How is your family? Dyadic adjustment, cohesion and conflict in gay and lesbian couples

Journal title PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE
Author/s Jessica Lampis, Silvia De Simone, Noemi Fenu, Maria Giovanna Muggianu
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/1
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 76-96 File size 366 KB
DOI 10.3280/PDS2017-001004
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International research reveals that love relationships in the couples formed by people of the same-sex goes through the same stages of the life cycle of heterosexual couples. Gay and lesbian couples have the same characteristics of stability, durability, satisfaction and approach to conflict as heterosexual couples (Kurdek, 2004). Based on these assumptions, the authors have analysed the way in which people with different sexual orientation, with and without children, perceive their couples relationships. They studied some specific relational processes: dyadic adjustment, cohesion and adaptability, conflict management. The data reveal that gay, lesbian and eterosexual people express similar levels of dyadic adjustment, whereas gay and lesbian people show significantly higher levels of cohesion, adaptability and ability to manage conflict. It finally emerges that gay and lesbian parents show greater cohesion and a greater ability to resolve conflicts than heterosexual parents The results are discussed on the basis of psychosocial wellbeing of gay and lesbian individuals.

Keywords: Couple relationships, gay and lesbian, parenting, dyadic adjustment, conflict, cohesion, same-sex parent families

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Jessica Lampis, Silvia De Simone, Noemi Fenu, Maria Giovanna Muggianu, In famiglia tutto bene? Adattamento diadico, coesione e conflitto nelle coppie composte da persone gay e lesbiche in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 1/2017, pp 76-96, DOI: 10.3280/PDS2017-001004