Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - DP120302
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED290069 AUTHOR: Bozett, Frederick W.
TITLE: Identity Management: Social Control of Identity by
Children of Gay Fathers When They Know Their Father Is a
Homosexual.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1987
NOTE: 18 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Convention of
the American Psychological Association (95th, New York, NY,
August 28-September 1, 1987).
ABSTRACT: A study was conducted to examine how children
cope with having a homosexual father so that helping
professionals, and particularly nurses, might have a
knowledge base upon which to base interventions. Data were
obtained from indepth interviews with 19 individuals
ranging in age from 14 to 35 who had a homosexual father.
Two of the six male respondents identified themselves as
also being homosexual. Results of the unstructured
interviews indicated that the overriding task of these
children was identity management through social control,
i.e., management of their own identity through the use of
social control mechanisms. It appeared that the children
developed and used controlling strategies which controlled
their interactions with their father, their father's
interactions with them, or their interactions with others
in relation to their father. Strategies identified include
boundary control, non disclosure, and disclosure. Various
influencing factors appeared to help determine the degree
or extent to which strategies were used. Influencing
factors identified include the perceptual factors of
mutuality and obtrusiveness, living arrangements, and
developmental or age-related factors. Seven propositions
based on these findings are presented, and implications for
nurses are discussed (NB)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Adolescents-; Interpersonal-Relationship;
Nurses-; Self-Concept; Young-Adults
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Coping-; *Fathers-; *Homosexuality-;
*Individual-Power; *Parent-Child-Relationship; *Social
Control
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