Nicola Carone

University of Rome Tor Vergata | UNIROMA2

Thirty-three Italian children born to gay fathers through surrogacy were compared with 37 Italian children born to lesbian mothers through donor insemination on their perceived attachment security and utilization of parents as safe havens and secure bases. Factors associated with attachment security were also examined. All children were aged 6 to 1...

The present study investigated how the working alliance mediated the influence of therapists’ microaggressions on sexual minority parent patient drop-out. The potential moderating roles of therapists’ sexual orientation and training on LGBTQ+ issues were also examined. The study sample was 71 white cisgender therapists (Mage = 39.50; SD = 7.84; 67....

The present study examined the attachment patterns distribution of 60 lesbian mothers, 50 gay fathers, and 42 heterosexual parents through assisted reproduction and their 76 children, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), respectively. The study also explored the intergenerational transmission of att...

Introduction Concerns about parents with minoritized sexual identities often focus on the belief that their children will be confused about their gender and report a non-heterosexual orientation compared to children reared by heterosexual parents. Yet, few longitudinal studies exist. Methods Gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation,...

The present cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study examined the associations between various childhood maltreatment experiences and maternal helpless caregiving (i.e., a state experienced by caregivers who feel overwhelmed and unable to manage both their child's behavior and their own emotional responses to it), also focusing on the mediating r...

Fathers' involvement in childrearing is on the rise despite roadblocks set by gender norms, institutions, policies, and partner dynamics (Volling and Palkovitz, 2021). Studying coparenting offers insights into parents' joint efforts in caregiving responsibilities (McHale and Jones, 2021). The second volume for our Research Topic welcomed articles t...

Childhood maltreatment is a key precursor to vulnerable narcissism since it likely lead to a narcissistic injury that triggers defenses against rage and abandonment. In later life, this pattern may contribute to a maladaptive model of love relationships. The present study explored the association between different types of childhood maltreatment (i...

Emerging adulthood represents a critical stage characterized by heightened risks for anxiety , depression, and somatization symptoms development. Research has shown that difficulties in emotional identification, expression, and processing, as well as dysfunctional parenting styles, may exacerbate symptoms in emerging adults. The present study aimed...

Introduction The increase in gay fatherhood through adoption, surrogacy, and coparenting arrangements (i.e., “planned gay father families”) worldwide has turned a spotlight onto the impact of parental gender and sexual orientation on children’s psychological adjustment. The present meta-analysis compared the scores of children of gay fathers on sta...

LGBTQ+ patients exhibit higher rates of mental disorder relative to the general population. This is particularly concerning since deficiencies in mental health practitioners' skills and knowledge, along with negative attitudes and behaviors, are associated with a decreased likelihood of LGBTQ+ patients seeking mental healthcare services and an incr...

This study investigates potential differences in psychological health (i.e. life satisfaction, anticipated future life satisfaction, distress), social wellbeing, and experiences of victimisation among adult offspring born to lesbian parents when compared with participants from a nationally representative sample surveyed in the same historical conte...

Objective: The present study aimed at investigating whether gay fathers' coherence of mind within the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) moderated the influence of parental disclosure on children's exploration of their surrogacy origins during middle childhood and early adolescence. Background: Once children of gay fathers are disclosed to about t...

The present cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study explored parenting and psychological adjustment during middle childhood in 30 lesbian mother families through donor insemination, 25 gay father families through surrogacy, and 21 heterosexual parent families through gamete donation. In each family, both parents of a child aged 6–12 years (Myear...

Introduction Outcome research in eating disorders (EDs) is commonly focused on psychopathological dysfunction. However, Ryff’s model of psychological well-being (PWB) has shown promising—yet preliminary—results with ED patients. Additionally, despite substantial evidence highlighting the association between the therapeutic alliance and treatment ou...

The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study is the longest prospective study of offspring conceived via donor insemination (DI), beginning in 1986 when DI became possible for lesbian women. The 75 offspring surveyed at Wave 7 were adults in their early thirties (M = 30.93, SD = 0.92; 49.33% female, 48.00% male and 2.66% gender nonbinary; 90...

