Demographic Characteristics and Parenthood Across Three Cohorts of Sexual Minority Adults

Abstract

As measurement of sexual minority (SM) people's demographic characteristics has evolved over time, it is of interest to understand how identity intersections within SM communities, such as SM parents, have also changed. The current study aimed to investigate how SM parents may or may not differ in demographic characteristics from SM childfree adults and how the demographic characteristics of SM parents may differ across three cohorts. Participants could be part of one of three age cohorts, with each cohort reflecting distinct historic or cultural events related to LGBTQ+ people's experiences. We used data from a national probability study of 1502 SM adults conducted between 2016 and 2017 to compare demographic characteristics by parent and cohort status. SM parents (n = 297) and childfree adults differed in sexual and gender identity, relationship status, educational attainment, urbanicity, and poverty status. There were differences among SM parents based on cohort status in sexual and gender identity, partner status (and gender of the partner), educational attainment, poverty status, and urbanicity. However, there were no differences based on racial/ethnic identity or geographic region among SM parents. This work contributes to the ongoing literature on SM parent families by providing a view of the ways in which SM parents have, and have not, changed demographically over time in the United States.