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Children of Lesbians Well Adjusted, Study Shows
Filed under: Gay Parenting, Research Reveals: Big Kids, Research Reveals: Tweens, Research Reveals: Teens
Teenage children of lesbians are psychologically well-adjusted and have fewer behavioral problems than their peers, a new study shows.
Children of lesbian couples rated significantly higher in social, academic and overall competence than other children, according to an article published in Pediatrics, and significantly lower in social problems, rule-breaking and aggressive or problem behavior.
Beginning in 1986, researchers tracked lesbian families from the time children were conceived until they reached adulthood. The 78 children and their mothers were interviewed and filled out questionnaires when the children were 10 and 17.
Researchers found no major behavioral differences between adolescents who knew who their sperm donors were and those who didn't, nor between those whose mothers were still together and those whose mothers had separated.
In 2005, more than 270,000 children in the United States lived in households headed by a same-sex couple, the article states, and nearly twice that number had a single lesbian or gay parent.
The findings have implications for the clinical care of lesbian families, custody hearings and public policies on same-sex parenting, the article concludes.
"Our findings show that adolescents who have been raised since birth in planned lesbian families demonstrate healthy psychological adjustment and thus provide no justification for restricting access to reproductive technologies or child custody on the basis of the sexual orientation of the parents," the authors write.
Related: Protesters Rally as Child of Lesbian is Denied Enrollment at Catholic Kindergarten
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
6-08-2010 @ 9:13AM
Holly Marcyoniak said...MAY I ASK A QUESTION:
HOW IT POSSIBLE TO BE WELL ADJUSTED WHEN THE ROLE MODELS ARE PRACTICING HOMOSEXUALITY ??
I BELIEVE CHILDREN STILL, "LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE" !!
Reply
6-28-2010 @ 3:21PM
myself said...Holly Marcyoniak...........You need to be educated. It is well possible that children can be well adjusted in a homosexual relationship. There are straight couples that choose to raise their children in a poor enviroment where children are not cared for, loved for or protected and those children as you say LEARN AS THEY LIVE, and that's not healthy. Homosexuals are people who have morals and raised their children in an appropiate environment where they are loved, care for, healthy and protected environment. Don't hate when you see a happy gay family, that's what LOVE is all about. Live and let live!!!!!!!
6-08-2010 @ 12:34PM
Slim said...I know at least two straght grown-ups raised by lesbian couples, and also know many kids from my daughter's school who are raised by gay/lesbian couples, and everybody can see that they are doing either great or at least as well as kids raised by good straight couples. In the other hand, we see all the time in the news kids abused/killed by bad straight parents. All those kids would be much happier --or alive-- if they had good gay parents. I don't care about what those parents do inside their bedrooms. All that matters is wether you are good as a parent. Period.
Reply
6-10-2010 @ 4:48PM
bibabygirl said...i am gay and i have a girlfriend who has two children from a past relationship and we both want another child. in her past relarionship her two children were not mis treated but the father became involved in drugs and he was asked to choose his kids or drugs and he chose the drugs and was asked to move out. i see that if he was still there that it would not be a situation to rase a child in and now that her and i are together there are no drugs we both are getting ready to go to college and the children can be parented better than if he was parenting them. the youngest child is well behaved and he does not know his father bc he was so young when his father left but the oldest has behavioral problems bc he knows his dad and still talks to him many times a week on the phone and when he does talk to him his behavior gets worse bc of what his father says. i feel that same sex parents can rase a child with more modern beliefs such as gay couples is not wrong and that love is not about the body parts one has but about the kind of person they are in the heart. i always get then that some want a child. well my response to that is there are many other ways to have a child such as inplanted or adoption. and one child brought in this world is another left behind. love is not about sex that is a whole different topic. sex has nothing to do with love bc if you love someone for sex then most likely thats the first thing you love about that person. some of you may be thinking that i was rased by a same sex couple but i wasnt. my father is extreamly against this and we fight until he has no more remarks that have more than one way to for same sex couples(the having a child). if you have any questions or remarks please reply i will answer.
Reply
8-15-2010 @ 3:41AM
ashley said...tell ur girlfriend im sorry bout her last relationship that guy is mean and a jerk. I just got out of a bad relationship and i know how it feels to think u love someone and turns around he/she is a jerk.
6-15-2010 @ 9:39AM
Derek said...Here is something to consider, Holly. How do children who were brought up in a Christian home by both parents turn out to be thieves, homosexual, or, in many cases, rapists? The opposite is also true. How do children who were brought up in single parent household where the parent is abusing drugs grow up to be doctors and lawyers? I think as a parent, we are responsible for teaching our children the differences between right and wrong, love them unconditionally, and lead by example. In other words, we provide the necessary tools to become productive citizens. We hope they use those tools, but the truth is they grow up to learn that they are their own person. The choices they make are their right. I don’t think same-sex parenting interrupts the growth and development of children. My partner and I have three kids. My eldest son received a full ride to MIT starting in the fall. My middle son currently has a 4.0 and looking to meet up with his brother at MIT in the fall of 2011. My youngest will be attending high school next year, but has the same academic track record as his older brothers. All three are heterosexual and my partner and I have a good, open relationship with them.
Reply
6-26-2010 @ 4:27AM
nurs1206 said...holly,
your an narrow headed idiot!
Reply