Exploring connections among early attachment relationships, adoption decision-making, and parental identity among queer couples
Creators: name: Greenfield, Brett
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2023

description: Background &amp; Purpose: More queer couples than ever before are able to pursue parenthood through adoption. Queer couples are more likely to adopt children, but less research has focused on their experiences. This dissertation explored how the parental identities of queer couples are shaped by early attachment experiences and later adoption decision-making. Guided by attachment theory, identity theory, and research on adoption decision-making, this dissertation had two aims: 1) To explore how parental identity among queer adoptive parents is shaped by early attachment experiences, and 2) To explore how parental identity among queer adoptive parents is shaped by adoption decision-making. Methods: This study utilized constructivist grounded theory to reconceptualize how early attachment experiences, adoption decision-making, and parental identity are related for queer parents. Using purposive sampling, data were collected using interviews with 20 participants (i.e., 10 couples). Interviews were analyzed at the individual- and couple-level. Data were coded iteratively, and constant comparison was used throughout analysis. Selective coding subsequently brought higher order to the codes. Finally, themes were developed. Multiple strategies for rigor enhanced the quality of findings, including data triangulation, member-checking, and maintaining an audit trail. Findings: Three overarching themes were identified to show how being a queer adoptive parent incited a transformative parental identity development process for participants. First, “Imagining a parental identity in a world not built for queer parents” described how participants first conceptualized themselves as having parental identities, which stemmed from either intrinsic or extrinsic origins, included envisioning characteristics of their child(ren), and occurred within socio-political contexts. Second, “Creating a parental identity not bound by existing models of parenting” described how queer adoptive parents had to undergo the work of creating distinctive parental identities. This required making meaning of early parental relationships and current romantic partnerships, and the multiple identities that are integrated into parenthood. Third, “Seeing queerness as an asset for adoptive parenthood” described how queerness shaped participants’ planning for parenthood and the various approaches that are involved in adopting a child. Within each theme, participants had to contend with, manage, and respond to threats to their parental identities (e.g., perceived conflicts between queer and parental identities, dealing with self-doubt as adoptive parents, experiencing microaggressions about queer parenthood). Threats undermined, invalidated, or challenged participants’ parental identities and were directed toward specific aspects of queer adoptive parenthood.Conclusions &amp; Implications: This study examined parental identity development among queer adoptive couples. Each aspect of parental identity development was multifaceted and complex, and required understanding of how participants’ lived experiences of being queer adoptive parents shaped the development of their identities in distinct ways. These findings yield implications for identity theory and attachment theory. The experiences of queer adoptive parents inform and advance these theories by showing how queer individuals’ perspectives on their attachment histories and identity development offer nuance to and challenge certain assumptions held by these theories. Findings underscore the need for policies and practices that protect queer adoptive parents and promote and affirm their parental identity development.