Deck 38: Boundary Ambiguity in Gay Stepfamilies: Perspectives of Gay Biological Fathers and Their Same-Sex Partners

Question 1

What is boundary ambiguity?

A) unclear or discrepant psychology understandings about who is a family member and who is not and what each person's role is in the family
B) unclear physical boundaries about what physical possessions belong to whom and where each family member should spend their time
C) discrepant rules in a family about who should oversee what chores and responsibilities to the point that routine is disrupted or nonexistent
D) the greater societal definition of what is a family and who is part of a family

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Jenkins suggests that future research should ______.

A) examine factors that help gay stepfamilies to manage boundary ambiguity and thrive
B) include both gay fathers and lesbian mothers
C) focus on ways to reduce the harmful impact of religious, political, and societal heterosexism on children
D) examine the children of gay stepfamilies for their perceptions of boundaries

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Gay stepfamilies may have greater difficulty in establishing clear boundaries for several reasons. Which of the following is NOT a true reason why this may be the case?

A) Policies and laws regularly challenge the rights of gay and lesbian parents.
B) Gay and lesbian stepfamilies experience invisibility and marginalization in society.
C) There are fewer positive images of gay and lesbian families to share with children.
D) Gay relationships tend to be more complicated and difficult for children in general.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a major factor identified by Jenkins that contributes to boundary ambiguity in gay families?

A) family of origin
B) heterosexism
C) religious beliefs
D) ex-spouses

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a main source of boundary ambiguity?

A) loss or separation
B) incorporation
C) inclusion
D) intrusion

Question 6

Explain how heterosexism and the legal system interact to create boundary ambiguity and difficulty in the lives of gay stepfamilies.

Question 7

What types of family membership were defined by Jenkins' participants?

A) two separate families
B) family that includes partner and children
C) family that includes partner and children and two separate families
D) family that includes previous partners (i.e., ex wives), family that includes partner and children, and two separate families

Question 8

Discuss how boundary ambiguity contributes to family difficulties and leads to disharmony in gay stepfamilies. What are the two types of factors?

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT an impact of political, civil, and religious systems that fail to honor and support gay parents?

A) a strain on the gay partner relationship
B) difficulty of the biological, non-custodial father to connect with his children
C) a father-child relationship protected from the harmful values of outside influence
D) a stepfather's misplaced anger at the children for why he must leave his home and cannot stay with his partner

Question 10

The children of the parents in Jenkins' study ______.

A) ranged in age from 2 to 24
B) were all biological children of one partner from earlier heterosexual marriages
C) were a mixture of adoptive children, biological children from previous marriage, and biological children from surrogate mothers
D) did not have relationships with their fathers' partners