This study explored the impact of sexual identity on attitudes towards parenthood among childless individuals from Portugal and the United Kingdom (UK). Compared to heterosexuals, lesbians, gay men and bisexuals were less likely to: desire and intend to have children, be concerned about the prospect of childlessness or perceive children as a source of enrichment. They also anticipated more stigma as parents than did heterosexuals. Compared to UK participants, all Portuguese participants, independent of sexual identity, desired and intended more to have children, were more concerned about childlessness, reported higher levels of parental commitment, anticipated less stigma and expected more social support as parents. Portuguese lesbian, gay and bisexual participants expressed greater desire to have children than did those in the UK. Only in the UK did lesbian, gay and bisexual participants perceive children less as a source of enrichment than did heterosexuals and anticipate negative costs associated with parenting. We concluded that the intersectional influence of different cultural climates on parenting aspirations should be taken into account in future research alongside sexual identity.

This study compared Israeli, Portuguese, and British childless lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual adults on parenthood aspirations as indicated by their desire and intent to become a parent and their concern about childlessness. For this purpose, 168 childless adults (57 self-reported as LGB) in Portugal were matched on sociodemographic variables with 168 participants from the United Kingdom and 168 participants from Israel, resulting in a sample of n = 504 (Mage = 28.26, SD = 6.17). Participants were recruited through convenience sampling and completed online questionnaires assessing parenthood desire, intent, and concern about childlessness. Results indicated that participants from Israel and Portugal reported higher levels of parenthood desire, intent, and concern about childlessness than participants from the United Kingdom. Parallel patterns also appeared separately for LGB and heterosexual participants between the countries. Heterosexual participants from Israel scored higher than counterparts from Portugal on parenthood intention and concern about childlessness. In addition, LGB participants in general reported lower levels of parenthood desire, intentions, and concern about childlessness than did heterosexual participants. The findings are interpreted in light of the different sociocultural contexts of the countries, that is, the individualistic values characterizing the U.K. versus the familistic values characterizing the Israeli and Portuguese contexts, alongside a strongly pronatalist stance evident in Israel and economic context in Portugal. The study contributes to the scant comparative literature on parenthood aspirations among LGB individuals as a function of cultural context by providing a multicontextual viewpoint on parenthood aspirations, sexual orientation, and diverse sociocultural contexts. Implications for clinicians are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Portugal is one of the most egalitarian countries in Europe in terms of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals’ legal rights. However, regarding education Portugal still lacks specific policies, plans and interventions to protect LGBTI students. To assess the perceptions of self-identified LGBTI youth regarding their school context, a total of 663 participants (aged from 15 to 20 years old) filled in an on-line questionnaire about their school climate. One hundred and forty-six of them answered an open-ended question about their personal experiences. A thematic analysis of these answers was conducted, and four main categories were identified: (i) victimization, (ii) coming out experiences, (iii) support networks, and (iv) demands. Most participants reported experiences of discrimination, and several sources of prejudice were identified. Furthermore, participants also recognized a lack of LGBTI information in school curriculum and made several demands. Besides inclusive laws, we suggest that the safety and the well-being of LGBTI youths in Portuguese schools depend upon others measures, such as teacher and school staff training, curricula inclusive of LGBTI diversity, and local strategies, such as Gay-Straight Alliances.

We explored parenting desires, parenting intentions, and anticipation of stigma upon parenthood in a sample of 257 self-identified lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual childfree women in Portugal. No differences between the groups were observed concerning parenting desires. However, lesbian and bisexual women reported lower intentions to have children than their heterosexual counterparts. Although lesbian women considered themselves to have a higher chance of being victims of social stigma as mothers, this was not associated with their parenting desires. Furthermore, younger lesbian women intended to have children to a greater extent than did older lesbian women; relational status did not relate to lesbian women’s parenting intentions, desires, or anticipation of stigma. Overall, this study contributes to knowledge about family formation processes among Portuguese women diverse in sexual identity.

Parental burnout (PB) results from a chronic imbalance between risks and resources and has severe and extended consequences on the wellbeing of parents and their children. Because same-sex (SS) and different-sex (DS) families face partially different stressors (e.g., SS parents are more stigmatized) but have also partially different resources (e.g., more egalitarian task sharing in SS couples), the current research aimed to investigate whether PB differs or not according to family type. Two studies were conducted. In study 1, family type differences in PB were explored among 114 demographically matched SS and DS families from 18 countries. Study 2 further explored the predictive value of family type, age, gender, and balance between risks and resources (BR2) in PB, using a sample of 222 matched SS and DS families. Parental burnout was not associated with family type in either study. Although differentially composed, the global BR2 score did not differ across family type and was a significant predictor of all PB dimensions, while controlling for the effect of family type, age, and gender. Thus, in accordance with reviewed studies, parental sexual identity was not associated with family functioning. Future studies should investigate the impact of specific risks and resources (e.g., social support from chosen social networks or legal climate) on PB levels among SS families.