Italian primary school teachers’ comfort and training needs regarding same-sex parenting

ABSTRACT

School teachers today are increasingly coming into contact with lesbian and gay parents. Given the lack of research in the field, this study investigated the role of homonegativity and beliefs about the well-being of children raised by same-sex parents in how comfortable teachers feel when interacting with same-sex parents. Additionally, possible predictors of teachers’ training needs regarding sexual orientation and same-sex parenting were explored. The sample consisted of 244 primary-school teachers. The results showed that ‘personal discomfort’ and ‘beliefs about the welfare of children of lesbian and gay parents’ were predictive of ‘comfort in interacting with lesbian and gay families’. Seniority, having a high number of lesbian and gay friends and having positive ‘beliefs about the welfare of children with lesbian and gay parents’ are linked to recognising the need for training on lesbian, gay and same-sex parenting issues. Suggestions and implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary school teachers
• same-sex parenting
• comfort
• training needs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Silvia De Simone

Silvia De Simone, Research fellow and Lecturer in Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Cagliari (Italy). Her research interests focus on work-family interface, diversity and equality at the workplace, well-being at work, occupational health, safety and stress.

Francesco Serri

Francesco Serri, Research fellow and Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Cagliari (Italy). His current research interests include social identity, sexualities, and states of relative power and privilege in societies.

Jessica Lampis

Jessica Lampis, Research fellow and Lecturer in Dynamic Psychology at the University of Cagliari (Italy). Her current research interests focus on the relations between differentiation processes, couple functioning, and psychological well-being, cross-cultural differences in family emotional processes, LGBTQ family relationships.

Jessica Pileri

Jessica Pileri, Trainee post-graduated student at the University of Cagliari. Graduated in Social and Work Psychology, collaborates with the University of Cagliari for research related to gender and sexualities.

Diego Lasio

Diego Lasio, Research fellow and Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Cagliari (Italy). His research interests focus on the discursive construction of gender and sexualities, and the related practices of marginalisation and discrimination.