Parents' reaction to the coming out of their sons: The role for family functioning

Objective Parental denial to sons disclosure is a negative event which can affect all the aspects of the adolescent life and the family development. The current study aims to identify the differences between mothers and fathers negative responses to the coming out (CO), and the variables which can predict it. Methods Participants perception of their parents reaction (evaluated through the Perceived Parental Reactions Scale-PPRS), age at the coming out, parental political orientation and religiosity involvement, the family functioning (assessed through the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales-FACES IV), were assessed in 108 Italian young gay men (aged from 18 to 26; M=23.27, SD=2.28). Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relation between family functioning and parental reaction to CO. Paired sample t-test was used to compare mothers and fathers scores on the PPRS. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the relevance of each variable. Results No differences were found between mothers and fathers in their reaction to the coming out of their sons (t163=-.16, p = .87). The correlation between mothers and fathers was high (r=.38). The analysis of the mother sample showed that a negative reaction to coming out was predicted by mothers# right-wing political conservatism (beta =.46), and higher score in the scale Rigid (beta=.37) and Satisfaction (beta=-.30). Moreover, in the father sample, a worst reaction to the coming out of the son, was predicted by lower age of the father (beta=.21), a parents# right-wing political conservatism, (beta=.42), and higher score in both scales Enmeshed (beta=.33) and Rigid (beta=.25). Conclusion Findings confirm that a negative parental reaction is the result of poor family resources to face a stressfull situation and a strong believe in traditional values. These results have important implications in both clinical and social fields.