Rachel Farr

University of Kentucky, Psychology, Faculty Member

University of Massachusetts Amherst, Psychology, Post-Doc

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Rachel Farr is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky. She received her PhD from the University of Virginia and was a Rudd Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Focusing on adoptive and LGBTQ parent families, Rachel has conducted a large longitudinal study about how parental sexual orientation relates to child, parent, and family outcomes. The results have gained media attention and informed policy, practice and law, including amicus brief citations for the Supreme Court. With William T. Grant Foundation funding, Rachel is currently studying racially and socioeconomically diverse adolescents with LGBTQ parents.

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Omri Gillath

University of Kansas

Steven Pinker

Harvard University

Nicola Jane Holt

University of the West of England

José Ferreira-Alves

Universidade do Minho

John Johnson

Pennsylvania State University

Cor Baerveldt

University of Alberta

Keith Laws

University of Hertfordshire

Thomas L Webb

The University of Sheffield

Kelly G . Wilson

University of Mississippi

Jonathan Cheek

Wellesley College

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Perspectives of Youth With LGBTQ+ Parents: Feelings of Openness and Acceptance Toward Others, Oneself, and Family

Journal of Adolescent Research, May 25, 2023

Youth with LGBTQ+ parents may feel that their parents’ LGBTQ+ identity impacted their lives becau... more Youth with LGBTQ+ parents may feel that their parents’ LGBTQ+ identity impacted their lives because of unique experiences such as LGBTQ+ family socialization. Guided by family systems, queer, and social constructionism theories, we explored this question via in-depth interviews with 49 youth (8 with minoritized gender identities and 25 with minoritized sexual identities) between 12 and 25 years old ( Mage = 19.51, SD = 3.48) in the United States, and who had at least one LGBTQ+ parent. Using inductive thematic analysis, four themes were identified: (1) feelings of openness and acceptance toward the self; (2) feelings of openness and acceptance toward others; (3) feelings of openness and acceptance toward their family; and (4) perceptions of normalcy. Many endorsed these themes and reported that they felt this way specifically due to their parents’ LGBTQ+ identities. Youth were asked about their thoughts related to future families. These themes were considered in relation to their family formation (e.g., adoption; donor insemination). This research indicates that youth with LGBTQ+ parents may experience unique socialization about openness and acceptance in the context of their families. This research is important in informing culturally competent practice for other youth, parents, and those who serve LGBTQ+ parent families.

Stigma Experiences, Mental Health, Perceived Parenting Competence, and Parent–Child Relationships Among Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Adoptive Parents in the United States

Frontiers in Psychology, Mar 30, 2020

Adoptive parents often face stigma related to "non-traditional" family structures. Lesbian and ga... more Adoptive parents often face stigma related to "non-traditional" family structures. Lesbian and gay (LG) adoptive parents often face additional stigmatization based on sexual identity, which in turn may negatively affect parents' mental health. Despite controversy about LG parenting, research demonstrates that family processes are more strongly associated with individual outcomes than family structure. Thus, family systems and minority stress theories provided our conceptual foundation in examining how adoptive LG parents' stigma experiences were associated with mental health, parenting competence, and parent-child relationships. Participating families (N = 106; n = 56 LG parent families) were originally recruited from five US domestic private infant adoption agencies and completed two waves of data collection (W1, W2; 91% retention) when children were preschool-age (M age = 3.01 years) and school-age (M age = 8.36 years), respectively. Data for the current study are largely drawn from W2. Via Qualtrics, parents completed assessments of mental health symptoms, adoption stigma, and perceived childcare competence. LG parents also reported on their experiences of homonegative microaggressions, and children responded to a measure about their relationships with parents. No significant differences emerged as a function of parental sexual orientation and gender except that lesbian mothers, heterosexual mothers, and gay fathers all reported higher parenting competence than heterosexual fathers. Although parents' mental health did not significantly predict parent-child relationship quality, parents' perceived competence and LG parents' current homonegative microaggression experiences did (e.g., greater competence, greater closeness; more microaggressions, lower closeness). Consistent with our conceptual framework, our results-derived from parent and child reports-demonstrate that although adoptive and LG parent families experience stigma, family processes (rather than structure) are most associated with individual outcomes. Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners should work together to employ identity-affirming practices to reduce stigma and support adoptive family functioning and well-being.

Rachel Farr

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