Children of lesbian parents score above-average on measures of social ability, academic achievement, and psychological adjustment, according to a new study from the University of California Los Angeles.
- Dr. Nanette Gartrell and her colleagues plan to follow 78 children from birth to 20 years old.
- The children in the study are now 17 years old.
- The research team checks upon the children periodically, with the last two assessments being at ages ten and 17 years old.
- The results of their tests were compared to a group of children the same age from traditional families with biological fathers and mothers.
- Dr. Gartell concluded that the children of lesbians demonstrate "healthy psychological adjustments and have fewer social problems, less aggression, and fewer rule breaking behaviors" than other teens.
"One of the things that opponents of equalities of gays and lesbians in marriage, parenting adoption and foster care often bring up is the so-called gold standard of parenting, which is defined by them as the traditional family where children are conceived in a traditional way, and not through insemination or surrogates," Dr. Gartrell said. "When we compare the adolescents in our study to the so-called gold standard, we found that teens with lesbian mothers were actually doing better."
This study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.
Labels: parental influence, gay, lesbian
Posted By: By Parents For Parents