Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Mark Regnerus has a fascinating piece in Slate about a study he and his colleagues performed after screening 15,000 Americans aged 18-39 on the challenges of growing up in a household where their biological mother or father had ever been in a same-sex relationship.
He points out that academic discourse has careened wildly in the last decade or so, from largely acknowledging the benefits of intact, biological parent homes to saying there's no substantive difference to actually arguing that same-sex couples raising children are better than both biological parents raising children. He explains a bit about the problems with some of the studies used to make such a case. Studies that were used, it might be worth pointing out, in Vaughn Walker's Proposition 8 ruling declaring the social science settled on the matter.
Regnerus points out that even if you just isolate to adoption -- a common means for same-sex couples to obtain children -- social science indicates that such children have significant, important and wide-ranging differences, relative to biological children. That should give people pause when looking at these studies suggesting that children of gay parents fare better, he says.
His New Family Structures Study (NFSS), an overview article about which appears in the July issue of the journal Social Science Research, has some interesting results:
The basic results call into question simplistic notions of “no differences,” at least with the generation that is out of the house. On 25 of 40 different outcomes evaluated, the children of women who’ve had same-sex relationships fare quite differently than those in stable, biologically-intact mom-and-pop families, displaying numbers more comparable to those from heterosexual stepfamilies and single parents. Even after including controls for age, race, gender, and things like being bullied as a youth, or the gay-friendliness of the state in which they live, such respondents were more apt to report being unemployed, less healthy, more depressed, more likely to have cheated on a spouse or partner, smoke more pot, had trouble with the law, report more male and female sex partners, more sexual victimization, and were more likely to reflect negatively on their childhood family life, among other things. Why such dramatic differences? I can only speculate, since the data are not poised to pinpoint causes. One notable theme among the adult children of same-sex parents, however, is household instability, and plenty of it. The children of fathers who have had same-sex relationships fare a bit better, but they seldom reported living with their father for very long, and never with his partner for more than three years.
Regnerus goes into a bit of detail as to why the NFSS is a better study than others, which he chalks up to better methodology. Previous studies used self-selected samples, including from people who knew the studies could be used for political ends. And since large scale surveys were difficult to do, we saw quite a few data-collection efforts yielding interesting data on how well-educated, white lesbian partners were doing -- and comparisons to the general population. The NFSS found:
The differences, it turns out, were numerous. For instance, 28 percent of the adult children of women who’ve had same-sex relationships are currently unemployed, compared to 8 percent of those from married mom-and-dad families. Forty percent of the former admit to having had an affair while married or cohabiting, compared to 13 percent of the latter. Nineteen percent of the former said they were currently or recently in psychotherapy for problems connected with anxiety, depression, or relationships, compared with 8 percent of the latter. And those are just three of the 25 differences I noted.
Regnerus notes that there are many anecdotes of same-sex couples who have done a remarkable job of raising children. He acknowledges the limitations of his study, such as that even though it included more people than most studies of this nature do, they would have liked more data.
Still, what a fascinating study. What lessons, if any, should we draw from it?
Image of parents with child via Shutterstock.
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Comments:
Sep '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
The King Prawn
drlorentz
I have similar reservations about the study. After a quick read of the original paper, it's pretty clearly not a fair comparison.
This is hardly an apples-to-apples comparison. · 8 minutes ago
Which is exactly why we can't change the status quo of traditional marriage. We don't have the price tag, so we shouldn't order the goods. · 4 minutes ago
I don't have a dog in this fight. My point was simply that the paper does not support the thesis put forward in Ms. Hemingway's post. That doesn't mean the thesis is false, just that the paper doesn't answer the question.
Edit: I think we're in violent agreement.
Edited on June 13, 2012 at 6:31pmDec '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
drlorentz
The King Prawn
drlorentz
I have similar reservations about the study. After a quick read of the original paper, it's pretty clearly not a fair comparison.
This is hardly an apples-to-apples comparison. · 8 minutes ago
Which is exactly why we can't change the status quo of traditional marriage. We don't have the price tag, so we shouldn't order the goods. · 4 minutes ago
I don't have a dog in this fight. My point was simply that the paper does not support the thesis put forward in Ms. Hemingway's post. That doesn't mean the thesis is false, just that the paper doesn't answer the question.
Edit: I think we're in violent agreement. · 14 minutes ago
Agreed. When I studied the topic in school I was amazed at the complete lack of data. This study is a step in the right direction, but certainly not arrival at the destination.
May '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
I'm kind of a simple guy. The lesson I draw from this is that God knew what He was doing when He gave children to a mother and a father whom He'd intended to be married to each other for life.
But like I say, I'm just a simple kind of guy.
Nov '11
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
We need no study to inform us that neither of the two mommies will ever prefer her own natural child above the child of the other wife. As proof of their enlightened neutrality, in case of divorce the mommies will draw lots to determine which child goes with whom. But if there's still a dispute, the sperm donor can be "used" again to arbitrate.
