Defining and measuring family: Lessons learned from LGBTQ people and families.

Fish, Jessica N.; Reczek, Rin; Ezra, Pond

Objective: This essay discusses the challenges and opportunities of defining family in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ ) people. Background: LGBTQ people and their families remain at the forefront of novel family scholarship. Interrogating methodological approaches to defining family are critical for overcoming the continued marginalization and misrepresentation of LGBTQ family scholarship. Method: We review and present select literature to frame the current challenges and subsequent opportunities for advancing LGBTQ family scholarship through the conceptual and methodological defining of family. Results: Framed in a U.S. context, we discuss the oppressive and emancipatory consequences that have occurred through the project of defining family. We then highlight current challenges of defining LGBTQ families, emphasizing data inclusion and measurement considerations that arise when grappling with the methodological complexities of LGBTQ people versus LGBTQ families, chosen families and fictive kin, LGBTQ children in families, and consensually non‐monogamous relationships. Throughout, we present opportunities to address current shortcomings within family scholarship regarding LGBTQ families. We end with clear and pointed steps on how family researchers can integrate practical but nevertheless influential strategies to advance and enrich LGBTQ family research through intentional reflections on research design, sampling, and measurement. Conclusion: Despite progress, family scholarship alongside current social events entreats a more intentional commitment from family scholars to measure and advocate for data and methods that properly illuminate (LGBTQ ) family life.

LGBTQ people; LGBTQ families; RESEARCH methodology; SOCIAL marginality; FAMILY research; EXPERIMENTAL design

Journal of Marriage & Family, 2024, Vol 86, Issue 5, p1450

0022-2445

Academic Journal

10.1111/jomf.12987