Most of us LGBT parents know in our bones that the quality of one’s parenting matters more than one’s family structure in raising well adjusted children. Not everyone is so rational, however—hence the need for experts like Cambridge University psychologist Michael Lamb, who has recently published what LGBT family law expert Nancy Polikoff calls the “definitive article on child adjustment.”
“Half of Teens with Lesbian Mothers Face Stigmatization, Most Often During School,” read the title of a press release from UCLA’s Williams Institute March 8. Yikes. That’s important news, given the need to raise public awareness of harassment and bullying in schools—but it’s also a scary message for lesbian moms. It’s almost enough to make prospective parents return their turkey basters.
Note the subtitle, however: “Nearly two-thirds have effective coping skills.” Yes, our children may face stigmatization and bullying, but that doesn’t mean we should view them as helpless in the face of it.
Here we go again. More than two years ago, I wrote about a flurry of media coverage in the wake of the publication of Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle, by Dr. Abbie Goldberg of Clark University. In the book, Goldberg discusses a number of strengths that lesbian
New results from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest study of American lesbian families, show that the quality of life—a measure of positive psychological adjustment—of 17-year-olds raised by lesbian moms did not differ from those who grew up with heterosexual parents. The study took 78 17-year-olds from the NLLFS—all of whom have lesbian
Leslie Morgan Steiner has a piece up at Modern Mom and Mommy Tracked asking, “Do Your Kids Care If You’re Married?” Good question. Steiner observes that the latest Census figures show that unmarried adults almost outnumber married couples for the first time in recorded U.S. history, and that “More than ever, children today are growing up
More intriguing results from the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) (about which more here and here). This time, Drs. Nanette Gartrell of the University of California, San Francisco and Henny Bos of the University of Amsterdam have found that “the development of psychological well-being” in children of lesbian mothers between ages 10 and 17
New results from the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest study of American lesbian families, has found that the among the 78 17-year-old children of lesbian mothers in the study, none report having ever been physically or sexually abused by a parent or other caregiver. This contrasts with 26% of American adolescents who report parent or caregiver physical abuse and 8.3% who report sexual abuse.
A new study has found that children of same-sex parents are making progress through primary school at the same rate as children of opposite-sex couples. This will come as no surprise to most readers here; you’ve likely already read about this study and this one, which found that children of same-sex couples are just as
For your viewing pleasure today, here’s Dr. Abbie Goldberg, assistant professor of psychology at Clark University, and one of the foremost researchers on LGBT families today, debating Tom McClusky, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Family Research Council. Dr. Goldberg’s work was cited in the Prop 8 trial, among other places, and her book, Lesbian
From the “not that those of us here needed proof, but it’s good to have” files, a new study from the University of Virginia has found that the adoptive children of same-sex parents were on average “developing in typical ways.” “We found that children adopted by lesbian and gay couples are thriving,” said U.Va. psychology
