Same-sex parenting and children’s outcomes: A closer examination of the American psychological association’s brief on lesbian and gay parenting
Loren Marks
Louisiana State University
October 3, 2011
摘要:
In 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued an official brief on Lesbian and Gay Parenting. This brief included the assertion: ―Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents‖ (p. 15). The present article closely examines this assertion and 59 published studies cited by APA to support it. Seven central questions address: (1) homogenous sampling, (2) absence of comparison groups, (3) comparison group characteristics, (4) contradictory data, (5) the limited scope of children’s outcomes studied, (6) paucity of long-term outcome data, and (7) lack of APA-urged statistical power. The conclusion is that strong assertions, including those made by the APA, were not empirically warranted. Recommendations for future research are offered.
引言:
Over the past few decades, differences have been observed between outcomes of children in marriage-based intact families and children in cohabiting, divorced, step, and single-parent families in large, representative samples. Based on four nationally representative longitudinal studies with more than 20,000 total participants, McLanahan and Sandefur conclude:
Children who grow up in a household with only one biological parent are worse off, on average, than children who grow up in a household with both of their biological parents. . .regardless of whether the resident parent remarries.
Differences have recurred in connection with myriad issues of societal-level concern including: (a) health, mortality, and suicide risks, (b) drug and alcohol abuse, (c) criminality and incarceration, (d) intergenerational poverty, (e) education and/or labor force contribution, (f) early sexual activity and early childbearing, and (g) divorce rates as adults. These outcomes represent important impact variables that influence the well-being of children and families, as well as the national economy.
By way of comparison, social science research has repeatedly reported no significant differences between children from gay/lesbian households and heterosexual households. These recurring findings of no significant differences have led some researchers and professional organizations to formalize related claims. Perhaps none of these claims has been more influential than the following from the 2005 American Psychological Association (APA) Brief on ―Lesbian and Gay Parenting‖:
Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents.
Are we witnessing the emergence of a new family form that (unlike cohabiting, divorced, or single-parent families) provides a context for children that is equivalent to the intact family? Many proponents of same-sex marriage contend that the answer is yes. Others are skeptical and wonder—given that other departures from the intact family form have been correlated with less-desirable child outcomes—do children in same-sex families demonstrably avoid being ―disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents‖ as the APA asserts? This is a question with important implications, particularly since the 2005 APA Brief on ―Lesbian and Gay Parenting‖ has been repeatedly invoked in the current same-sex marriage debate.
