Stigmatization, self-esteem, and coping among the adolescent children of lesbian mothers

Purpose: To examine perceived stigma, coping, disclosure, and self-esteem a mong adolescents with lesbian mothers. Method: Interviews were conducted with 76 adolescents ages 11-18 years. Sta ndardized measures of self-esteem and coping skills were used. A measure of stigma was adapted for this study and a measure of disclosure was develope d. The relationship between perceived stigma and self-esteem was examined. General coping skills and level of disclosure about the adolescents' mother s' sexual orientation were assessed as potential moderators of the relation ship between perceived stigma and self-esteem. Results: Adolescents who perceived more stigma had lower self-esteem in fiv e of seven self-esteem areas, compared to those who perceived less stigma. In addition, coping skills moderated the effect of stigma on self-esteem in three self-esteem areas. However, only one subtype of coping skills, that of decision-making coping, was found to moderate the relationship of percei ved stigma and self-esteem in such a way that adolescents using more decisi on-making coping had higher self-esteem in the face of high perceived stigm a. For social support coping, in the face of high perceived stigma, the ado lescents with more effective coping skills had lower self-esteem. In the fa ce of high perceived stigma, adolescents who disclosed more about their mot her's sexual orientation had higher self-esteem in the subscale of close fr iendship than those who disclosed less. Conclusions: Results suggest that stigma is related to self-esteem among th e adolescent children of lesbian mothers. The results indicate that this re lationship is moderated by coping skills. These results have implications f or intervention and prevention of stigmatization by the establishment of ef fective coping skills as well as through educational efforts to eradicate s tigmatizing attitudes. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1999.