Hat tip to Jim Anderson for a link to this study on children raised by two lesbian parents. The study matched up 44 teenagers who were part of two parents households led by two lesbian women with 44 teenagers raised in two parent households with married heterosexual parents, and it also normalized the factors for ethnicity, economic status, gender, age and other factors. It says:
The researchers found no differences between the two groups in terms of depression, anxiety, self-esteem and school grades. Exactly the same proportion of both groups also reported having had sex (34%).But while a previous study suggested children of gay parents were more likely to consider homosexual relationships, this study was unable to provide such information because so few teens reported same-sex attractions and romances.
The single most important predictor of the teens' well being, the study showed, was their relationship with parents - regardless of family type. "What's really important is the quality of the relationship," Russell told New Scientist.
As a result, the authors write that their findings "provide no justification for limitations on child custody or visitation by lesbian mothers" and "do not support the idea that lesbian and gay adults are less likely than others to provide good adoptive or foster homes".
This doesn't come as any surprise to me, but I'm sure it will to many others. I think as a rule, those who have good relationships with their parents - supportive, nurturing, consistent, engaged - regardless of other factors, will tend to turn out well. I think you will find that is true regardless of what race a family is, what their socioeconomic status (other than destitute, perhaps) is, what religion they are, and so forth. The more supportive and involved the parents are, the more well adjusted and secure the child is. And I don't see any reason why that would be different for gay parents or straight parents.
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But Ed, allowing science to guide policy... it's just so... reasonable.
In all seriousness, I wonder how the Dobson camp will be spinning this one--or if they'll just ignore it. As most of us already know, Dobson's written some pretty vitriolic bullshit about homosexual marriage.
Ed ;
soem family types do make a diffrence those being single parent families , i dont hink it matters much if the child has two moms ,two dads or one of each just as long as a child has a parent to turn to and well in a single aprent house hold we know that it is harder to do . it is my honest belief that Gay parents actually have more to prove so they try harder to meet their childrens needs . i am some what shocked that teh children of homosexual couples didnt actually do better off since homosexual parents have more hurdles to clear in order to become parents .
The religious right have their own "research" that shows just the opposite, so unfortunately science can't help convince people of the obvious.