Introduction: Research on lesbian and gay parent families has mostly focused on parenting quality and child development, yet little attention has been given to the transformations in families of origin's dynamics following the transition to parenthood. Aims and Methods: in this qualitative study, we explored the experiences of 35 lesbian parents an...

Emotional dysregulation is a key transdiagnostic dimension of several clinical conditions, including eating disorders (EDs) and gender dysphoria (GD). Not only is there frequent comorbidity between EDs and GD, but GD individuals also commonly experience ED symptoms and body-image disturbances. However, more research is needed to understand how spec...

Introduction Limited research focused on the association between parenting practices and children’s prosocial and externalizing behaviors comparing same- and different-gender parent families. The present study considered 76 Italian families (73% same-gender and 27% different-gender parent families) with 8-year-old (SD = 2.17; 49% assigned female at...

The increasing use of the Internet has raised concerns about its problematic use, particularly among emerging adults who grew up in a highly digitalized world. Helicopter parenting, characterized by excessive involvement, overcontrol, and developmentally inappropriate behavior, has been identified as a potential factor contributing to problematic I...

Traumatic experiences may impair reflective functioning (RF), making it difficult for individuals to understand their own and others' mental states. Epistemic trust (ET), which enables evaluating social information as reliable and relevant, may vary in association with RF. In this study, we explored the implications of different ET stances (i.e., t...

Introduction Very little is known about the attachment figures of children born to parents with minoritized sexual identities who used assisted reproduction, despite the importance of attachment for healthy child development. The present study examined the identification and utilization of attachment figures (e.g., parents, siblings, teachers, frie...

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a model of stressful situations for parents insofar as it led to unprecedented difficulties in childcare and caregiving, resulting in increased levels of parental burnout, worldwide. To date, research on parental burnout has mainly involved heterosexual parents. However, parents with minoritized sexual identities face...

Aims: The present study examined the associations between family structure, parenting, and dyadic coping and children's emotion regulation in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction. It also explored differences in parenting dimensions and dyadic coping, based on parents' sexual orientation. Methods: Participant...

The present study investigates the association between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) in a sample of 358 cisgender emerging adults (74.58% females assigned at birth; Mage = 25.02, SD = 2.60; age range: 18–29 years), with a specific focus on the roles of various stances of Epistemic Trust, including Trust, Mistrust, an...

STUDY QUESTION How do adult offspring in planned lesbian-parent families feel about and relate to their donor (half) sibling(s) (DS)? SUMMARY ANSWER A majority of offspring had found DS and maintained good ongoing relationships, and all offspring (regardless of whether a DS had been identified) were satisfied with their knowledge of and contact le...

The present study examined the contribution of different defense mechanisms (i.e., mature, mental inhibition and avoidance, immature-depressive), grandiose narcissism, and vulnerable narcissism to fear of missing out (FoMO). A non-clinical community sample of 436 white (97.24 % Italians) emerging adults (age range: 18–29 years; M = 24.90, SD = 2.52...

The present study investigated child behavior problems, parenting styles, coparenting, and couple relationship satisfaction in 67 European gay father families via surrogacy and 67 European heterosexual parent families via unassisted conception, all with children aged 1.5–10 years (M = 3.57 years, SD = 2.09). The two family groups were matched for c...

Connect è un intervento evidence-based basato sull’attaccamento per genitori di adolescenti e ha l’obiettivo di migliorare la qualità della relazione genitore-figlio e ridurre le problematiche comportamentali dei figli. La presente ricerca longitudinale analizza su un campione di 24 genitori (M = 49.33, DS = 5.32, 83.3% madri) gli effetti della lor...

The National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) started in 1986 when donor insemination became available for lesbian women in the U.S. Wave 7 of the NLLFS was the first time that adults conceived via donor insemination were asked if they had or planned to have children, and what they anticipated telling children about their own nontraditiona...

Aim: The present study examined how adult offspring of lesbian parents relate to their anonymous, open-identity, or known donors. Design: An online survey of 75 donor-conceived offspring of lesbian parents, aged 30-33 years, participating in Wave 7 of a U.S. 36-year longitudinal study of planned lesbian-parent families was conducted. Offspring w...

