Many studies have been conducted and it has now been concluded
that lesbian parents tend to be better parents. The finding,
which comes from a review of essentially all studies on the
topic of same-sex parents and the health of their children,
helps to tease out politics and science on this highly divisive
issue. In general, kids in both heterosexual and lesbian
households had similar levels of academic achievement, number of
friends and overall well-being. Whether or not kids from
homosexual households are more likely to have a non-heterosexual
orientation is still unknown. But if there is a genetic
component to sexual orientation, it would make sense that kids
born to a lesbian mom, say, would be more likely than other kids
to be homosexual, scientists say.
At the end of the day, what matters to kids is far deeper than
parents' gender or sexual orientation, the research suggests.
"The family type that is best for children is one that has
responsible, committed, stable parenting," said study researcher
Judith Stacey of New York University. "Two parents are, on
average, better than one, but one really good parent is better
than two not-so-good ones."
Highlights of the Findings
In a study of nearly 90 teens, half living with female same-sex
couples and the others with heterosexual couples, both groups
fared similarly in school. Teen boys in same-sex households had
grade point averages of about 2.9, compared with 2.65 for their
counterparts in heterosexual homes. Teen girls showed similar
results, with a 2.8 for same-sex households and 2.9 for girls in
heterosexual families.
In another study, teens were asked about delinquent activities,
such as damaging others' property, shoplifting and getting into
fights, in the previous year. Teens in both same-sex and
heterosexual households got essentially the same average scores
of about 1.8 on a scale from 1 to 10 (with higher scores meaning
more delinquent behaviors).
A 2008 study comparing 78 lesbian families in the United States
with their counterparts (lesbian households) in the Netherlands,
showed American kids were more than twice as likely as the Dutch
to be teased about their mothers' sexual orientation.
Stacey says she doesn't think kids growing up in lesbian
households get teased more than other kids; it's just that when
they do get teased, the target is the non-traditional household,
rather than some other aspect of their life or identity. (On
another note, gay and lesbian teens are more likely than others
to get bullied.). Studies of gay male families are still limited
since the phenomenon of male couples choosing to be parents is
relatively new, Stacey said. So results on children raised by
gay men are not firm.
Equal opportunity parenting. But just because two women seem to
be able to parent just as well as a man and a woman doesn't mean
that fathers aren't important. "It's not that men don't matter;
it's that men can be just as good as women at parenting," said
Karen L. Fingerman of the Child Development & Family Studies at
Purdue University, who was not involved in the current study.
"The key seems to be that parents have someone who supports them
in their parenting (i.e., another parent)."
Fingerman and others aren't surprised by the findings. "This is
an interesting paper, and it doesn't surprise me," Fingerman
told LiveScience. "If you think about humans historically and
cross-culturally, very few cultures use the model we now
consider 'normal' with one woman and one man raising one to
three children," Fingerman said. "Humans have evolved to be
malleable and adjustable, and a variety of models can meet
children's social needs adequately."
The results, however, may surprise various individuals on
different sides of the same-sex marriage and parenting debates.
For instance, in a 2003 Pew survey of more than 1,500 American
adults, 56 percent agreed that gay marriage would undermine the
traditional American family. Even so more than 50 percent agree
that gay and lesbian couples can be as good parents as
heterosexual couples, with 37 percent disagreeing.
In terms of adoption, about the same number of Americans say
they favor adoption by same-sex couples (46 percent) as say they
oppose it (48 percent), according to a Pew survey of more than
2,000 individuals conducted in 2008. Those who oppose same-sex
marriage, or civil unions, tout various arguments, one of which
involves the harm done to children of same-sex couples, whether
due to the lack of a father or mother figure or the promotion of
homosexuality, the study researchers say.
"Significant policy decisions have been swayed by the
misconception across party lines that children need both a
mother and a father," said study researcher Timothy Biblarz, a
sociologist at the University of Southern California. "Yet,
there is almost no social science research to support this
claim. One problem is that proponents of this view routinely
ignore research on same-gender parents."
