This research project received funding through the 2023 Institute for Diversity Science Seed Grant Program
Principal Investigator: Marie-Louise Mares, Professor, Department of Communication Arts, UW-Madison
Co-Investigators: Y. Anthony Chen, Postdoc, Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine
Abstract: Mass media offer varied storylines featuring family responses to LGBTQ identities, but it remains unclear how parents of LGBTQ teens respond to these depictions. Parents who are troubled by or unsupportive of their child’s LGBTQ identity may avoid narratives of familial acceptance and/or may respond negatively. They may be more moved by storylines that depict parental concern or ambivalence. Acceptance narratives may be attractive and reinforcing for supportive parents, but less politically mobilizing than depictions of parental opposition.
There are two central questions of this project. The first concerns selective exposure:
What depictions are parents of LGBTQ teens interested in watching (alone, with teen), and how do selections vary by their support for their own teen’s identity? The second concerns effects: What are the immediate and subsequent effects of experimental exposure to depictions of supportive vs. ambivalent/mixed vs. unsupportive family responses on parents’ identity support and motivations? To address these questions, we will recruit parents (N = 450) who suspect or know that their 12- to 18-year-old identifies as LGBTQ to participate in a three-part online study.