The Rainbow Austrian Longitudinal Family (RALF) Study

In LGBTQ+ parent families, also called rainbow families, at least one parent identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. In the public perception, these families typically consist of two mothers or two fathers, but they can also consist of, for example, a single LGBTQ+ parent, a family with three or more parents, or a bisexual mother and a heterosexual father. In Austria, positive legal and social developments have led to more children growing up in rainbow families. They possess many unique strengths, such as positive parenting and high feelings of belongingness. However, some people still treat rainbow families differently because they do not fit within their conception of a family. These experiences can be painful for all family members. We want to find out how rainbow families navigate these experiences as individuals, couples, and families. We also want to examine how their unique strengths unfold in their everyday lives and interactions. We are particularly interested in how these experiences affect childrens well-being. The goal of the Rainbow Austrian Longitudinal Family (RALF) Study is to examine these unique strengths and challenges in Austrian rainbow families within a longitudinal study using three time points of data collection over two years. We will survey 150 families with children of three age groups (early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence) through online questionnaires. Families with young children will also be invited to our observational laboratory, where we record family interactions on video and evaluate them using a standardized procedure. Our project is guided by a theoretical framework called intersectionality, which helps us to understand how all of our identity dimensions (e.g., gender identity, sexual orientation, education, financial circumstances) result in unique combinations of discrimination and privilege. To adopt this framework appropriately when analyzing our data, we will use novel machine learning techniques. We also adopt a participatory research approach to ensure the proper representation of families actual lived experiences in Austria. Specifically, we will actively involve community members (e.g., LGBTQ+ parents, representatives of LGBTQ+ associations) throughout the research process. Our results will be accessible through the ExploRALF, an easy-to-handle online tool to explore the project data. Through these efforts, we want to ensure that the public can benefit from the findings. The RALF Study is the first long-term study globally to comprehensively assess the unique strengths and challenging experiences of rainbow families, collecting different forms of data (questionnaires, video-recorded interactions) from different perspectives (parents, children), and using modern analytical techniques. We hope that RALF brings much-needed scientific and public visibility for rainbow families in Austria.