US study examines apparent negative outcomes for grown children of a gay parent

A new study has been published in the US which appears to suggest that children born in the twentieth century to parents who had a gay relationship have encountered more personal problems in adult life than those born to married, straight parents.

The population-based survey published in July’s Social Science Research is the largest of its kind, the University of Texas said, to feature children with gay parents in such a broad, probability-sampled population.

Of 3,000 adults now aged 18 to 39, “How Different are the Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study” examined 175 children with mothers who had had a gay relationship and 73 with fathers who had had a gay relationship.

Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at The University of Texas at Austin led the research said the size of the 3,000-strong sample was important.

He said: “Most conclusions about same-sex parenting have been drawn from small, convenience samples, not larger, random ones.

“The results of that approach have often led family scholars to conclude that there are no differences between children raised in same-sex households and those raised in other types of families. But those earlier studies have inadvertently masked real diversity among gay and lesbian parenting experiences in America.”

The study results appear to show that adults who were raised by a parent who reported having had a gay relationship went on to have different life experiences from those who were raised by married, straight parents, but the author says this is more likely to be a result of other factors associated with having a gay parent in the twentieth century.

69 percent of children of mothers who had had gay relationships said their family received public assistance at some point, compared with 17 percent from married, biological parents.  Read More