Same-Sex Parenting in Italy: An Affective and Developmental Psychocultural Analysis

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The study focuses on the issue of same-sex parenting in Italy, one of the few Western countries where it is not legally permitted. The aim of the research is to collect the experience of parents who have had a child abroad through reproduction and/or gestation procedures not ratified and recognized by the national legal system. Methods The research involved 32 same-sex parents, specifically 22 mothers (Mage = 41.3; SD = 6.5) and 10 fathers (Mage = 43.8; SD = 7.4) of at least one child. Data were collected in the first part of 2022, using a narrative interview designed to collect parents’ representation of same-sex parenting in Italy. The interviews were analyzed using Emotional Textual Analysis, a text mining methodology for tracing the emotional dimensions of text. Results The factorial analysis generated four thematic clusters (1—loneliness; 2—denied rights; 3—starting a family; and 4—future of LGBTQ+ liberation process) and two factors (1—minority stress; 2—conservatorism). Conclusions The results highlight a strong cultural backwardness in Italy on LGBTQ+ parental rights. Participants experience the desire and the practice of being parents within a cultural framework that, in the absence of legislative norms that protect these forms of generativity, emphasizes their sense of difference and isolation. Policy Implications Future policies should be concerned with the need for cultural and legislative advances, supported by progressive movements and associations, as well as the development of psychological-clinical settings capable of supporting an emotional position in the parents based on trust about the context and the future.