Study shows negative outcomes of same-sex parenting

June 11, 2012

An extensive new study of children raised by same-sex parents has discovered a pattern of significant negative outcomes, raising serious questions about previous studies that claimed homosexual couples were equally successful parents.

“The empirical claim that no notable differences exist must go,” Mark Regnerus, a University of Texas professor who conducted the new study, which was published in the journal Social Science Research. His data, he said, showed that “children appear most apt to succeed well as adults when they spend their entire childhood with their married mother and father, and especially when the parents remain married to the present day.”

In fact, in an unusually thorough study of nearly 3,000 young adult Americans, Regnerus found that in comparison with children of traditional families, those raised by lesbian couples had negative outcomes in 24 out of 40 test categories. Those raised by homosexual men had negative outcomes in 19 categories.

A separate study, also published in Social Science Research, found serious shortcoming in earlier studies that had found no difficulties with same-sex parenting. Loren Marks of Louisiana State University found that the earlier studies had been marred by small sample sizes, biased selection of subjects, and a narrow definition of outcomes that did not include factors such as the children’s educational performance, employment, involvement in crime or drug abuse.

 

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Further information:

• Study: Children fare better in traditional mom-dad families (Washington Times)
• How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? (Social Science Research)
• Same-sex parenting and children’s outcomes: A closer examination of the American psychological association’s brief on lesbian and gay parenting (Social Science Research)