We humans nowadays are such clearly superior creatures, having so easily overthrown the ten-thousand-year tyranny of our irrational natural sentiments.
Yes, having so easily overthrown the tyrany of our natural sentiments, a little thing like fixing culture should be a snap.
Nor should we be troubled observing the increasing frequency of this phenomenon: unattached middle-aged gay men, who had previously shown no interest in relationships beyond the bar scene, suddenly discovering that their happiness depends upon adopting a male child.
Edited on June 13, 2012 at 7:32pmRe: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
I'm curious about the sampling.
Does anyone know what percentage of the homosexual parents in the study were living together in committed relationships and how that compares to the percentage of heterosexual parents in the study?
May '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
I think you have to factor in adopted vs. biological children and their outcomes long term, regardless if the parents are homosexual or heterosexual. My experience is anecdotal, but my sisters and I were raised in a "stable" family of one mother, one father. My father was a Bible professor, my mother a hospice nurse. They hated each other, but they waited until we were grown to divorce. My two sisters were adopted and had a much more difficult time. They acted out and got into a lot more trouble than I did. As adults, they both divorced and had some serious financial setbacks. They were in their mid-30's before things started improving for them. That's not to say I don't support adoption. I do very much. But instability in a home won't do any child, and an adopted child especially, any favors.
Edited on June 13, 2012 at 7:37pmMay '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Keeping in mind that no one has the freedom to harm another, socially or otherwise. But this begs the question: If it is more beneficial to society to have children raised in heterosexual homes, then intentionally raising children in a homosexual setting is less beneficial to society (that is, it is an intentional -- even if not thought through -- relative harm to society), so should not society, for its own welfare, restrain the freedom of people in homosexual relationships from raising children?
Now, I don't think that can be applied, in practice, because I suspect that only a minority, maybe small, are cases where a homosexual couple adopt a baby. That is something the state could object to. But probably the majority of kids in this setting are there by virtue of choices made by parents that, though they may be selfish and harmful to others, we cannot reasonably expect to control.
So, as a society, all we can do is try to clean up the mess. We can't prevent it. Nor do I want to; just want to think clearly about the issue.
Oct '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Someone has already addressed the problem with the claim about differences in rates of fidelity. I'll just add observations about the claim about therapy and unemployment.
The study says that children of gay couples are more likely to be in therapy for depression. However, my suspicion is that gay people are more likely to embrace the culture of therapy than straight people (who are probably more likely than gay people to address personal discontent by going to church).
As for unemployment, that factoid has got to be meaningless unless you are comparing people in similar professions. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more English majors than business majors among the gay families.
Apr '11
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
drlorentz:
My post is not ad hominem. My response to Del Mar Dave illustrates a point about the nature of winning. I quoted AA because he submitted a convenient example of my subject. I won't surrender the language of marriage without resistance; I attacked no one.
AA believes his cousin's married. He's welcome to his viewpoint. I cheerfully agree to disagree with him: she's not. There's no attack there.
Del Mar Dave noted continuing conflict between republican capitalists and statists. I cheerfully disagree with statists, too. Free markets populated by moral, thrifty, and fully enfranchised people are best. I suspect Del Mar Dave agrees.
I propose that DMD's "good fight" is about implementing truth, not discovering it.
I am addressing an issue broader than political economy or the definition of marriage: people aren't comfortable acknowledging the fact that they have answers to a lot of these questions already.
No one changes the truth. I believe the truth about marriage has a definitive source, and it isn't anything as unreliable as myself.
Albert Arthur, I surely hope you do not feel attacked.
I disagree with you; I do not attack you.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 4:09amMar '11
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Tom Lindholtz
so should not society, for its own welfare, restrain the freedom of people in homosexual relationships from raising children?
The problem, of course, is that the slippery slope of "society, for its own welfare," can be used to justify *any* policy whatsoever, however heinous. And we know this is true, because every heinous policy suggestion in history has claimed that it is for the betterment of society.
I, too, do not want children to pay the price for our own stupidity. But I am very cognizant of the fact that as a G-d-fearing father who believes in raising decent, well-mannered spawn, most bureaucrats who claim to care about children would jump at the chance to tear my family apart.
No, sir.
Nov '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
This is pretty much my reaction. I'm afraid that those flaunting this survey may be, to use a Goldbergian cliche, letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Even if the survey is accurate, the comparison of same sex couples to single parents is conspicuously absent. It's not like if DOMA stands we're going to get a sudden rush of lesbian mothers marrying their sperm donors, after all.
Sep '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Tommy De Seno: I'm curious about the sampling.
Does anyone know what percentage of the homosexual parents in the study were living together in committed relationships and how that compares to the percentage of heterosexual parents in the study? · 1 hour ago
A cursory reading of the comments in this thread answers the second of your questions (e.g., the first comment on this page). The short answer is 100%. For an answer to your first question can be found in the paper itself. If you defined 'committed relationship' as one lasting at least three years, the number is 23% for females and 2% for males.
