Paradoxical family practices: LGBTQ+ young people, mental health and wellbeing
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Jacqui Gabb; Rachael Eastham; Ali Hanbury; Elizabeth McDermott
- Source
- Journal of Sociology. 56:535-553
- Subject
- Value (ethics)
Qualitative interviews
05 social sciences
Emotion work
Human sexuality
General Medicine
Mental health
Family life
Developmental psychology
050903 gender studies
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Sociology
0509 other social sciences
Heteronormativity
050104 developmental & child psychology
Qualitative research
- Language
- ISSN
- 1741-2978
1440-7833
This article will explore how LGBTQ+ young people sustain, and in some cases survive, family relationships. We develop the concept of ‘paradoxical family practices’ and use this to demonstrate the ways in which LGBTQ+ young people manage family life through everyday emotion work. This highlights: (1) how families ordinarily navigate heteronormativity and ‘issues’ of gender/sexuality; (2) the efficacy of ‘paradoxical family practices’ as a conceptual tool; (3) the value of emotion-centred multiple qualitative methods to explore the lives of LGBTQ+ young people and mental health. Findings derive from a small-scale UK study funded by the Wellcome Trust (UNS39780) and were generated through a two-stage methodology comprising digital/paper emotion maps and qualitative interviews with LGBTQ+ young people aged 16–25 (n = 12) followed by diary methods and follow-up interviews (n = 9). Interviews were also completed with ‘family members’ (n = 7).