. . . the study’s findings “are consistent with a large body of research that suggests that children are most likely to thrive when they are raised by their own married parents. Such families provide a biological link between parents and children, and unparalleled levels of stability, both of which have a long reach in the benefits they afford to children.”For background, read Explaining Gay Agenda Effect on Children and also read Study: Lesbians Never Abuse Kids as well as White House Orders Redefinition of Family
-- Mark Regnerus, University of Texas sociology professor
UPDATE 8/30/12: University stands by study; no research misconduct
UPDATE 12/6/12: Study finds children of same sex couples lag in school
-- From "Study suggests risks from same-sex parenting" by Cheryl Wetzstein, The Washington Times 6/10/12
He found that, when compared with adults raised in married, mother-father families, adults raised by lesbian mothers had negative outcomes in 24 of 40 categories, while adults raised by gay fathers had negative outcomes in 19 categories.
The second study, also in Social Science Research, takes a critical look at the basis of an oft-cited American Psychological Association report on gay parenting.
The APA brief says, “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.”
After looking at the 59 studies that undergird this assertion, however, “The jury is still out,” said Loren Marks, an associate professor at the School of Human Ecology at Louisiana State University. “The lack of high-quality data leaves the most significant questions [about gay parenting] unaddressed and unanswered.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Adult Children of Parents in Same-Sex Relationships Report Varied Outcomes" posted at University of Texas at Austin News 6/11/12
The findings, to be published in the July issue of Social Science Research, are particularly significant because they are based on the first large-scale, population-based survey of young adults that features a large number of cases in which survey respondents’ parents had been in same-sex relationships.
Controlling not only for socioeconomic status differences between families of origin, but also political-geographic distinctions, age, gender, race/ethnicity and the experience of having been bullied, Regnerus drew upon 40 social, emotional and relational variables, comparing outcomes of young adult children who had a parent in a same-sex romantic relationship with outcomes of young adult children from other (heterosexual) family-of-origin types, including stepfamilies, single-parent families and adoptive parents.
The study did not isolate the effect of having a parent who had a same-sex relationship from other effects such as marital disruptions that preceded or coincided with a parent’s same-sex relationship. Most of the young adults in the survey with gay or lesbian parents experienced divorce or other household disruption as children, and their outcomes were thus more similar to those of children from heterosexual stepfamilies and single-parent households.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Children of gay couples are disadvantaged — because of family instability" by Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review Online 6/11/12
“Fifteen years ago,” Regnerus explained at an event at the nonpartisan Institute for American Values, biological, heterosexual families were “reflexively regarded as the best environment for children.” This subsequently gave way to the notion that there were “no meaningful differences” in outcomes for children raised in non-traditional arrangements. Finally it was suggested that children “might actually be better off being raised by a gay couple.”
Although there is little hard evidence to support such a conclusion, advocates of same-sex marriage and gay adoption have declared the science to be settled. Most famous, perhaps, of such declarations is the 2010 paper by social scientists Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz, who contended that “based strictly on the published science, one could argue that two women parent better on average than a woman and a man, or at least than a woman and man with a traditional division of family labor.” This contention — that homosexual parenting is either neutral or better than traditional family structures — has found its way into our academic, legal, and cultural conversation and is rarely questioned. . . .
Regnerus’s study was designed to reexamine this question . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Study: Kids of Parents in Same-sex Relationships Fare Worse as Adults" by Carrie Gann, ABC News Medical Unit 6/11/12
. . . The children of parents who at some point had a same-sex partner were more likely to be on welfare, have a history of depression, have less education and report a history of sexual abuse, the study found.
Critics call the study deeply flawed, saying the results don't accurately describe -- or even measure -- any children raised in stable households with two same-sex parents.
The study . . . was funded by the Witherspoon Institute and the Bradley Foundation, groups that are "commonly known for their support of conservative causes," though the organizations played no role in the design and analysis of the report, the study said.
"This study doesn't really have anything to do with same-sex families of today," said Dr. Jenna Saul, a Wisconsin-based child and adolescent psychiatrist.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Studies challenge widely held assumptions about same-sex parenting" by Lois M. Collins, Deseret News 6/9/12
A separate analysis in the same journal edition by Loren Marks, associate professor at Louisiana State University, more directly challenges previous same-sex parenting studies as inadequate, biased and unreliable. He lists seven concerns with the science, including the fact that "well-educated, relatively wealthy lesbian couples have been repeatedly compared to single-parent heterosexual families instead of two-parent marriage-based families." Single-parent families typically have poorer child outcomes across several measures, so it's easier to look better against them, he said.
Regnerus plans to make his data public. "In a piece like this that is overturning conventional wisdom, the onus is on me to be very up-front about how I reached my findings." He said he will post the research design, codebook and statistical analyses online Monday.
"I think what good research does is open the door to replication and explanation," said Cynthia Osborne, associate professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, who wrote one of the commentaries for the journal. "We're going to need to see if what we're finding here in his study will be replicated through lots of robustness checks, looking from various angles, cutting the data in different ways and coming up with the same thing. That's the next step."
Researchers on both sides say more research is needed and it could be years before the impact of changing family structure on children is clear.
Both sides told the Deseret News they believe opposing researchers approach topics from . . . "a political perspective."
To read the entire extensive article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Homosexual Judge Says Children Don't Need Parents
