Effects of Parental Stigma and Psychiatric Symptoms on Child Mental Health in Sexual and Gender Minority Families

Importance: Nearly 40% of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) individuals become parents. Existing research highlights the intergenerational impacts of parents’ psychopathology on child psychiatric symptoms. However, there is a limited understanding of how parents’ psychiatric symptoms and experiences of stigma influence psychiatric symptoms in the children of SGM parents (hereafter SGM families). Objective: To investigate the impact of parents’ stigma experiences and psychiatric symptoms on their children’s emotional and conduct problems. Design: Cross-sectional study using structural equation modeling with bifactor measurement models. Data were collected from 551 SGM parents. Setting: Community-based sample. Participants: A total of 551 SGM parents (Mean age = 34.5 years, SD = 8.7 years) who reported their experiences of stigma, internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and their children’s emotional and conduct problems Exposure: Parental experiences of stigma, defined as discrimination and internalized stigma. Main Outcome and Measures: Parental externalizing and internalizing psychopathology, and children’s emotional and conduct problems. Results: There were significant correlations among general factors of parental and child psychopathology. Parental externalizing psychopathology was associated with child conduct problems, while parental internalizing psychopathology was linked to child emotional problems. General parental stigma was associated with both children’s overall psychopathology and emotional problems specifically, as well as parental internalizing psychopathology. Discrimination was associated with child emotional problems. Conclusions and Relevance: Parental experiences of stigma in SGM families contribute to both parental and child psychopathology. This underscores the need for further longitudinal and multi-informant research to better understand these dynamics and develop interventions to support mental health in SGM families.