The association between basic need satisfaction in relationship and personal growth among lesbian and heterosexual mothers

Abstract

The study examined the association between basic need satisfaction in the couple relationship (basic need satisfaction in the relationship [BNSR]) and personal growth (PG), using a sample of 57 lesbian mothers individually matched with 57 heterosexual mothers. BNSR was found to correlate positively with growth only among lesbian mothers, while no significant association was found among heterosexual mothers. The findings are explained in terms of the particular characteristics of lesbian couples, such as high emotional support, equal division of labor, and absence of traditional gender roles. The potential contribution of these features to PG in the context of lesbian motherhood, which is planned, intentional, and often achieved after contending with minority stress and challenging life circumstances, is discussed.

Keywords

Basic need satisfaction in relationship lesbian women meaning in life motherhood personal growth sexual orientation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury, CA: Sage.

Balsam

K. F.

Beauchaine

T. P.

Rothblum

E. D.

Solomon

S. E.

(2008). Three-year follow-up of same-sex couples who had civil unions in Vermont, same-sex couples not in civil unions, and heterosexual married couples. Developmental Psychology, 44, 102–116. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.102

Bepko

Johnson

(2000). Gay and lesbian couples in therapy: Perspectives for the contemporary family therapist. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 26, 409–419. doi:10.1111/j.1752-0606.2000.tb00312.x

Borneskog

Lampic

Sydsjö

Bladh

Svanberg

A. S.

(2014). Relationship satisfaction in lesbian and heterosexual couples before and after assisted reproduction: A longitudinal follow-up study. BMC Women’s Health,14, 154. doi:10.1186/s12905-014-0154-1

Bos

(2013). Lesbian-mother families formed through donor insemination. In Goldberg

Allen

K. R.

(Eds.), LGBT-parent families (pp. 21–37). New York, NY: Springer.

Bos

H. M.

Van Balen

(2008). Children in planned lesbian families: Stigmatisation, psychological adjustment and protective factors. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 10, 221–236. doi:10.1080/13691050701601702

Bos

H. M.

Van Balen

Van den Boom

D. C.

(2003). Planned lesbian families: Their desire and motivation to have children. Human Reproduction, 18, 2216–2224. doi:10.1093/humrep/deg427

Bos

H. M.

Van Balen

Van den Boom

D. C.

(2007). Child adjustment and parenting in planned lesbian-parent families. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77, 38–48. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.77.1.38

Cowan

C. P.

Cowan

P. A.

(2000). When partners become parents: The big life change for couples. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

10.

Cox

Dewaele

Van Houtte

Vincke

(2010). Stress-related growth, coming out, and internalized homonegativity in lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth: An examination of stress-related growth within the minority stress model. Journal of Homosexuality, 58, 117–137. doi:10.1080/00918369.2011.533631

11.

Deci

E. L.

Ryan

R. M.

(1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum.

12.

Deci

E. L.

Ryan

R. M.

(2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227–268. doi:10.1207/S15327965PLI1104_01

13.

Fredriksen-Goldsen

K. I.

Simoni

J. M.

Kim

H. J.

Lehavot

Walters

K. L.

Yang

… Muraco

(2014). The health equity promotion model: Reconceptualization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health disparities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 84, 653–663. doi:10.1037/ort0000030

14.

Goldberg

A. E.

Perry-Jenkins

(2007). The division of labor and perceptions of parental roles: Lesbian couples across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 24, 297–318. doi:&rlm; 10.1177/0265407507075415

15.

Goldberg

A. E.

Sayer

A. G.

(2006). Lesbian couples’ relationship quality across the transition to parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68, 87–100. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2006.00235.x

16.

Goldberg

A. E.

Smith

J. Z.

Kashy

D. A.

(2010). Pre-adoptive factors predicting lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples’ relationship quality across the transition to adoptive parenthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 221–232. doi:10.1037/a0019615

17.

Golombok

Tasker

Murray

(1997). Children raised in fatherless families from infancy: Family relationships and the socioemotional development of children of lesbian and single heterosexual mothers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 783–791. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01596.x

18.