Edited on June 13, 2012 at 9:08pmNov '11
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
I often wonder how, before the discovery of data, human beings were able to figure out whether to enter or to exit through the door or the window.
What worries me is that so many of our fundamental public policies (including most of the ones set out in the Constitution and Declaration) were adopted without accumulating scientifically reliable data, by people who judged things only on the basis of experience, common sense, and a grab-bag of silly notions acquired from an old-fashioned education.
If those old dead white guys had only been in possession of data, lots and lots of it, this country would be a heckuvalot better off nowadays. We wouldn't still be getting into all these nasty disputes about gay marriage and multi-surrogate parenthood because the data would have told them what to do, and then we could just follow the rules they put in the Constitution, just like we do on everything else.
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
drlorentz
Tommy De Seno: I'm curious about the sampling.
Does anyone know what percentage of the homosexual parents in the study were living together in committed relationships and how that compares to the percentage of heterosexual parents in the study? · 1 hour ago
A cursory reading of the comments in this thread answers the second of your questions (e.g., the first comment on this page). The short answer is 100%. For an answer to your first question can be found in the paper itself. If you defined 'committed relationship' as one lasting at least three years, the number is 23% for females and 2% for males. · 7 minutes ago
Edited 5 minutes ago
The 23% and 2% you cite - that refers to what?
Edited on June 13, 2012 at 9:17pmJul '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
I would wager, though, that adopted children of gay parents fare significantly better than they would being raised in group homes or foster care, which is where many of them would be otherwise.
May '12
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
There's another article at Slate arguing that the sampling methodology was flawed. William Saletan. There's also a link to the questionaire used for the study.
The following lines stuck out for me. In it he's quoting Mark Regnerus' Journal article. Guessin it's behind a pay-wall somewhere?
"In his journal article, Regnerus says respondents who were labeled GF or LM originated most commonly from a “failed heterosexual union.” As evidence, he observes that “just under half of such respondents reported that their biological parents were once married.” "
Assuming he's telling the truth, it sounds like roughly half the kids with a homosexual parent came from a home where their homosexual parent was in a relationship with the other biological parent. Mom and Dad were together, but one or both were homosexual. Not sure this study can be useful for much.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2012/06/new
_family_structures_study_is_gay_parenthood_bad_or_is_gay_marriage_good_.html
http://www.prc.utexas.edu/nfss/documents/NFSS-Survey-Instrument.pdf
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 4:29amApr '11
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Yes, having so easily overthrown the tyrany of our natural sentiments, a little thing like fixing culture should be a snap.
Edited 5 hours ago
Culture is not easy to fix, but culture can be fixed. Are you saying the behavioral trends in homosexuals are for the most part biologically innate? If so what does that also say about other minority groups with social problems. Is unemployment and crime in African American communities also biologically determined? I tend to think that very little of our culture is really genetic in nature or innate to us. It is all learned behavior, and thus it can be shaped through effort.
The claims made against homosexuals too often seem to me to imply some innate, immutable, biological disorder in them that accounts for trends in their behavior.
Sep '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Tommy De Seno
drlorentz
Tommy De Seno: I'm curious about the sampling.
Does anyone know what percentage of the homosexual parents in the study were living together in committed relationships and how that compares to the percentage of heterosexual parents in the study? · 1 hour ago
A cursory reading of the comments in this thread answers the second of your questions (e.g., the first comment on this page). The short answer is 100%. For an answer to your first question can be found in the paper itself. If you defined 'committed relationship' as one lasting at least three years, the number is 23% for females and 2% for males. · 7 minutes ago
Edited 5 minutes ago
The 23% and 2% you cite - that refers to what? · 4 hours ago
Edited 4 hours ago
The answers to your question, "what percentage of the homosexual parents in the study were living together in committed relationships."
There are two different numbers because female and male homosexual relationships are distinct, whereas there is only one kind of heterosexual relationship possible (at least when only two people are involved).
Jun '10
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
The King Prawn
...
Which is exactly why we can't change the status quo of traditional marriage. We don't have the price tag, so we shouldn't order the goods.
Quote of the week.
Apr '11
Re: Children Of Gay Parents Fare Worse
Another factor is the wider circle of people in a child's life. If a boy raised by lesbians happens to have some positive adult male role models in his life he'll likely fair better than a boy raised with a heterosexual father who's an alcoholic.
It is possible for a gay couple to raise a wonderful child, just as a single mom or dad, or a grandma, or an uncle, or three men and a wisecracking alien, or any other unique family arrangement CAN be successful. But, it's ridiculous to argue that the IDEAL - from a biological, psychological and social perspective - is not a stable heterosexual couple. We don't need studies to prove this. There are plenty of children who need homes and adoption agencies that screen applicants based on common sense - free of any imposed social agenda -will do what's best for the children.
This debate is pathetic. It's not enough for straights to accept that gays CAN be good parents, no, it must be proven that gays are BETTER parents. Just like with the marriage this is all about imposing a mass delusion that there is no difference between the sexes.