Abbie E. Goldberg, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to investigate the unique strengths and potential challenges of lesbian couples across the transition to adoptive parenthood. Given that parental mental health has implications for child development, and the fact that adoption can be a challenging process, it is important to understand these couples'adjustment to the parental role. There is evidence that lesbian couples possess certain strengths (e.g., a tendency to share domestic labor) but also face challenges (e.g., social stigma). Of interest is whether such factors promote resilience or create vulnerabilities during the transition to parenthood. The transition to biological parenthood is recognized as a time of change and stress (Cowan &Cowan, 1988);the transition to adoptive parenthood is characterized by additional complexities. Couples who wish to adopt face great uncertainty: There is not a definitive waiting period before becoming parents (Levy-Shiff et al., 1991). Furthermore, some adopted children are of a different race or ethnicity than their parents (Brodzinsky &Pinderhughes, 2002). Some adopted children have experienced adverse conditions in early life, making attachment difficult (Levy &Orlans, 2003). Given that a) lesbians are increasingly likely to adopt (Gates &Ost, 2004), and b) evidence suggests that lesbians possess unique strengths and vulnerabilities, it is important to understand how these factors impact couples'transition to parenthood. Such knowledge may be applied to all adoptive couples, with regard to what practices may help or hinder parents'adjustment;indeed, parental well-being during this key life transition has implications for family functioning and child adjustment (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999). The project will interview 45-55 lesbian couples and 45-55 heterosexual couples 1-5 months before the adoption and 3 months post-adoption. Couples will be recruited through adoption agencies and lesbian parenting publications. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to analyze the data, which can ultimately be compared to data from a study of the transition to parenthood among lesbian inseminating couples that used a similar research design.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant public health issue for women and their families (5), yet research to date has focused almost exclusively on heterosexual married women (102). As a result, available research has not adequately studied the impact of sexual orientation on postpartum mental health. Sexual minority mothers may have distinct risk factors for PPD. In particular, minority stress and its manifestations (e.g., experiences of discrimination) have been associated with mental health outcomes in the general population of sexual minorities (37;39;48;56;75), although no studies have evaluated the impact of these variables on mental health in sexual minority women during the first postpartum year, a time of particular vulnerability to depression (132). Furthermore, while a very small body of literature (i.e., the PIs' research) has focused on mental health in sexual minority new mothers (46-52;100;101;103;111), these studies focus specifically on visible sexual minority women - that is, women who identify as lesbian or bisexual and who are partnered with other women. Preliminary pilot data indicate that invisible sexual minority women (i.e., women who have a history of sexual relationships with women in the past 5 years, but who are currently partnered with men) are at elevated risk for PPD during the transition to parenthood, compared to visible sexual minority women and heterosexual women. Our project aims to build upon this pilot work to examine several interrelated issues, which have important implications for future research and service delivery to both visible and invisible sexual minority women during the perinatal period. First, we aim to examine whether invisible sexual minority women (male-partnered women who have sexual histories including both men and women) have higher risk for depression at 6-8 weeks postpartum compared to either visible sexual minority women or sexual majority women (i.e., heterosexual women), after controlling for prenatal depression. Related to this first aim, we aim to explore whether anxiety symptoms, reports of positive mood, and patterns of health service utilization differ between invisible sexua minority, visible sexual minority, and sexual majority women at 6-8 weeks postpartum; whether invisible sexual minority women have different trajectories of depression, anxiety, or positive mood than other women during the first postpartum year; and, on a qualitative level, how invisible sexual minorities see their sexual/relationship histories, if at all, as influencing thei transition to parenthood and their current mental health. Second, we aim to examine whether minority stress processes (i.e., experiences of perceived discrimination, disclosure/concealment of sexual identity, and internalized homophobia), characteristics of minority identity, or LGBTQ-specific forms of social support (community and workplace support) mediate the relationship between minority status and mental health outcomes at 6-8 weeks postpartum, and whether minority stress processes, characteristics of minority identity, or LGBTQ-specific forms of social support mediate any relationship between minority status and patterns of health service utilization at 6-8 weeks postpartum. Related to this second aim, we aim to explore what barriers invisible sexual minority women report in seeking mental health or perinatal health services, and what suggestions they have for mental health or perinatal health providers, with regards to serving women with diverse sexual relationship histories and identities. This study will accomplish these aims through a multi-site, mixed-methods, longitudinal study of women who are recruited during pregnancy (20 visible sexual minority, 20 invisible sexual minority, and 100 heterosexual women). The findings will have implications for policy development and service delivery to visible and invisible sexual minority mothers.