Children's implicit and explicit attitudes and stereotypes about same-gender parent families

Abstract

Although lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) parent families are increasingly visible in the United States, we know little about how children perceive them. Among 151 elementary school students (M_age = 7.95 years; 74 girls; 77 % white), we assessed (a) implicit attitudes (and associations with explicit attitudes), (b) perceptions of parents' attitudes, and (c) gendered stereotypes about same-gender parent families. Children showed greater implicit biases against same-gender (versus different-gender) parent families, and LG-specific stereotype endorsement (distinct from broad gender stereotypes), despite limited ability to define “gay” or “lesbian.” Attitudes were similar across demographic factors and experience with same-gender parent families. Thus, despite increasing societal visibility of same-gender parent families, children hold biases (consistent with societal biases) against them.