What research there is, though, has been limited by statistics.
In the United States, about 4 percent to 5 percent of adults are
not heterosexual, Stacey said. And of those who are in
relationships, only about 20 percent of same-sex couples are
raising children under age 18, according to the 2000 Census.
That means sample sizes are inevitably small, leading to study
results that are less robust.
Also, to gather data on a reasonable number of same-sex couples
raisinz children, researchers often take what are called
convenient samples � they go to sperm banks or other facilities
where they know they'll find homosexual parents. "The problem
from [a] statistical point of view is that convenient sample
studies don't amount to much," said sociologist Michael J.
Rosenfeld of Stanford University, adding it's hard to
extrapolate the results to the real world.
But his research, which used U.S. Census data and not convenient
samples, looked at thousands of kids raised by same-sex parents
and found no difference in grade retention (when a kid gets held
back in school) after accounting for demographics, such as
income. "Grade retention is a pretty strong predictor of
problems later in life including dropping out of high school and
mortality," said Rosenfeld, who wasn't involved in the current
research.
To amass the most exhaustive and reliable data pool possible,
Stacey and Biblarz analyzed all of the research they could dig
up, which amounted to more than 80 relevant studies. In general,
they didn't find evidence for differences in parenting abilities
between two moms versus a mom and dad raising kids. "The
research pretty much shows that almost no study that has been
done on this topic has confirmed this common sense assumption
that gender is critical or that a father-mother household works
better for kids than a same-sex household," said Brian Powell, a
sociologist at Indiana University, who also wasn't involved in
this review.
Some detractors of same-sex parents contend the children will
grow up to be homosexuals or at the very least confused about
their sexuality or gender. Research doesn't support that idea,
however. "There really is no evidence that not having a mother
or father produces any sort of gender confusion or insecure
gender identity," Stacey said. "It's a big mystery where gender
dysphoria in children comes from. But almost all transgender or
gender non-conforming people have heterosexual parents."
However, to date there aren't any studies that have tracked a
large enough set of kids raised by gay or lesbian parents into
adulthood to know their eventual sexual orientation and gender
identity, the researchers say. Another concern has been that
boys raised without a "father figure" will not have an
appropriate model for masculinity. A study from the U.K.,
however, suggested that 12-year-olds raised by mother-only
families (lesbian or heterosexual) scored the same on
masculinity factors as sons raised by a mother and a father.
Interestingly, though, the mother-only boys also scored higher
on femininity scales.
While there were few substantial differences between
heterosexual and homosexual parents, some gender stereotypes
were confirmed. Compared with heterosexual couples, the review
showed that on average, two mothers tended to play with their
children more and were less likely to use physical discipline
(relative to the time spent with kids). And like heterosexual
parents, new parenthood among lesbians increased stress and
conflict within the couple. Also, lesbian biological mothers
typically assumed greater care-giving responsibility than their
partners, reflecting inequities also found between mothers and
fathers.
"The bottom line is that the science shows that children raised
by two same-gender parents do as well on average as children
raised by two different-gender parents," Biblarz said. "This is
obviously inconsistent with the widespread claim that children
must be raised by a mother and a father to do well." The
scientists note they don't expect the results to change minds.
"There's a huge gap between research and popular belief and
public policy, and it's hard for people to believe something
that goes so against what they deeply think," Stacey told
LiveScience, adding, "I can't say I'm very optimistic that
people will believe us, but I'm hopeful it will open up
conversation."
For their new study, published on Monday in the journal
Pediatrics, researchers Nanette Gartrell, a professor of
psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco (and
a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles),
and Henry Bos, a behavioral scientist at the University of
Amsterdam, focused on what they call planned lesbian families �
households in which the mothers identified themselves as lesbian
at the time of artificial insemination.