Gottman

J. M.

Levenson

R. W.

Swanson

Tyson

Yoshimoto

(2003). Observing gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples’ relationships: Mathematical modeling of conflict interaction. Journal of Homosexuality, 45, 65–91. doi:10.1300/J082v45n01_04

19.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford.

20.

Hequembourg

(2004). Unscripted motherhood: Lesbian mothers negotiating incompletely institutionalized family relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 739–762. doi:10.1177/0265407504047834

21.

Herek

G. M.

(2006). Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A social science perspective. American Psychologist, 61, 607–621. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.61.6.607

22.

Kinsey

Pomeroy

Martin

(1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders.

23.

Kurdek

L. A.

(1998). Relationship outcomes and their predictors: Longitudinal evidence from heterosexual married, gay cohabiting, and lesbian cohabiting couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 553–568. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezprimo1.idc.ac.il/docview/219749671?accountid=38867

24.

Kurdek

L. A.

(2001). Differences between heterosexual-nonparent couples and gay, lesbian, and heterosexual-parent couples. Journal of Family Issues, 22, 727–754. doi:10.1177/019251301022006004

25.

Kurdek

(2004). Are gay and lesbian cohabiting couples really different from heterosexual married couples? Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 880–900. doi:10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00060.x

26.

Kurdek

L. A.

(2008). Change in relationship quality for partners from lesbian, gay male, and heterosexual couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 701–711. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.22.5.701

27.

Kurdek

L. A.

Kennedy

(2001). Differences between couples who end their marriage by fault or no-fault legal procedures. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 241–253. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.2.241.

28.

La Guardia

J. G.

Ryan

R. M.

Couchman

C. E.

Deci

E. L.

(2000). Within-person variation in security of attachment: A self-determination theory perspective on attachment, need fulfillment, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 367–384. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.79.3.367

29.

Mackey

R. A.

Diemer

M. A.

O’Brien

B. A.

(2000). Psychological intimacy in the lasting relationships of heterosexual and same-gender couples. Sex Roles, 43, 201–227. doi:10.1023/A:1007028930658

30.

Manning

W. D.

Fettro

M. N.

Lamidi

(2014). Child well-being in same-sex parent families: Review of research prepared for American Sociological Association Amicus Brief. Population Research and Policy Review, 33, 485–502. doi:10.1007/s11113-014-9329-6

31.

McCormack

(2014). Innovative sampling and participant recruitment in sexuality research. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 31, 475–481. doi:10.1177/0265407514522889

32.

Meuwly

N. F. B.

Davila

Nunez

Bodenmann

(2013). Relationship quality among Swiss women opposite-sex versus same-sex romantic relationships. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 72, 229–233. doi:10.1024/1421-0185/a000115

33.

Meyer

I. H.

(1995). Minority stress and mental health in gay men. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36, 38–56. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2137286

34.

Meyer

I. H.

(2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 674–697. doi:10.1037/2329-0382.1.S.3

35.

Meyer

I. H.

Wilson

P. A.

(2009). Sampling lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56, 23–31. doi:10.1037/a0014587

36.

Moore

M. R.

Stambolis-Ruhstorfer

(2013). LGBT sexuality and families at the start of the twenty-first century. Annual Review of Sociology, 39, 491–507. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-071312-145643

37.

Nordqvist

(2012). Origins and originators: Lesbian couples negotiating parental identities and sperm donor conception. Cultural Health Sex, 14, 297–311. doi:10.1080/13691058.2011.639392.

38.

Park

C. L.

Fenster

J. R.

(2004). Stress-related growth: Predictors of occurrence and correlates with psychological adjustment. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 195–215. doi:10.1521/jscp.23.2.195.31019

39.

Patrick

Knee

C. R.

Canevello

Lonsbary

(2007). The role of need fulfillment in relationship functioning and well-being: A self-determination theory perspective. Journal of personality and social psychology, 92, 434–457. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.3.434

40.

Patterson

C. J.

(1994). Children of the lesbian baby boom: Behavioral adjustment, self-concepts, and sex-role identity. In Green

Herek

G. M.

(Eds.), Lesbian and gay psychology: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 156–175). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

41.

Peplau

L. A

Fingerhut

A. W.

(2007). The close relationships of lesbians and gay men. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 405–424. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085701

42.

