Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University (IDC Herzliya), Herzliya 4610101, Israel.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 24;20(5):4084. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054084.
Previous studies have shown that lesbian and gay (LG) individuals, in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts, tend to report lower levels of parenthood desire. While numerous variables have been suggested to explain this gap in parenthood aspirations, no study has investigated the mediating role of avoidant attachment in the association between sexual orientation and parenthood desire. For that purpose, a sample of 790 cisgender Israelis aged 18-49 years ( = 28.27, = 4.76) was recruited using convenience sampling. Among the participants, 345 self-reported as predominantly or exclusively lesbian or gay and 445 self-reported as exclusively heterosexual. Participants completed online questionnaires assessing their sociodemographic characteristics, parenthood desire, and avoidant and anxious attachment styles. Mediation analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro, and the results revealed that LG individuals reported lower parenthood desire, higher avoidant attachment, and higher anxious attachment compared to heterosexual individuals. Moreover, avoidant attachment had a significant mediation effect in the association between sexual orientation and parenthood desire. The findings suggest that LG individuals are more likely to report higher avoidant attachment due to possible rejection and discrimination from family members and peers, and this may be associated with lower parenthood desire. The results contribute to the growing body of research on family formation and parenthood aspirations among LG individuals, and specifically studies aimed at delineating the factors that contribute to the gap in parenthood aspirations between sexual minority individuals and their heterosexual counterparts.
先前的研究表明，与异性恋者相比，同性恋和双性恋（LG）个体往往报告较低的生育意愿。虽然已经提出了许多变量来解释这种生育期望差距，但没有研究调查回避型依恋在性取向和生育意愿之间的关联中的中介作用。为此，使用便利抽样方法招募了 790 名年龄在 18-49 岁的顺性别以色列人（=28.27，=4.76）作为样本。在参与者中，有 345 人自我报告为主要或完全同性恋或双性恋，445 人自我报告为完全异性恋。参与者完成了在线问卷，评估了他们的社会人口特征、生育意愿以及回避型和焦虑型依恋风格。使用 PROCESS 宏进行中介分析，结果表明，LG 个体报告的生育意愿较低，回避型依恋较高，焦虑型依恋较高，与异性恋个体相比。此外，回避型依恋在性取向和生育意愿之间的关联中具有显著的中介效应。研究结果表明，LG 个体由于可能受到家庭成员和同龄人的拒绝和歧视，更有可能报告更高的回避型依恋，这可能与较低的生育意愿有关。这些发现有助于丰富关于 LG 个体家庭形成和生育意愿的研究，特别是研究有助于阐明导致性少数个体和其异性恋对应者之间生育期望差距的因素。
