Psychological health of children raised by gay parents studies

The current study takes a closer look at children’s behavioral outcomes, reported by a parent, using an adapted version of the emotional, conduct, hyperactivity, pro-social, and peer problems subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Extensive data available from more than 30 years of research reveal that children raised by gay and parent parents have demonstrated resilience with regard to social, psychological, and sexual health despite economic and legal disparities and social stigma.

Overview: We identified 79 scholarly studies that met our criteria for adding to knowledge about the well-being of children with gay or lesbian parents. Of those studies, 75 concluded that children of gay or lesbian parents fare no worse than other children. The results indicate that children raised by same-sex parents from birth perform psychological than children raised by different-sex parents in both primary and secondary education.

Our findings are robust to use of cousin fixed effects and coarsened exact matching to improve covariate balance and to reduce study dependence. Eleven out of 17 studies health that there are no statistically significant differences in mental gay raised children with gender and sexual minority parents and children with.

The second aim of the study was to assess among teens with lesbian mothers whether donor status, maternal relationship continuity, and self-reported stigmatization are associated with QoL. Children of all family types including children of same-sex couples are far more likely to make normal progress through school than are children living in group quarters such as orphanages and shelters. Claims that children need both a mother and father presume that women and men parent differently in ways crucial to development but generally rely on studies that conflate gender with other family structure variables.

Results: Children in fatherless families experienced more interaction with their mother, and perceived her as more available and dependable than their peers from father-present homes. Background: An increasing number of lesbian women and single heterosexual women are bringing up children with no male involvement. Golombok, S. Visit Source Website Tasker, F. Relative to the intact family, other family forms tend to provide a less than optimal child for children.

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Psychological effects of same-sex parents

Case material is used to illustrate the variety and complexity of the issues involved. As such, the AAP Board of Directors approved the broad dissemination of this analysis to assist pediatricians with addressing the complex issues related to same-gender couples and their children. Overall, the findings indicate that adolescents from intact two-mother lesbian families are comparable to those in a matched comparison group with intact mother—father families.

Hoeffer, B. Participants included 44 to year-old adolescents parented by same-sex couples and 44 same-aged adolescents parented by opposite-sex couples, matched on demographic characteristics and drawn from a national sample. Parents were more satisfied and children were more well-adjusted when labor involved in child care was more evenly distributed between the parents.

Standardized instruments measuring problem behavior were completed by parents and adolescent offspring, and questions about stigmatization were answered by adolescents with lesbian mothers. Visit Source Website Goldberg, N. We assessed whether associations among family relationships, parenting stress, and child outcomes were different in the 2 household types. This study compared the play narratives of children in 38 lesbian-mother families; 73 two-parent, heterosexual-mother families; and 58 single-heterosexual-mother families recruited from a general population sample.

Leddy, A. All have lived without adult males 18 years or older in the household for a minimum of 2 years average 4. It uses data from studies including children of married heterosexual couples, cohabiting heterosexual couples and homosexual couples, and examines the extent to which these children differ with regard to scholastic achievement and aspects of social development. Gay and lesbian parents saw a number of benefits and relatively few problems for their children as a result of their homosexuality, with lesbians perceiving greater benefits than gay men.

Survey questions included a question on how the adult offspring plan to tell or have told their children about their non-traditional conception.

Risk was elevated in the presence of parent psychological distress RR 2. The quality of parenting by the mother, and the social and emotional development of the child, were assessed using standardised interview and questionnaire measures administered to mothers, children and teachers. Thirty-three families were headed by lesbian and 33 by heterosexual couples.

Yet, most research on parenting benefits and challenges, as well as demographic characteristics of parents, remains focused on cisgender heterosexual individuals.