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January 2009 - June 2013
Publications
Publications (44)
Children in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (trans), and queer (LGBTQ) parent families are vulnerable to exclusion and marginalization in the school setting, including both institutionalized and interpersonal stigma. Prior studies of LGBTQ parents have documented reports of heterosexism and homophobia in schools, but these studies have generall...
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant stress for individuals, couples, and families. Divorced and separated couples with children face unique stresses amid the pandemic. This mixed-methods study explored these challenges among 296 divorced and separated parents: namely 204 women formerly partnered with men, 34 men formerly partnered with wom...
This chapter discusses the challenges faced by researchers analyzing data from multiple family members, with a focus on couples. It provides an introduction to multilevel modeling (MLM), as well as discussing recent advances and limitations in this approach. MLM provides one of the more versatile and accessible approaches available to model couple...
Despite unique health risks and outcomes among adopted children, most pediatricians receive little training about this population. The current mixed-methods study explored lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' (n = 224, in 129 families) experiences with and perspectives on pediatricians. Parents in the study adopted via private domestic,...
Trans students face institutional and interpersonal discrimination that renders them vulnerable to minority stress. Some trans students respond to minority stress, and perceptions of injustice on their campuses, via engagement in campus activism or advocacy. The current mixed methods study explores trans undergraduate and graduate students’ explana...
An increasing number of young adults identify with nonbinary gender identities. Yet health providers and therapists often lack understanding of such identities. In this mixed-methods study of 506 transgender undergraduate and graduate students, most of whom (75%) had nonbinary gender identities, we aimed to understand participants’ mental health an...
Research exploring health behaviors and outcomes among sexual minorities has yet to include same-sex parents, who face additional stressors associated with parenthood. This exploratory study investigates self-reported health behaviors (regular exercise, sleep, and alcohol use) and outcomes (chronic health conditions, depression, and overall health)...
This mixed-methods study of 507 trans and gender-nonconforming students (75% undergraduate, 25% graduate) aimed to understand (a) what institutional factors are associated with the presence of more trans-inclusive policies/supports, (b) what trans-inclusive policies/supports are viewed as important by different groups of trans students, and (c) how...
Almost no research has examined the role of parent-school relationships in relation to child psychological functioning in adoptive families or same-sex parent families, much less same-sex adoptive families. Yet adoptive families, and particularly same-sex adoptive families, may be vulnerable to marginalization in the school setting, which could hav...
Little research has explored linkages between workplace policies and mental health in working-class, employed parents, creating a gap in our knowledge of work–family issues across social class levels. The current US study addresses this gap by employing hierarchical linear modeling techniques to examine how workplace policies and parental leave ben...
Using a sample of 125 lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parent couples with young children (M = 6.32 years), this study examined predictors of direct socialization (preparation for adoptism, racism, and heterosexism) and indirect socialization (modeling interactions by responding to outsiders’ inquiries about their child’s adoptive status, ra...
This study evaluates the prevalence of mental/emotional distress and its specific correlates among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in 20 jail systems across the United States. Of the 878 PLWHA jail detainees, 52% had high levels of mental/emotional distress, defined by the composite Addiction Severity Index score. High mental/emotional distress...
Little research has explored parental engagement in schools in the context of adoptive parent families or same-sex parent families. The current cross-sectional study explored predictors of parents' self-reported school involvement, relationships with teachers, and school satisfaction, in a sample of 103 female same-sex, male same-sex, and heterosex...
Little research has explored same-sex parents' school engagement, although there is some evidence that same-sex parents' perceptions of openness versus exclusion in the school setting -as well as other interrelated contexts - may have implications for their relationships with and perceptions of their children's schools. The current cross-sectional...
The current study is the first to investigate the school selection considerations and school-related experiences of sexual-minority parents with young children. The sample consisted of 210 parents in 105 couples, including 35 lesbian couples, 30 gay male couples, and 40 heterosexual couples, all of whom had adopted a child three years earlier. We f...
Little work has examined parenting stress in adoptive parents, particularly lesbian and gay adoptive parents. The current longitudinal study examined parent-reported child characteristics (measured postplacement) and parent and family characteristics (measured preplacement) as predictors of postplacement parenting stress and change in parenting str...
This is the first study to examine the relationship between work conditions and mental health in dual-earner lesbian/gay parents (N = 86). How time- and strain-based demands (work hours, job urgency) and supportive resources (supervisor support, lesbian, gay, bisexual [LGB]-friendly workplace climate) are examined, as well as outness at work and in...
This chapter discusses the challenges faced by researchers analyzing data from multiple family members. It focuses on couples, as well as advances in research methods using multilevel modeling (MLM). MLM, which is a fairly straightforward extension of the more familiar ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression, provides one of the more versa...
Little research has focused on predictors of psychological adjustment among early placed adopted children. Additionally, the research on adopted children in lesbian or gay parent-families is sparse. The current study examined 40 female same-sex, 35 male same-sex, and 45 different-sex parent families with adopted children, all of whom were placed in...
