Minority stress and mental health in same-sex parented families and their children

Abstract

This Research Internship Abroad (BEPE) is part of a postdoctoral research project aiming to analyse the family dynamics of four same-sex couples and their children, who participated in a study conducted by the researcher in 2016 (funded by FAPESP 15/09173-0 and 17/08547-0) and were re-interviewed in 2021. It is thus a longitudinal qualitative study, based in the theoretical framework of Psychoanalysis of Couple and Family. The data collection has been completed, the video-recorded interviews have been transcribed and are being analysed. Considering the essential expansion and deepening of the research, the following activities are proposed for the BEPE: (1) specific training in minority stress approaches, longitudinal qualitative analysis, narrative psychology, and narrative constructions of intimacy to be applied in the postdoctoral research; (2) to prepare co-authored manuscripts for submission to international journals; and (3) grow the professional network and building connections to international research teams. The Thomas Coram Research Unit and the Stress, Identities, and Health Laboratory of University College London (UCL) have international pioneered research concerning marginalised and disadvantaged families and children, also dedicated to studies examining same-sex couples' experiences of stigmatization and the resulting impact on their relational, sexual, and mental health. The knowledge to be built aims to substantially improve the research carried out in the Laboratory of Couple and Family: Clinical and Psychosocial Studies, as well as to expand the dissemination and applicability of research in the national context. (AU)