The current study used a family resilience approach to investigate why some offspring of sexual minority parents thrive despite homophobic stigmatization while others do not. Specifically, the study explored the role of two specific family functioning mechanisms (i.e., during adolescence, disclosure of offspring’s personal life to their parents, an...

During adolescence, a secure parent-adolescent relationship promotes youths' adjustment and psychological well-being. In this scenario, several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the CONNECT program, a 10-session, attachment-based parenting intervention that helps parents understand and reframe their parent-adolescent interactions, redu...

Introduction Previous evidence has shown better mental health outcomes for lesbian mothers, in comparison with heterosexual parents. The present study explored the mediating role of positivity (i.e., the tendency to view life with a positive outlook) in determining these mental health differences. Methods Seventy-two Israeli lesbian mothers by do...

The present research explored parenting, stress, and resilience experiences among 16 Belgian, lesbian, first-time parental couples with donor-conceived children aged 3–72 months. In each couple, both mothers participated in a conjoint, semi-structured interview focused on their parenthood desire; the impact of stigmatization and social support from...

Introduction: Transference (meant in this context, as the patient relational patterns expressed towards the clinician) and therapeutic alliance play a crucial role in the treatment of personality pathology. To date, no empirical study examined the association between these two dimensions of the clinical relationship and patients’ personality malada...

The literature indicates a variety of factors that contribute to adolescent well-being: among these, the parent-adolescent relationship has a key role. The present article offered an overview of studies on parent-adolescent relationships across diverse family forms, not limited to the traditional family but also including "non-traditional" and "mod...

Research has shown the importance of exploring variables associated with problematic Internet use (PIU) in emerging adulthood. In this scenario, grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic features might be differently associated with PIU. Similarly, environmental sensitivity encompasses heightened empathy, sensitivity to rejection, and problems in emoti...

Assisted reproduction techniques (ARTs) are employed by single individuals and couples who are not otherwise able to conceive spontaneously. While the use of ARTs is increasing, research is lacking on the attempts made by adolescent offspring conceived via ARTs to integrate their ART conception into their identity and negotiate a connection with, a...

Introduction Therapists’ responses to patients play a crucial role in psychotherapy and are considered a key component of the patient–clinician relationship, which promotes successful treatment outcomes. To date, no empirical research has ever investigated therapist response patterns to patients with different personality disorders from a neuroscie...

Both empirical and clinical evidence with heterosexual parents and their biological children has shown the significant influence of early family interactions on children’s socioemotional and cognitive development during their first years. Yet, very little research has applied family-level assessment to families who are diverse with respect to paren...

Il capitolo descrive il funzionamento delle famiglie omogenitoriali nel periodo perinatale e discute la costruzione inconscia della genitorialità in funzione dell’orientamento sessuale, del genere, dell’identità di genere dei genitori e del legame (non) biologico con il figlio. Inoltre, il capitolo propone un modello per il lavoro clinico nel perio...

The present online questionnaire-based study compared 72 lesbian mothers by donor insemination (within 36 families), 78 gay fathers by gestational surrogacy (within 39 families), and 72 heterosexual parents by assisted reproduction (without donated eggs and/or sperm; within 36 families), on their desire to have more children and their ideal number...

Fathers' involvement in childrearing has increased during the past several decades (Pattnaik, 2013; Livingston and Parker, 2019). Recent studies have suggested that fathers exert significant direct and indirect influences on child development and partner relationship quality via coparenting—how parents work with or against each other to care for th...

Helicopter parents are highly involved parents who hover over and around their child, applying developmentally inappropriate levels of control and tangible assistance. Previous research with different-sex parent families indicates that helicopter parenting is particularly problematic in emerging adulthood as it may indirectly affect the offspring’s...

Background: The transition to parenthood is a significant life event that has implications for health behaviors and health. Few studies have examined alcohol use and smoking by parenthood status (nonparent vs. parent) among women who identify as lesbian. Methods: This study used data from two longitudinal studies, the Chicago Health and Life Experi...

