Marcu, Michael Teofil (2025) “I Always Kind of Knew”: The Relational Functions of Parental Knowledge Claims in Coming Out Conversations. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Relationships are managed through conversation, especially during high-stakes moments like coming out. While parents often report prior suspicions about their child’s sexuality, the conversational functions of these knowledge claims in managing the parent-child bond remain underexplored. To address this gap, this study identifies the relational functions of parental claims of prior knowledge, investigating how these claims are used to manage identities and face during real-time coming-out conversations. Using a qualitative, conversation-analytic approach, nine YouTube videos of gay sons coming out to their parents were examined, with the analysis concentrating on parental claims as relational actions. The findings revealed that parental knowledge claims serve as essential relational tools. Parents immediately paired these claims with reassurance to frame the news as non-disruptive. They also constructed a ‘knowing and caring’ identity by upgrading certainty, invoking parental intuition tropes, and recounting supportive intentions. Ultimately, parental claims of knowing function as performative acts of relational maintenance, where epistemic management becomes face-work that transforms a potential crisis into an opportunity to strengthen the parent-child bond.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Gmelin, J.H. and Mulberger Rogele, A.C. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2025 12:49 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2025 12:49 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5814 |
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