**3. Results**

### *3.1. Descriptive Statistics and Preliminary Analyses*

The means, standard deviations, and bivariate correlations between all variables, separately for lesbians and gay men, are reported in Table 2. The results highlighted a significant positive association only between parenting desire and internalized heterosexism in lesbians; no significant associations resulted for gay men. Age was negatively correlated with internalized heterosexism, and positively associated with sexual orientation concealment, in both LGs. Having a stable partner was associated

with internalized heterosexism in lesbians, whilst sexual orientation concealment was associated with the absence of a stable partner in both samples.

**Table 2.** Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations between minority stressors, parenting desire, and sociodemographic characteristics.


Note: Lesbians scores are below diagonal and gay men scores are above diagonal;\*\*\* *p* < 0.001; \*\* *p* < 0.01; \* *p* < 0.05.

As a further preliminary step, we examined gender differences on prejudice events, sexual orientation concealment, and internalized heterosexism by performing a multivariate analysis of variance, including age, education, political orientation, and stable partner as covariates (MANCOVA). The analysis showed significant differences between lesbians and gay men, with Wilks' lambda = 0.92, *p* < 0.001, F (3282) = 8.37, η2 = 0.08. Specifically, gay men reported higher levels of prejudice events—F (1284) = 16.59, *p* < 0.001, η2 = 0.06—and internalized heterosexism—F (1284) = 4.20, *p* < 0.05, η2 = 0.01—than lesbians did. No significant difference was found based on sexual orientation concealment.

### *3.2. Associations between Minority Stressors and Parenting Desire*

The results of the regression analysis are presented in Table 3.

**Table 3.** Test of the moderated mediation effect of prejudice events on parenting desire through sexual orientation concealment and internalized heterosexism.


Note: Unstandardized coefficients. \* *p* ≤ 0.05, \*\* *p* ≤ 0.01, \*\*\* *p* ≤ 0.001.

The effects of prejudice events (Hypothesis 1), sexual orientation concealment, and internalized heterosexism (Hypothesis 2) on parenting desire were all moderated by gender (all interaction terms were significant). The pick-a-point approach revealed that prejudice events significantly reduced parenting desire in lesbians, but not in gay men (Figure 2), with Bs = −1.18 and 0.05, *ps* = 0.01 and 0.86, 95% CIs ( −2.08, −0.28) and ( −0.52, 0.63), respectively. Both sexual orientation concealment and internalized heterosexism were positively associated with parenting desire in lesbians, but not in gay men (Figures 3 and 4, respectively), with Bs = 0.81 and 0.12, *ps* = 0.01 and 0.36, 95% CIs (0.20, 1.42) and

(−0.14, 0.39) for sexual orientation concealment, respectively; and Bs = 2.41 and 0.24, *ps* = 0.003 and 0.55, 95% CIs (0.78, 4.04) and (−0.55, 1.04) for internalized heterosexism, respectively.

**Figure 2.** Interaction between prejudice events and gender on parenting desire. Estimated log odds of parenting desire are reported for combinations of prejudice events (low, medium, and high) and individual's gender (lesbian women vs. gay men).

**Figure 3.** Interaction between sexual orientation concealment and gender on parenting desire. Estimated log odds of parenting desire are reported for combinations of sexual orientation concealment (low, medium, and high) and individual's gender (lesbian women vs. gay men).

**Figure 4.** Interaction between internalized heterosexism and gender on parenting desire. Estimated log odds of parenting desire are reported for combinations of internalized heterosexism (low, medium, and high) and individual's gender (lesbian women vs. gay men).

With respect to moderated mediation effects (Hypothesis 3), we found only one indirect effect of prejudice events on parenting desire through sexual orientation concealment, which involved lesbians, but not gay men. The index of moderated mediation confirmed the significance of this effect (Table 4).


**Table 4.** Indirect effects of prejudice events on parenting desire through sexual orientation concealment and internalized heterosexism conditional on gender.
