Child Outcomes/Experiences

Kids of Lesbian and Gay Parents Play in Less Gender-Stereotyped Ways

A new study has shown that adopted children of same-sex parents are “significantly less” gender stereotyped in their play habits than adopted children of opposite-sex parents. That news is likely to be seen as a Bad Thing by many on the extreme right—but as the study notes, many scholars, parents, and educators today believe a more flexible attitude towards gender roles is less limiting to children’s development. Such openness may thus have psychological benefits—and that’s a Good Thing.

Exclamation

Foster Kids Do Equally Well with Gay or Straight Parents, Study Shows

Foster children do equally well no matter the sexual orientation of their parents, a new study has found. While many of us might have guessed as much (or known from the evidence of our own lives), research like this continues to provide necessary hard evidence to convince courts, politicians, and others that our families deserve to be treated with equal respect and legal recognition.

Lack of Male Role Models Has No Negative Impact on Teens of Lesbian Moms

New results from the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest study of American lesbian families, have shown that the lack of male role models “did not adversely affect the psychological adjustment of 17-year-old teens raised in lesbian-headed households.” The findings directly address one of the key criticisms leveled at same-sex parents: that the lack of role models of both genders will somehow hurt children’s well-being and development.

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Child Adjustment: Quality of Parenting, Not Family Structure, Is What Matters

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.”

Teens with Lesbian Moms: Stigmatized But Coping

“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.

I’ll Say It Again: Lesbian and Gay Parents Are Not Better, Just Different

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

Teens of Lesbians Just as Happy as Teens of Straight Parents, Study Finds

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

“Do Your Kids Care If You’re Married?”

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

Known or Unknown Donors: The Kids Are All Right Either Way, Study Shows

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

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