coleman, E., 2013. "Stigma, mental health, and resilience in an online sample of the US transgender population," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(5), pages 943-951.
    2. Deni Mazrekaj, 2022. "Inclusion of LGBT+ researchers is key," Nature, Nature, vol. 605(7908), pages 30-30, May.
    3. Deni Mazrekaj & Mirjam M. Fischer & Henny M. W. Bos, 2022. "Behavioral Outcomes of Children with Same-Sex Parents in The Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-12, May.
    4. Wendy Manning & Marshal Fettro & Esther Lamidi, 2014. "Child Well-Being in Same-Sex Parent Families: Review of Research Prepared for American Sociological Association Amicus Brief," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(4), pages 485-502, August.
    5. Corinne Reczek & Russell Spiker & Hui Liu & Robert Crosnoe, 2016. "Family Structure and Child Health: Does the Sex Composition of Parents Matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1605-1630, October.
    6. Corinne Reczek & Russell Spiker & Hui Liu & Robert Crosnoe, 2017. "The Promise and Perils of Population Research on Same-Sex Families," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2385-2397, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefanie Mollborn & Aubrey Limburg & Bethany G. Everett, 2022. "Mothers’ Sexual Identity and Children’s Health," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1217-1239, June.
    2. Corinne Reczek & Russell Spiker & Hui Liu & Robert Crosnoe, 2017. "The Promise and Perils of Population Research on Same-Sex Families," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2385-2397, December.
    3. Diederik Boertien & Fabrizio Bernardi, 2019. "Same-Sex Parents and Children’s School Progress: An Association That Disappeared Over Time," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(2), pages 477-501, April.
    4. Dorit Segal-Engelchin & Orit Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2023. "Editorial: Health and Well-Being Related to New Family Forms: Perspectives of Adults, Couples, Children, and Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-8, April.
    5. Xu, Chen & Gong, Xingying & Fu, Wanyan & Xu, Yanjun & Xu, Haiyan & Chen, Wenjing & Li, Min, 2020. "The role of career adaptability and resilience in mental health problems in Chinese adolescents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    6. Kia, Hannah & MacKinnon, Kinnon Ross & Abramovich, Alex & Bonato, Sarah, 2021. "Peer support as a protective factor against suicide in trans populations: A scoping review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    7. Zhang, Adary & Berrahou, Iman & Leonard, Stephanie A. & Main, Elliott K. & Obedin-Maliver, Juno, 2022. "Birth registration policies in the United States and their relevance to sexual and/or gender minority families: Identifying existing strengths and areas of improvement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    8. Thespina Yamanis & Mannat Malik & Ana María Del Río-González & Andrea L. Wirtz & Erin Cooney & Maren Lujan & Ruby Corado & Tonia Poteat, 2018. "Legal Immigration Status is Associated with Depressive Symptoms among Latina Transgender Women in Washington, DC," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, June.
    9. Hafiz Muhammad Ahmad Abbas & Virdah Iram Gull & Khalid Ghaffar, 2018. "The Impact of Social Support on Psychological Distress among Khawajasira Community: The Mediated Effect of Self-Efficacy," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 9(6), pages 36-40.
    10. Chen, Shuai & van Ours, Jan C., 2020. "Symbolism matters: The effect of same-sex marriage legalization on partnership stability," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 44-58.
    11. Anders Björklund & Lina Aldén & Mats Hammarstedt, 2017. "Early Health and School Outcomes for Children with Lesbian Parents: Evidence from Sweden," Working Papers 2017-033, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    12. Justin Denney & Bridget Gorman, 2014. "Introduction: Population Perspectives on Sexual Minorities," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 33(4), pages 479-484, August.
    13. King, Wesley M. & Hughto, Jaclyn M.W. & Operario, Don, 2020. "Transgender stigma: A critical scoping review of definitions, domains, and measures used in empirical research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    14. Hannah Van Borm & Marlot Dhoop & Allien Van Acker & Stijn Baert, 2020. "What does someone's gender identity signal to employers?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(6), pages 753-777, March.
    15. White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Reisner, Sari L. & Pachankis, John E., 2015. "Transgender stigma and health: A critical review of stigma determinants, mechanisms, and interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 222-231.
    16. Booth, Jonathan E. & Beauregard, T. Alexandra, 2019. "Workplace silence, today? Transgender employees' voice and well-being," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114334, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Corinne Reczek & Russell Spiker & Hui Liu & Robert Crosnoe, 2016. "Family Structure and Child Health: Does the Sex Composition of Parents Matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1605-1630, October.
    18. Danya Lagos, 2018. "Looking at Population Health Beyond “Male” and “Female”: Implications of Transgender Identity and Gender Nonconformity for Population Health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2097-2117, December.
    19. Goldberg, Abbie E. & Tornello, Samantha & Farr, Rachel & Smith, JuliAnna Z. & Miranda, Liam, 2020. "Barriers to adoption and foster care and openness to child characteristics among transgender adults," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    20. Maria-Elisa de-Castro-Peraza & Jesús Manuel García-Acosta & Naira Delgado-Rodriguez & Maria Inmaculada Sosa-Alvarez & Rosa Llabrés-Solé & Carla Cardona-Llabrés & Nieves Doria Lorenzo-Rocha, 2019. "Biological, Psychological, Social, and Legal Aspects of Trans Parenthood Based on a Real Case—A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-02019-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.