At what age did you come out to your parents?
A new study shows the number of gay and bisexual teenage boys that are comfortable being out to their parents has surged by double digits in 20 years.
According to the study, published in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation, 66 percent of gay and bi males aged 13-18 are out to their mothers. Forty-nine percent indicated they are out to their dads.
This is a huge change from the 1990s when just 40 percent of adolescent boys were out to their moms and less than 30 percent were open about their attractions with their dads.
The numbers come from a survey of 1,194 Generation Z boys (born between 1998 and 2018) with same-sex attractions.
The data also shows different factors – religion, identity, race – can play a part in terms of who is more comfortable being out with their parents.
Not surprisingly, those who come from a more religious background are less likely to be out than those less religious.
White survey participants were more likely to be out than Black respondents.
And those who identify as gay were more comfortable in being open with their parents than bisexual male teens or those less sure of their sexuality.
Lead author David A. Moskowitz, Ph.D., said in a statement that this information can help psychologists understand what factors “move teenagers to share this type of information with those closest to them.”
Moskowitz noted in the study that there’s more work to be done (like doing a similar survey among females in the same age group), but added, ”We can now compare these practices with how other generations deal with these issues and think about what it all means for future generations.”
i NEVER DID COME OUT , WHEN I WAS BORN I WAS OUT , NO ONE IN MY FAMILY EVER QUESTIONED THEY KNEW AND I NEVER TRYED TO HIDE IT.