Parents tend to internalize the coparenting model they experienced during childhood and enact it in their coparenting relationships as adults. These interactive patterns may, in turn, shape their children's internal working models of attachment relationships. The present study recruited 31 gay and 28 heterosexual single-father families through surr...

This questionnaire-based study compared 36 Israeli lesbian mother families (n = 72 lesbian mothers) formed by donor insemination, 39 Israeli gay father families (n = 78 gay fathers) formed by gestational surrogacy, and 36 Israeli heterosexual parent families (n = 72 heterosexual parents) formed by assisted reproduction (without donated gametes), al...

The impact of peer microaggressions and the child-teacher relationship on the social skills of children with sexual minority parents has received little attention. The current study used a mixed-method, multi-informant, two-wave longitudinal design to address this research gap. Thirty-seven children of lesbian mothers through donor insemination and...

In the sixth wave of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, the concerns of 76 (37 female and 39 male, all cisgender) 25-year-old donor-conceived offspring of lesbian parents were investigated through an open-ended question in an online survey and analyzed using thematic and content analysis. The number of concerns reported varied bet...

The present study represents the first empirical investigation of the mechanisms—a Hostile-Helpless (HH) attachment and reflective functioning (RF)—through which childhood abuse and neglect (CA&N) experiences may impact a mother’s likelihood to commit filicide. The sample was comprised of 46 mentally ill mothers. Differences in attachment-derived r...

In a randomized controlled trial with 25 Colombian rural low-SES mothers and their children (aged 1–3 years), the effectiveness of the Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) in enhancing maternal sensitivity and food habits was tested pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 6-month follow-...

Research Question: Gay fathers through cross-border surrogacy are facing unprecedented challenges in their attempts to create a family during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study was the first to investigate the psychological implications of the pandemic for father–child bonding and mental health among Italian gay fathers pursuing surrogacy in...

Le famiglie omogenitoriali possono comporsi in modi differenti, non tutti riconosciuti dal sistema giuridico italiano. Al variare delle geometrie familiari contemporanee, il coordinarsi degli aspetti tecnici, affettivi, corporei, legali, economici ed etici implicati nel “fare famiglia” diventa più complesso e, per qualcuno, anche perturbante, poich...

Introduction Secure attachment in adolescence, related to caregiving quality, is a robust predictor of positive behavioral adjustment in early adulthood and beyond. Nevertheless, few attempts have been made to develop treatments to promote parent–adolescent attachment security. Methods Using a longitudinal, multicenter, randomized controlled trial...

The long-term impact of homophobic stigmatization on adolescents with lesbian parents has not been explored. This longitudinal study investigated the effects of homophobia experienced during adolescence on problem behavior among emerging adult offspring of lesbian parents. The 72 offspring (37 females and 35 males; all cisgender and 25 years old) w...

Objective: To study differences by sperm donor type in the psychological adjustment of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) offspring across three time periods from childhood to adulthood. Design: U.S.-based prospective cohort study. Setting: Paper and pencil questionnaires and protected online surveys. Patients: A cohort of...

Thirty-one children of gay single fathers and 28 children of heterosexual single fathers, all born through surrogacy, were compared with 31 children of gay partnered fathers through surrogacy and 30 children of heterosexual partnered fathers through in-vitro fertilization on their perceptions of self-worth and their father- and caregiver-reported i...

Objective To study differences by sperm donor type in the psychological adjustment of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) offspring across three time periods from childhood to adulthood. Design U.S.-based prospective cohort study. Setting Paper-and-pencil questionnaires and protected online surveys. Patient(s) A cohort of...

The long experience in surrogate pregnancies in Western countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and several states in the USA, has provided insight into how to ensure the PSYCHOLOGICAL WELFARE of the people involved. Generally, in Western countries (UK, Canada and USA), the experience of surrogacy is psychologically positive for the surrogate...

Introduction: The present study examined father-child relationships, parenting quality, and child psychological adjustment in 35 gay single father surrogacy families, 30 heterosexual single father surrogacy families, 45 gay two-father surrogacy families, and 45 heterosexual two-parent IVF families, when children were aged 3-10 years. Methods: In ea...

