Same - sex parenting has been a contentious issue since the 1980s , but the struggle for marriage equality has bring the issue back to the forefront of public debate . Scientifically speaking , though , there ’s not much of a debate . No peer - review study has ever find that gay parent in unchanging relationships are a disadvantage to their tike .
The latest study , by an external squad of investigator from the U.S. and the Netherlands , seem at 190 integral families ( 95 different - sex , 95 distaff same - sexuality parents ) with at least one tiddler between the age of 6 and 17 . They looked at the child ’s general wellness , emotional difficultness , coping behavior , and learn conduct , and bring out no differences between children enhance by same - sex or different - sex parent .
This finding , published in theJournal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics , is obviously not a surprising discovery . include this latest one , there are74 scientifically peer - reviewed and published studiesshowing that gay and bisexual parents in stable same - sexual practice relationships do n’t disadvantage their children . The four claim the opposite have been eitherdebunkedor have never been compeer - reviewed .
This study was based on the 2011 - 2012 National Survey of Children ’s Health , and the families were selected from the 95,677 households who complete consultation . Initial analysis revealed 139 female and 17 male same - sex distich , but these were reduced to 106 families ( 95 female , 11 men ) . This was because the researchers want families that had their youngster since early childhood , as divorce and parental separation could feign the development of a child .
have such a little sample for manly same - sex activity brace , the investigator focused solely on distaff same - sex couple and constructed a control sample distribution of dissimilar sex parent from the ecumenical population base on the age , instruction , U.S. nascence status , and current geographical position of the parents , as well as the age , sexual urge , backwash / ethnicity , and U.S. birth status of the tyke . This methodological analysis insure the all important variable in the study to be just the sexual orientation of the parent .
While the study did n’t show any difference in the health and growth of children , it did show an increased level of parental strain . The National Survey did not have specific enough question to nail the cause of the stress , but based onprevious studies , the research worker suggest that same - sex parents “ have concerns about erect their fry in a homophobic society and feel more pressure to justify the caliber of their parenting than their heterosexual counterparts . ”
[ H / T : Slate ]