This week, Time reported on data just recently published in the journal Pediatrics claiming that children of lesbian parents do just as well—and maybe even better in some instances—in the areas of psychological and social development as children of traditional heterosexual parents.

Researchers first recognized that the teen years are difficult for any family when it comes to raising children, and then asked the question, “Could they [the teen years] be even more challenging for children and parents in households headed by gay parents?” Answering this question was the purpose of the evaluation.

Researchers ultimately found that “… children raised by lesbian mothers—whether the mother was partnered or single—scored very similarly to children raised by heterosexual parents on measures of development and social behavior.” What surprised the researchers, however, was the apparent discovery that children “… in lesbian homes scored higher than kids in straight families on some psychological measures of self-esteem and confidence, did better academically and were less likely to have behavioral problems, such as rule-breaking and aggression.”

Here’s the kicker: the data predominantly relied on parents’ self-evaluation of their children. Lesbian parents were asked to answer questions “about their children’s social skills, academic performance and behavior at five follow-up times of the 17-year study period.” Furthermore, children in the families were also asked to engage in self-evaluation at ages 10 and 17, “which included queries about the teens’ social activities, social lives, feelings of anxiety or depression, and behavior.”

It’s important that we exercise some common-sense.

1. Since lesbian parents were asked to self-evaluate their children, there’s automatically going to be a bias. First of all, these parents see no moral qualms with their lifestyle and do not think it harms their children—they are looking for ways to legitimize their lifestyle and have a motivation to produce favorable information and leave out anything unfavorable.

2. Second of all, parents almost always have a rose-colored view of their own children, which is why this kind of research method cannot ultimately be trusted. It is nothing more than a self-evaluation, and not a very good one at that.

I want to note that we have done extensive research on the issue of cohabiting (i.e. unmarried) homosexual and heterosexual homes, and the research has been quite telling:
• Homes with unmarried couples raising children are more unstable and do not serve the children well.
• The levels of instability have been proven to be even higher when a homosexual home is taken into account. This should come as no surprise: common-sense and nature itself dictate that children are best raised in a home with a stable mother and father who are married.

Let’s not deceive ourselves into accepting erroneous studies like this one that rely on subjective forms of evaluation. They might make some people feel good, but the ultimate goal is to sway public opinion from the fact that the traditional family is best.

Source reference: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1994480,00.html

5 comments

  1. Pingback: Family Council » Ruth Institute: 3 Really Pernicious Messages behind the “Lesbians Make Better Parents” Storyline

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