On the attribution of parental competence: Parents' behavior matters, not their sexual orientation.

Autor/in	Kranz, Dirk
Titel	On the attribution of parental competence: Parents' behavior matters, not their sexual orientation. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Über die Zuschreibung elterlicher Kompetenz: Das Verhalten der Eltern zählt, nicht ihre sexuelle Orientierung.
Quelle	In: Journal of child and family studies, 32 (2023) 4, S. 1121-1137 PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1062-1024; 1573-2843
DOI	10.1007/s10826-022-02335-9
Schlagwörter	Kompetenz; Erziehungsstil; Autorität; Fertigkeit; Verhalten; Vorurteil; Eltern; Homosexualität; Sexualität; Kontrolle
Abstract	Using a vignette approach, two studies examined the impact of three factors on judgments of parental competence: target parents' sexual orientation, gender, and parenting behavior. According to the aversive prejudice framework, people should express their subtle prejudice against lesbian and gay parents when the latter show detrimental parenting behavior - that is, when devaluation is easy to rationalize. Samples of 170 and 290 German heterosexual participants each were presented with a parent-child conflict situation. In Study 1, the child threw a public tantrum during a restaurant visit; in Study 2, the children wanted to play outside instead of doing their homework. Irrespective of target gender, lesbian and gay parents were judged as equally or even somewhat more competent than heterosexual parents. In both studies, parents who responded in an authoritative way received the most positive evaluation of parental competence, whereas parents who responded in an authoritarian way received the most negative evaluation. In neither study, however, there was a significant interaction between parents' sexual orientation and parenting behavior. That is, contrary to hypothesis, lesbian and gay parents did not receive more negative evaluation than heterosexual parents when responding in a comparatively negative, authoritarian or permissive way. Such interaction could also not be found when additionally considering participants' levels of homonegativity or social desirability. The discussion centers on the increasing acceptance of same-sex parenthood as well as the high appreciation of authoritative parenting in contemporary Germany. Highlights: How do parents' sexual orientation, gender, and parenting style influence judgments of parental competence? Study participants did not express overt or subtle prejudice against lesbian or gay parents. Irrespective of sexual orientation or gender, authoritative parents were judged most positively. Permissive parents ranked middle, authoritarian parents were judged most negatively. (ZPID).
Erfasst von	Leibniz-Institut für Psychologie, Trier
Update	2024/1