Children's development not affected by parents' sexuality
Tuesday March 7th 2023
Children’s development is not affected by their parents’ sexual orientation, according to new analysis reported today.
Pooled data analysis found that sexual minority families — where parental sexual orientation or gender identity is considered outside cultural, societal or physiological norms — fare as well as, or better than, ‘traditional’ families with parents of the opposite sex.
A report in BMJ Global Health, examined if there were differences in outcomes among children in families with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer parents compared to heterosexual parents.
Researchers from Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China, and Duke University, North Carolina, USA, reviewed 34 relevant studies published between January 1989 and April 2022, and carried out in countries where same sex relationships were legally recognised.
The studies were categorised into 11 main themes: children’s psychological adjustment, physical health, gender role behaviour, gender identity/sexual orientation and educational attainment; parents’ mental health and parenting stress; and parent–child relationships, couple relationship satisfaction, family functioning, social support.
A pooled data analysis of 16 of the 34 studies showed that most family outcomes were similar between the different family types, while researchers found in some areas, including child psychological adjustment, among pre-schoolers, in particular, and child-parent relationships were better in sexual minority families.
The researchers said: “Growing up with sexual minority parents may confer some advantages to children. They have been described as more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing towards younger children than children of heterosexual parents.”
However, sexual minority parents did not outperform heterosexual parents on couple relationship satisfaction, mental health, parenting stress, or family functioning.
The researchers found there were some risk factors for poor family outcomes for sexual minority families, including stigma and discrimination and inadequate social support.
The results of 18 studies showed that children who lived in sexual minority parent families were less likely to expect to identify as straight when they grew up than children in ‘traditional’ families.
“There may be less gender stereotyping in minority parent families, and this effect may be positive,” said the researchers.
“Exploration of gender identity and sexuality may actually enhance children’s ability to succeed and thrive in a range of contexts.”
The researchers acknowledge several limitations to their findings, including that the included studies were limited to regions where same-sex relationships were legalised, while most of the study participants were also from gay and lesbian households.
“One contribution of this review is the recognition that parents’ sexual orientation is not, in and of itself, an important determinant of children’s development,” write the team.
“Another…is that there are significant risk factors often associated with the sexual minority experience and family functioning, such as stigma, poor social support and parenting styles.”
Zhang Y, Huang H, Wang M et al. Family outcome disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual families: a systematic review and meta analysis. BMJ Global Health. March 2023. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010556
Tags: Asia | Child Health | Men's Health | North America | Women's Health & Gynaecology
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