Parenthood in Bisexual Mother Families: Experiences of Motherhood and Child Adjustment

Up until now, little research has focused on bisexual women's experiences of parenting, despite a growing body of research into LGBTQ parenting (Golberg & Allen, 2013). A systematic literature search found only 7 studies reported findings specific to bisexual participants (Ross & Dobinson, 2013) and even fewer focused on bisexual mothers, highlighting a significant research gap, especially given that bisexual people are more likely than gay men or lesbians to have children (National Centre for Health Statistics, 2002).

Hence, in this project, I will explore bisexual mothers' experiences and if these differ depending on their partners' gender, as this affects whether their relationship is heterosexual appearing or lesbian appearing. My research will also examine child adjustment, as nothing is known about child outcomes in this family type (Golombok, 2015). I will also focus on disclosure; do bisexual mothers discuss their sexual orientation with their child? When and how they do this? Do bisexual mothers in heterosexual appearing relationships disclose their sexual orientation to their child? What are the ramifications of bisexual identity navigation on child outcomes?

I propose to use an exploratory study design, given the lack of research in this area . My sample will consist of 50 self-identifying bisexual mothers with children aged 0-18 years. I will recruit bisexual mothers in relationships with men and women to examine whether their partner's gender affects their experience of motherhood and whether bisexual mothers in relationships with men disclose their sexuality to their children. The participants will be recruited through social media and online support groups for LGBTQ parents.

After gaining informed consent, I will conduct semi-structured interviews to examine the bisexual mothers' experiences of motherhood. The first section will be a standardised interview designed to assess quality of parenting (Quinton & Rutter, 1988), which yields variables related to various parenting dimensions including warmth, sensitivity and control. Mothers will then be asked questions designed to understand their perspectives on family life, route to parenthood and family relationships in relation to their bisexual identity. They will be asked about whether they have experienced bierasure and whether they feel being bisexual has affected their experience of parenting. The interview will also ask mothers about whether they have disclosed or plan to disclose their sexuality to their child. If they have disclosed they will be asked about this experience, whereas if they have not, the follow up questions will focus on why they have not and their perceived impact of this on their mental health.

The mothers will also complete a battery of questionnaires, including the age-appropriate version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1994), a behavioural screening questionnaire designed to measure child social, emotional and behavioural adjustment, and standardised assessments of parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index; Abidin, 1990), anxiety (Trait Anxiety Inventory; Spielberger, 1983), depression (Beck Depression Inventory; Beck & Steer, 1987), perceived social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support; Zimet, et al, 1988), couple relationship quality (Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State; Rust, Bennun & Golombok, 1990). Participants will also complete standardised assessments of minority stress (The Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire; Balsam et al, 2013) and perceived anti-bisexual prejudice (Anti-Bisexual Experiences Scale; Brewster & Moradi, 2010). The interview data will be transcribed, coded and analysed using thematic analysis to examine mothers' experiences. To examine child adjustment, SDQ scores will be compared to population norms. Also, hierarchical regression analyses will be conducted to examine factors predicting child adjustment in bisexual-mother f