Abstract
Sexual minority stress is an important correlate of outcomes for sexual minority adults. Less is known about sexual minority stress among parents and how it might relate to their children's mental health directly or indirectly through parental self-efficacy. Social support can buffer the effects of stress in sexual minority adults; however, this pattern has not been established in parents. The present study examined outcomes for parents and children in sexual minority families in the United States. Data were collected from sexual minority parents (N = 265) of school-aged children (ages 5-14). Parents completed the Behavior and Feelings Survey, the Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire, the Parental Empowerment and Efficacy Measure, and the Social Provisions Scale. Analyses used Hayes' PROCESS Macro to test the proposed moderated mediation model. Results suggest that social support significantly moderates the relationship between sexual minority stress and parental self-efficacy, as well as the indirect relationship between parents' sexual minority stress and their children's mental health. However, rather than high social support emerging as a protective factor, low social support was a risk factor. Findings suggest that it is important to consider general and sexual minority specific risk factors for sexual minority families.