This study examined whether the gender-typed play of young children varies as a function of family structure. Using a sample of 126 couples (44 lesbian couples, 34 gay male couples, and 48 heterosexual couples) located throughout the United States, with an adopted child between the age of 2 and 4 years old (mean = 2.5 years), we examined parent rep...
Little research has investigated the division of child care and housework in adoptive or lesbian/gay parent families, yet these contexts "control for" family characteristics such as biological relatedness and parental gender differences known to be linked to family work. This study examined predictors (measured preadoption) of the division of child...
In this study of 125 heterosexual long-wed couples, we examined both spouses’ personality traits and relative differences in partner perceptions of personality as predictors of marital satisfaction, simultaneously for both husbands and wives. As hypothesized, each of the Big Five personality traits emerged as significantly associated with marital s...
This study explored first-time fathers' perceived child care skill over the transition to parenthood, based on face-to-face interviews of 152 working-class, dual-earner couples. Analyses examined the associations among fathers' perceived skill and prenatal perception of skill, child care involvement, mothers' breastfeeding, maternal gatekeeping, mo...
Little research has explored linkages between work conditions and mental health in working‐class employed parents. The current study aims to address this gap, employing hierarchical linear modeling techniques to examine how levels of and changes in job autonomy, job urgency, supervisor support, and coworker support predicted parents' depressive sym...
In this study of 125 older couples married for an average of 34 years, multilevel models were computed to simultaneously examine intra-couple personality trait averages and between-spouse trait similarity as predictors of marital satisfaction. Our findings suggest that higher intra-couple levels of extraversion predict marital satisfaction, both hu...
Few disease processes affect the dynamics of marital relationships like neurodegenerative disorders. Illnesses such as Alzheimer disease strip older adults of a lifetime of memories and, in the latter stages, even the ability to recognize one’s spouse and children. In cross-sectional research, marital idealization (or the propensity to idealize one...
Patients' expectations have long been considered a contributory factor to successful psychotherapy. Expectations come in different guises, with outcome expectations centered on prognostic beliefs about the consequences of engaging in treatment. In this article, we define outcome expectations and present assessment methods and clinical examples of o...
This is the first study to examine change in depression and anxiety across the first year of adoptive parenthood in same-sex couples (90 couples: 52 lesbian, 38 gay male). Given that sexual minorities uniquely contend with sexual orientation-related stigma, this study examined how both internalized and enacted forms of stigma affect the mental heal...
This study examines the three facets of psychological resilience (i.e., perceived control, commitment to living, challenge versus stability) as predictors of depressive symptoms over time among spousal caregivers of persons with Alzheimer disease; these resilience factors were considered over and above dementia-related and socio-demographic control...
The therapeutic alliance consistently predicts positive psychotherapy outcomes. Thus, it is important to uncover factors that relate to alliance development. The goal of this study was to examine the association between patient interpersonal characteristics and alliance quality in interpersonal therapy for depression. Data derive from a subsample (...
BACKGROUND: Animal research demonstrates that pelvic sensory signaling at parturition initiates behavioral and emotional changes that are protective for mother and offspring. In contrast, research with humans has found no effect of cesarean delivery (i.e., procedure that blocks pelvic signaling) on mother's mental health. The lack of effect may ref...
The authors examined preadoptive factors as predictors of relationship quality (love, ambivalence, and conflict) among 125 couples (44 lesbian couples, 30 gay male couples, and 51 heterosexual couples) across the 1st year of adoptive parenthood. On average, all new parents experienced declines in their relationship quality across the 1st year of pa...
In previous research, marital idealization has emerged as a significant predictor of adaptation to widowhood, the psychological well-being of spouses of persons with dementia, and the physical health of older married adults over time. Despite the adaptive value of marital idealization, conceptual confusion regarding this phenomenon persists. To thi...
Little research has examined change in perceived parenting skill across the transition to parenthood or predictors of change in perceived skill. The current study used an ecological framework to examine predictors of self-perceived parenting skill among 47 lesbian, 31 gay, and 56 heterosexual couples who were adopting their first child. Findings re...
Despite increases in transracial adoption, African American children remain the least likely to be adopted. No research has examined the factors that predict prospective adopters’ willingness to adopt an African American child. This study used multilevel modeling to examine predictors of willingness to adopt an African American child in a sample of...
Objective: To prospectively explore change in mental health (and, specifically, anxiety) across the transition to parenthood for lesbian mothers. Design: Multilevel modeling was used to analyze data from 34 lesbian couples (68 women) at three time points (prenatal, 3 months postbirth, and 3.5 years after birth) to explore the influence of prenatal...
This study examines predictors of social support and mental health among 36 lesbian and 39 heterosexual couples who were waiting to adopt. Lesbian preadoptive partners perceived less support from family than heterosexual partners but similar levels of support from friends. Lesbian and heterosexual partners reported similar levels of well-being. Asp...
Typescript. A Division III examination in the School of Social Science, Hampshire College, May 1987. Chairperson, Lestor Mazor Includes bibliographical references.