A typology of intergenerational relationships between Taiwanese gay and bisexual men and their parents: Negotiating outness and co-residence in Chinese families

Introduction   Previous research has utilized a typological approach to characterizing intergenerational relationships and exploring their associations with children’s socioemotional outcomes. This study applied this method to Taiwanese gay and bisexual men via a tentative typology constituted by two conditions: co-residence with, and outness to, parent(s). Aside from describing the prevalence of different types of living arrangement, we further examined their links with the internal drivers, filial piety and internalized homophobia, and life satisfaction. Age group difference and the moderation effect of typology on the association between internal drivers and life satisfaction were also investigated.
Methods   A cross-sectional survey was completed by a sample of Taiwanese gay and bisexual men recruited via Facebook. Besides reporting their co-residence and outness status, respondents also completed the Contemporary Filial Piety Scale, Chinese Internalized Homophobia Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Descriptive statistics, ANCOVA, and moderation analysis were performed for young adults and early middle-aged adults separately.
Results   While half of the total sample lived with parents, more than half (65.5%) were not out to them. Comparison of categories shows that closeted young adults reported significantly stronger internalized homophobia. Among early middle-aged men, those who were not out to and living with parent(s) reported the highest filial obligations and lowest life satisfaction compared with other groups.
Conclusions   This study contributes to existing knowledge about various forms of family environments and the ways they are involved in Taiwanese gay and bisexual men’s lives. Implications for the use of this typology in social policy and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.