GAYS AND LESBIANS FAMILIES-OF-ORIGIN - A SOCIAL-COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL MODEL OF ADJUSTMENT

As a heuristic to facilitate future studies and theory development, a social-cognitive-behavioral model of family systems is used to organiz e and integrate the sparse knowledge about the experience of heterosex ual family members in gays' and lesbians' families-of-origin. The impa ct of learning that a child or sibling is gay or lesbian on the family system and subsystems and the process of adjustment are delineated. S pecific suggestion for research questions within family studies and im plications for research methods, clinical practice, and family life ed ucation are included.