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Homosexuality and Parental Guilt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Bernard Zuger*
Affiliation:
New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016, U.S.A., and Psychiatrist to the Children's Psychiatric Clinic, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Summary

Homosexuality in the male is commonly held to be the product of a specific family constellation consisting of a dominant mother and an ineffectual or hostile father. Prospective studies however, on boys with early effeminate behaviour, the majority of whom subsequently become homosexual, show that their closeness to the mother and distance from the father spring from their own needs. The physician should feel free to relieve parents of guilt for this condition.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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