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This study tested parents' nonaccommodation of their young adult child's sexual identity and the child's topic avoidance and surface acting as mediators of family communication patterns (FCPs, i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and shared family identity (SFI). Participants included 205 sexual minorities who reported on their parents' nonaccommodation in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues. Both FCP orientations were indirectly associated with SFI with each parent through different explanatory pathways. Notably, conformity orientation was indirectly associated with SFI with father through mother's nonaccommodation to topic avoidance with mother. Conversely, it was indirectly associated with SFI with mother through father's nonaccommodation to topic avoidance with father. The results extend FCP theory by illuminating a relational dynamic among identity-divergent family members that may create (un)healthy alliances within families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the degree to which the association between parents' nonaccommodation and sexual minorities' personal-enacted identity gap (PEIG) with their family depends upon feelings of being caught between parents. Participants included 205 sexual minorities who reported on their parents' unwanted advice about their sexual identity and the degree to which they emphasized divergent values in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues. Reports of both mother's and father's nonaccommodation were positively associated with feeling caught between parents. Feeling caught diminished the magnitude of association between parental nonaccommodation and PEIG, although the association remained significant across all levels of feeling caught. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]