Scaffolding in Family Relationships: A Grounded Theory of Coming Out to Family

• Author: JhuCin Jhang
• Published date: 01 February 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12302
• Date: 01 February 2018

JC J University of Texas at Austin

Scaffolding in Family Relationships: A Grounded

Theory of Coming Out to Family

Objective: To challenge the conceptualization

that disclosure means coming out by creating a

model of coming out inclusive of various lived

experiences.

Background: Coming out has traditionally

been conceptualized in Western literature as

disclosing one’s sexual minority identity to self

and others. However, this conceptualization

may not generalize to a collectivistic culture

such as Taiwan.

Method: Two waves of interview data with 28

Taiwanese lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)

individuals were used to establish a grounded

theory of coming out to family.

Results: This grounded theory’s core category

is scaffolding for a stable family relationship, in

which coming out is a scaffolding process.Three

key propositions in this emergent theory are (a)

LGB individuals and their parents have different

sets of expectations for personal and family life

that need to be reconciled, (b) scaffolding efforts

create an iterative process in that they could

either facilitate or inhibit reconciliation, and (c)

the iterative process of scaffolding is inuenced

by a host of factors.

Conclusion: This study established a grounded

theory of coming out for Taiwanese LGB indi-

viduals and their families in which disclosures

are often absent and scaffolding to reach goals

is key.

Department of Communication Studies, University of Texas

at Austin, 2504A Whitis Avenue CMA 7.112, A1105,

Austin, TX 78712-1075 (ritajhang@utexas.edu).

KeyWords: Asian families, family communication, grounded

theory, international families, LGBT issues and relation-

ships, parent–child relationships.

Implications: Cultural backgroundand the pro-

longed iterative process of coming out should be

considered when theorizing about and providing

relevant professionalservices to this population.

Despite recent legal progress and a more toler-

ant society, coming out—that is, the process of

revealing one’s sexual orientation—as lesbian,

gay, or bisexual (LGB) to family remains dif-

cult (Cramer & Roach, 1988; Denes & A,

2014; Grafsky, Hickey, Ngyuen, & Wall, 2018;

Heatherington & Lavner, 2008; Savin-Williams,

2001; Willoughby & Doty, 2010). In fact, there

is a well-developed literature that examines

the difculty and complexity of coming out to

family. Coming-out studies have focused on

predictors of disclosure of one’s sexual orien-

tation (Bih, 2003; Heatherington & Lavner;

2008; Waldner & Magruder, 1999); initial

parental reactions to disclosure (Cramer &

Roach, 1988; LaSala, 2000; Merighi & Grimes,

2000; Robinson, Walters, & Skeen, 1989; Rossi,

2010; Savin-Williams & Dube, 1998; Scherrer,

Kazyak, & Schmitz, 2015); and psychological,

interpersonal, social, and health implications

of disclosure (D’Amico, Julien, Tremblay, &

Chartrand, 2015; Meyer, 2003; Needham &

Austin, 2010).

Underlying this literature are various

conceptualizations of coming out, such as

acknowledging one’s sexual orientation to

oneself (Baptist & Allen, 2008; Cass, 1979;

Coleman, 1982; Davies, 1992) or disclosing

to others (Ben-Ari, 1995; Grafsky et al., 2018;

Harry, 1993; Jordan & Deluty, 1998; Legate,

Ryan, & Weinstein, 2012; Merighi & Grimes;

2000; Rossi, 2010; Valentine,Skelton, & Butler,

Family Relations 67 (February 2018): 161–175 161

DOI:10.1111/fare.12302