Homosexuality and desire to parent: study in a group of italian homosexuals

Journal title RIVISTA DI SESSUOLOGIA CLINICA
Author/s Roberta Rossi, Elisabetta Todaro, Giovanna Torre, Chiara Simonelli
Publishing Year 2010 Issue 2010/1
Language Italian Pages 18 P. 23-40 File size 508 KB
DOI 10.3280/RSC2010-001002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The desire to have children is a multidimensional, all-comprehensive and enlarged kind of planning impacting the individual’s and the couple’s identities alike. The objective of this research is to assess the presence of the desire to parent amongst a group of Italian homosexuals and to investigate the motivations toward parenthood as well as the reflections on reasons and intensity of the desire to have a child. The study collected a total of 226 subjects (M 143; F 83) aged between 17-67 (mean age 31; SD 9.36). The questionnaire highlights: sociodemographic data, sexual orientation, parenthood motivations (categories: Well-being; Social Control; Happiness; Identity; Parenthood; Continuity), the time spent thinking about the reasons for having children (Reflection) and the intensity of the desire to have a child (Strength of Desire). The results underline that a large majority (particularly higher for women and subjects living a couple relationships) expresses a desire to parent and the intention to have children. The reasons for wanting a child are mainly related to the experiencing of positive feelings that the relationship with a child brings as well as to the personal and couple’s fulfillment alike. There was no presence of influences of social pressure motivations at all. The study suggest the importance of considering new planning forms expressed by homosexuals, referring to old but still rooted stereotypes, by highlighting the growth of new forms of assertiveness affirming homosexual identity.

Keywords: Sexual orientation, homosexuality, homosexual parenthood, desire to parent, homosexual couples relationships, planned homosexual families

  • La famiglia omogenitoriale oggi: pregiudizio per lo sviluppo del minore? Un'analisi della letteratura dal 2000 al 2015 Giuseppe Mannino, Marta Schiera, in MALTRATTAMENTO E ABUSO ALL'INFANZIA 3/2017 pp.87
    DOI: 10.3280/MAL2017-003006
  • Parenthood Desire in Italian Homosexual Couples Alessandra Santona, Arianna Vecchi, Laura Gorla, Giacomo Tognasso, in Journal of Family Issues /2022 pp.974
    DOI: 10.1177/0192513X21999691
  • Parenting and Couple Relationships Among LGBTQ+ People in Diverse Contexts Giuliana Violeta Vásquez Varas, Laila Pires Ferreira Akerman, Juliane Callegaro Borsa, pp.215 (ISBN:978-3-030-84188-1)
  • Homosexualité et relations de couple : comparaison entre un groupe italien et un groupe belge Roberta Messina, Thérèse Scali, Salvatore D’Amore, in Thérapie Familiale /2013 pp.387
    DOI: 10.3917/tf.133.0387

Roberta Rossi, Elisabetta Todaro, Giovanna Torre, Chiara Simonelli, Omosessualità e desiderio di genitorialità: indagine esplorativa su un gruppo di omosessuali italiani in "RIVISTA DI SESSUOLOGIA CLINICA" 1/2010, pp 23-40, DOI: 10.3280/RSC2010-001002