Plaznasholev

(2010). The association between fertility stress, self-determination theory, and psychological well-being (Unpublished master’s thesis). Tel Aviv University, Israel.

43.

Prati

Pietrantoni

(2009). Optimism, social support, and coping strategies as factors contributing to posttraumatic growth: A meta-analysis. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 14, 364–388. doi:10.1080/15325020902724271

44.

Riggle

E. D.

Whitman

J. S.

Olson

Rostosky

S. S.

Strong

(2008). The positive aspects of being a lesbian or gay man. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39, 210–217. doi:10.1037/0735-7028.39.2.210

45.

Roisman

G. I.

Clausell

Holland

Fortuna

Elieff

(2008). Adult romantic relationships as contexts of human development: A multimethod comparison of same-sex couples with opposite-sex dating, engaged, and married dyads. Developmental Psychology, 44, 91–101. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.91

46.

Ryff

C. D.

(1995). Psychological well-being in adult life. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 99–104. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.ep10772395

47.

Ryff

C. D.

(2014). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83, 10–28. doi:10.1159/000353263

48.

Schreurs

K. M.

Buunk

B. P.

(1996). Intimacy, autonomy, and relationship satisfaction in Dutch lesbian couples and heterosexual couples. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality, 7, 41–57. doi:10.1300/J056v07n04_03

49.

Scrignaro

Barni

Magrin

M. E.

(2011). The combined contribution of social support and coping strategies in predicting post-traumatic growth: A longitudinal study on cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology, 20, 823–831. doi:10.1002/pon.1782

50.

Shenkman

(2012). The gap between fatherhood and couplehood desires among Israeli gay men and estimations of their likelihood. Journal of Family Psychology, 26, 828–832. doi:10.1037/a0029471

51.

Shenkman

Shmotkin

(2013). The hostile-world scenario among Israeli homosexual adolescents and young adults. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43, 1408–1417. doi:10.1111/jasp.12097

52.

Shenkman

Shmotkin

(2014). “Kids are joy”: Psychological welfare among Israeli gay fathers. Journal of Family Issues, 35, 1926–1939. doi:10.1177/0192513X13489300

53.

Shields

S. A.

(2008). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Sex Roles, 59, 301–311. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9501-8

54.

Simpson

J. A.

Rholes

W. S.

Campbell

Tran

Wilson

C. L.

(2003). Adult attachment, the transition to parenthood and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1172–1187. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.6.1172

55.

Spielman

Taubman - Ben-Ari

(2009). Parental self-efficacy and stress-related growth in the transition to parenthood: A comparison between parents of pre-and full-term babies. Health & Social Work, 34, 201–212. doi:&rlm;10.1093/hsw/34.3.201

56.

Stacey

Biblarz

(2001). (How) does the sexual orientation of parents matter? American Sociological Review, 66, 159–183. doi:10.2307/2657413

57.

Stuart

E. A.

(2010). Matching methods for causal inference: A review and a look forward. Statistical Science: A Review Journal of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 25, 1–21. doi:10.1214/09-STS313

58.

Taubman – Ben-Ari

(2012). Becoming and developing: Personal growth in the wake of parenthood and grandparenthood. In Shaver

P. R.

Mikulincer

(Eds.), Meaning, mortality, and choice – The social psychology of existential concerns (pp. 163–181). Washington, DC: APA.

59.

Taubman – Ben-Ari

(2014). Well-being and personal growth in emerging motherhood: And what about meaning? In Batthyany

Russo-Netzer

(Eds.), Meaning in positive and existential psychology (pp. 415–434). New York, NY: Springer.

60.

Taubman – Ben-Ari

Ben Shlomo

Sivan

Dolizki

(2009). The transition to motherhood: A time for growth. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 28, 943–970. doi:10.1521/jscp.2009.28.8.943

61.

Tedeschi

R. G.

Calhoun

L. G.

(2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological inquiry, 15, 1–18. doi: 10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01

62.

Zoellner

Maercker

(2006). Posttraumatic growth in clinical psychology—A critical review and introduction of a two component model. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 626–653. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2006.01.008

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB