Attitudes Toward Heterosexual, Same-Sex and Transgender Couples Who Are Planning to Adopt Children

Negative attitudes toward same-sex parenting have been documented. However, there is still need for studies to explore attitudes toward parenting by transgender individuals. This quasi-experimental study explored attitudes toward transgender parents in Italy, the UK, Portugal and Israel. In two preliminary studies, heterosexual participants (Italian: N = 214; English: N = 211) read one of five vignettes with gay, lesbian, MtoF, FtoM, different-sex couples seeking child adoption. After reading the vignette, the participants rated the expectations about the development of a girl and a boy awaiting adoption and indicated their willingness to support the adoption. Participants also gave their attitudes toward LGBT people. Results showed that Italian participants high in sexual prejudice perceived adoptive children with same-sex parents or trans-parents as being more at risk in their development compared to children with different-sex parents. Both Italian and UK participants high in sexual prejudice indicated less willingness to support adoption in the case of non-traditional caregivers compared to different-sex couples. Future analyses will consider whether participants differed in their willingness to ascribe developmental risks or gains depending upon the depicted family type.