Ritch C. Savin-Williams

Mom, Dad I'm Gay : How Families Negotiate Coming Out by Ritch C. Savin-Williams

As mainstream America becomes more aware of the non-heterosexual community, gay, lesbian, transgendered, and bisexual teenagers are revealing their sexual identities to their parents at a younger age than ever before. Often this happens while teens are still living at home. How do they decide whether and when to take this risky step? What is involved in negotiating a new identity with parents? And how common are the coming out "horror stories" published in the popular press?

Drawing from over 150 original interviews with teens, psychologist Ritch Savin-Williams separates fact from fiction in this survey of coming out experiences. Drawing from existing developmental research, he illustrates the wide range of family reactions and discusses the factors that determine how parents come to terms with the disclosure over time. He reveals that the coming out experience is greatly influenced by gender, and chapters highlight common mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, and father-son dynamics.

At the end of the book, readers will find tips on how parents can be helped to negotiate the coming out process and learn to support their child's emerging sexual identity. This book will be an excellent resource for those who counsel or work with lesbian, gay, transgendered, or bisexual children and their families and for psychologists and researchers interested in this under-researched subject.

Biography

Ritch C. Savin-Williams is professor of clinical and developmental psychology in the Department of Human Development at Cornell University. He received a master's degree in religious studies and the Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of Chicago, where he studied the development of dominance hierarchies in adolescent groups at summer camp. Later research projects included examining behavioral and experienced domains of self-esteem and adolescent friendships.

Dr. Savin-Williams teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on sexual minorities and conducts research on sexual-minority youth. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice specializing in identity, relationship, and family issues among young adults. He has served as an expert witness on same-sex marriage, gay adoptions, and Boy Scout court cases and is on numerous professional review boards, including co-chair of the American Psychological Foundation's Roy Scrivner Small Grant Awards. He has written junior high school curriculum for the Unitarian Universalist Association, Beyond Pink and Blue: Exploring Our Stereotypes of Sexuality and Gender.

Organizations & Institutions

Cornell University

Fields of Study

Recent Publications

The following recent publications will be sent to anyone who provides a snail address (contact:  rcs15@cornell.edu):  

Savin-Williams, R. C. (2001). A critique of research on sexual-minority youths. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 15-23.

Diamond, L. M. & Savin-Williams, R. C. (2000). Explaining diversity in the development of same-sex sexuality among young women. Journal of Social Issues, 56, 297-313. Reprinted in D. C. Kimmel & L. D. Garnets (Eds.) (in press), Psychological perspectives on lesbian, gay, and bisexual experiences (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.

Savin-Williams, R. C. & Diamond, L. M. (2000). Sexual identity trajectories among sexual-minority youths: Gender comparisons. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 29, 419-440.

Savin-Williams, R. C., & Esterberg, K. G. (2000). Lesbian, gay, and bisexual families. In D. H. Demo, K. R. Allen, & M. A. Fine (Eds.), Handbook of family diversity (pp.197-215). New York: Oxford University Press.

Diamond, L. M., Savin-Williams, R. C., & Dubé, E. M. (2000). Sex, dating, passionate friendships, and romance: Intimate peer relations among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of  romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 175-210). New York: Cambridge University Press.

 Savin-Williams, R. C. (1999). Matthew Shepard's death: A professional awakening. Invited editorial in Applied Developmental Science, 3, 150-154. Reprinted in D. C. Kimmel & L. D. Garnets (Eds.) (in press), Psychological perspectives on lesbian, gay, and bisexual experiences (2nd ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.

Savin-Williams, R. C., & Diamond, L. M. (1999). Sexual orientation. In W. K. Silverman & T. H. Ollendick (Eds.), Developmental issues in the clinical treatment of children (pp. 241-258). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Dubé, E. M., & Savin-Williams, R. C. (1999). Sexual identity development among ethnic sexual-minority male youths. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1389-1399.

More Published Work

Dr. Savin-Williams has written six books on adolescent development. 

Savin-Williams, Ritch C.   And Then I Became Gay : Young Men's Stories (Routledge, 1998)

Savin-Williams, Ritch C., co-edited with Kenneth M. Cohen. The Lives of Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals: Children to Adults (Harcourt Brace, 1996)

Savin-Williams, Ritch C.   Gay and Lesbian Youth: Expressions of Identity (Hemisphere, 1990)

Savin-Williams, Ritch C.   Adolescence:  An Ethnological Perspective (Springer-Verlag, 1987)

Other Selected Writings

Savin-Williams, R. C. (1994). Verbal and physical abuse as stressors in the lives of sexual minority youth: Associations with school problems, running away, substance abuse, prostitution, and suicide. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 62, 261-269. 

Reprinted in:

(1) R. E. Long (Ed.) (1995). Suicide (pp. 28-50). New York: H. W. Wilson 

(2) C. Mahoney (Ed.) (1998). Perspectives: Human Sexuality. Worcester, MA: CourseWise 

(3) R. E. Muuss & H. D. Porton (Eds.) (1998). Adolescent Behavior and Society: A Book of Readings (5th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.

Current Projects

Dr. Savin-Williams' latest book, "Mom, Dad. I'm Gay." How Families Negotiate Coming Out (APA Press, 2001) is the second in a trilogy exploring the lives of sexual-minority youths. Dr. Savin-Williams is currently writing about the experiences of growing up female with same-sex attractions, the resiliency and suicide attempts of sexual-minority youths, and the homoerotic attractions of heterosexual youths. His research on differential developmental trajectories attempts to supplant our generic, stage models of identity development with a perspective that explores the similarities of sexual-minority youths with all youths and the ways in which sexual-minority adolescents vary among themselves and from heterosexual youths.

Scholars Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Authors Index | Websites | Legacy of Names |