Nonrepresentative estimates indicate that 25%–50% of transgender people are parents. Yet very little is known about their demographic characteristics and health outcomes. The present study compared the quality of life and several mental health (i.e., psychological distress, life satisfaction, happiness, social well-being) and health (i.e., physical...

The present study investigated the antecedents of cyberbullying victimization and addressed the commonalities and differences between visual and written forms of cyberbullying victimization among 3172 Italian adolescents (51.6% male, Mage = 13.74 years, SD = 1.70) who participated in the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC, 2014) survey....

The aim of the current study was to adapt and validate the Prejudice Against Immigrants Scale (PAIS) in the Italian context, based on the Prejudice Against Asylum Seekers Scale by Anderson (2018). The validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender, age, and educational levels of the scale were assessed through three sources, which...

Adolescents' challenges could be effectively addressed by treating their parents. Prior evaluations of CONNECT, an attachment-based program intervention for parents of adolescents at risk, indicated that improving parenting skills and the quality of parent-adolescent relationship may result in decrease of adolescents' behavioural problems. The pres...

Though there are currently no statistics offering a global overview of online hate speech, both social networking platforms and organisations that combat hate speech have recognised that prevention strategies are needed to address this negative online phenomenon. While most cases of online hate speech target individuals on the basis of ethnicity an...

Teachers and educators represent meaningful relationships for children, and their attitudes can have a major influence on a child’s development. This research examined the role of background characteristics, contact experiences, and sexual prejudice in determining beliefs about children’s adjustment in same-sex parent families. The sample consisted...

Gay and heterosexual single fathers through surrogacy may be targets of microaggressions (i.e., subtle and implicit stigma-related stressors), as they present highly contested aspects of family formation: single parenthood, surrogacy conception, and, in the case of gay single fathers, non-heterosexual orientation. However, to date, no research has...

Background: Most studies suggest that immigrant youth are more likely to be victimized than their non-immigrant counterparts. In Italy, a country in which the number of foreign migrants has grown exponentially over recent decades, this line of research is particularly interesting. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to examine the rel...

Obiettivo del presente studio esplorativo è indagare il ruolo dell’orientamento sessuale e della percezione della sordità come disabilità nell’influenzare il benessere delle persone sorde. Hanno partecipato allo studio 47 adulti sordi (28 donne e 19 uomini) di cui 21 si dichiarano lesbiche oppure gay. Per lo studio sono stati prodotti video di trad...

We explored the differences among 327 lesbian, gay, and/or bisexual (LGB) individuals on the dimensions of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Positive Identity Measure (LGB-PIM), a recently developed instrument to assess positive facets of LGB identity. We evaluated the relationship between the dimensions of LGB-PIM and self-relating processes (self-cr...

Evidence is lacking about the factors that are pivotal in enhancing the exploration of surrogacy origins in children of gay fathers during middle childhood. The present study examined the separate and combined influences of child attachment security and parental scaffolding (i.e., fathers’ attempts to accept, encourage, and emotionally support thei...

Objective: To examine whether the gender development of 120 Italian children (40 born to gay fathers [GFs] through surrogacy, 40 born to lesbian mothers [LMs] through sperm donation, and 40 born to heterosexual parents [HPs] through sexual intercourse) aged 3 to 9 years differed as a function of family type and/or child gender. Methods: Children t...

T he present study aimed at investigating whether the effects of intergroup contact on support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants was mediated by perceived threat from immigrants and positive beliefs toward immigrants. Using data from the Italian national survey on "Discrimination by Gender, Sexual Orientation and Ethnic Origin," whic...

Parental control and family dinners attendance may constitute protective factors against alcohol consumption during adolescence, with different patterns for boys and girls, though evidence thus far have produced mixed findings. The present study analyzed Health Behaviour in Schoolaged Children (HBSC, 2014) data from 906 adolescents living in Northe...

Socio-cultural changes and advancements in assisted reproduction over the past 40 years have led to a rise in new family forms, including same-sex parent families formed through donor insemination or surrogacy, wherein the loving couple does not coincide with the generative couple and the parents do not embody sexual difference. Can we still unders...