{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T02:52:22Z","timestamp":1781751142905,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781222400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research Summer Undergraduate Research Award"},{"name":"William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Award"},{"name":"Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Dudley Early Career Award"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Adolescents with LGBTQ+ parents and LGBTQ+ adolescents navigate unique social and identity-related challenges as compared to those without minoritized sexual and\/or gender identities. Adolescents with LGBTQ+ parents (regardless of their own sexual or gender identity) and adolescents who personally identify as LGBTQ+ are distinct populations, though they sometimes overlap. Research on adolescents with LGBTQ+ parents has often focused on parent\u2013adolescent relationships and family structures. How do friends help youth cope with identity-based minority stressors, like peer microaggressions, bullying, and exclusion, common for those with minoritized identities? Friendships are developmentally pivotal during adolescence, shaping social competence, identity exploration, and psychological adjustment. Grounded in ecological systems, social learning, and minority stress theories, we sought to understand how friendships relate to mental health and coping in adolescents with LGBTQ+ parents. This cross-sectional quantitative study included 98 adolescents (ages 12\u201319) with LGBTQ+ parents in the U.S., recruited via community sampling and Prolific. Higher-quality peer attachment, conceptualized by trust, communication, and alienation in close friendships, was associated with lower depression and greater social competence, but not associated with anxiety or adaptive coping (after accounting for avoidant coping). Avoidant coping was most strongly associated with poorer mental health. This study, with implications for practice, emphasizes the importance of peer relationships for adolescents with LGBTQ+ parents\u2014particularly how high-quality friendships offer important possible protection via social competence and against depression\u2014while also highlighting the complex interplay between friendships, coping, and adjustment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16060977","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T02:10:16Z","timestamp":1781748616000},"page":"977","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Friendships and Coping Among Adolescents with LGBTQ+ Parents"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jacob S.","family":"Withrow","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-7336-0699","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nita U.","family":"Kulkarni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rachel H.","family":"Farr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40508, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Achenbach, T. 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