Upholding and Expanding the Normal Family: Future Fatherhood through the Eyes of Gay Male Emerging Adults

Abstract

Life course theory and the concept of emerging adulthood were used to examine the visions of fatherhood among 14 gay men between the ages of 18- 25 years. Participants were asked to discuss their future fatherhood plans with probes for personal, family, and historical contexts. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze the data. The emergent core narrative was that these men’s plans for the future largely upheld and expanded, rather than challenged, the normative nuclear family ideal. Though barriers were anticipated, they describe their personal and historical contexts as enabling them to pursue family and children in ways that differ from past cohorts of gay men.