Data on such families are sparse, but they are important for
establishing whether a child's environment in a home with
same-sex parents would be any more or less nurturing than one
with a heterosexual couple.
The authors found that children raised by lesbian mothers �
whether the mother was partnered or single � scored very
similarly to children raised by heterosexual parents on measures
of development and social behavior. These findings were
expected, the authors said; however, they were surprised to
discover that children in lesbian homes scored higher than kids
in straight families on some psychological measures of
self-esteem and confidence, did better academically and were
less likely to have behavioral problems, such as rule-breaking
and aggression.
"We simply expected to find no difference in psychological
adjustment between adolescents reared in lesbian families and
the normative sample of age-matched controls," says Gartrell. "I
was surprised to find that on some measures we found higher
levels of [psychological] competency and lower levels of
behavioral problems. It wasn't something I anticipated."
In addition, children in same-sex-parent families whose mothers
ended up separating did as well as children in lesbian families
in which the moms stayed together.The data that Gartrell and Bos
analyzed came from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family
Study (NLLFS), begun in 1986. The authors included 154 women in
84 families who underwent artificial insemination to start a
family; the parents agreed to answer questions about their
children's social skills, academic performance and behavior at
five follow-up times over the 17-year study period. Children in
the families were interviewed by researchers at age 10 and were
then asked at age 17 to complete an online questionnaire, which
included queries about the teens' activities, social lives,
feelings of anxiety or depression, and behavior.
Not surprisingly, the researchers found that 41% of children
reported having endured some teasing, ostracism or
discrimination related to their being raised by same-sex
parents.
But Gartrell and Bos could find no differences on psychological
adjustment tests between the children and those in a group of
matched controls. At age 10, children reporting discrimination
did exhibit more signs of psychological stress than their peers,
but by age 17, the feelings had dissipated. "Obviously there are
some factors that may include family support and changes in
education about appreciation for diversity that may be helping
young people to come to a better place despite these
experiences," says Gartrell.
It's not clear exactly why children of lesbian mothers tend to
do better than those in heterosexual families on certain
measures. But after studying gay and lesbian families for 24
years, Gartrell has some theories. "They are very involved in
their children's lives," she says of the lesbian parents. "And
that is a great recipe for healthy outcomes for children.
Being present, having good communication, being there in their
schools, finding out what is going on in their schools and
various aspects of the children's lives is very, very
important."
Although active involvement isn't unique to lesbian households,
Gartrell notes that same-sex mothers tend to make that kind of
parenting more of a priority. Because their children are more
likely to experience discrimination and stigmatization as a
result of their family circumstances, these mothers can be more
likely to broach complicated topics, such as sexuality and
diversity and tolerance, with their children early on. Having
such a foundation may help to give these children more
confidence and maturity in dealing with social differences and
prejudices as they get older.
Because the research is ongoing, Gartrell hopes to test some of
these theories with additional studies. She is also hoping to
collect more data on gay-father households; gay fatherhood is
less common than lesbian motherhood because of the high costs of
surrogacy or adoption that gay couples face in order to start a
family.
The Williams Institute at UCLA tracked 78 children with lesbian
mothers over a period of 26 years. The study, entitled
"Adolescents with Lesbian Mothers Describe Their Own Lives,"
found that 17-year-olds with two mothers tended to have higher
GPAs, strong family bonds, and considered their mothers to be
good role models.
"Significant policy decisions have been swayed by the
misconception across party lines that children need both a
mother and a father," said study researcher Timothy Biblarz, a
sociologist at the University of Southern California. "Yet,
there is almost no social science research to support this
claim. One problem is that proponents of this view routinely
ignore research on same-gender parents."
For their new study, published on Monday in the journal
Pediatrics, researchers Nanette Gartrell, a professor of
psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco (and
a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles),
and Henry Bos, a behavioral scientist at the University of
Amsterdam, focused on what they call planned lesbian families �
households in which the mothers identified themselves as lesbian
at the time of artificial insemination.