Children of lesbian parents happy, well-adjusted
| 15 June 2010
A new study finds children raised by lesbian parents are as happy and well-adjusted as those from “traditional” families.
According to USNews.com the University of California study took place over nearly 20 years and followed 78 teenagers from conception through to their late teens.
It found that not only did the adolescents "demonstrate healthy psychological adjustment" they also had fewer social problems and less aggressive or rule-breaking tendencies.
Author of the study Dr Nanette Gartrell said opponents of LGBT rights were wrong in assuming there was a “gold standard” of parenting that required one mother and one father.
“When we compared the adolescents in our study to the so-called gold standard, we found the teens with lesbian mothers were actually doing better,” Gartrell said.
Gartrell believes the reason is that “Moms in the lesbian family are very committed, very involved parents.”
She said she expected that children of gay male parents would fare just as well.
“Gay male parents are another group of very committed parents, and really, [among gay male couples] only economically privileged gay men have access to the opportunity to become parents right now,” Gartrell said.
The study followed the children as they grew, regularly checking their progress. The children filled in questionnaires at the ages of 10 and 17, and one mother of each child was interviewed in depth to assess the psychological well-being of the child.
The results were then compared to a group of age-matched children raised by opposite-sex couples.
The results of the study will appear in the July edition of Pediatrics.
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