Lesbian couples may be better parents - study

A new study suggests that lesbian couples do better than heterosexual parents at raising their children. The study found that children raised by the former socially and psychologically behave better than those by the latter, CNN reported.

The study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics followed 78 lesbian couples who conceived through sperm donations for about 25 years during which the subjects had been surveyed four times at 2, 5, 10 and 17 years old.

Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the author of the study, started the study in 1986.  She recruited the subjects through bookstores, lesbian events and newspapers in Boston, Massachusetts, San Francisco, California and Washington.

For the study, Garttrell compared the data on the children's behavioral and social problems with those collected from non-lesbian families.

The children raised by lesbian couples were found to rate higher in social, academic and total competence and they also were also found less likely to have social, rule-breaking, aggressive problem behavior.

The study was sponsored by several lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups.  But the researcher defended her study claiming that the finding has nothing to do with the funding.

Gartrell, from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, also published another study in 2008 in the Journal of Lesbian Study saying that no significant differences were found in the psychological adjustment between the lesbian-raised children and age-matched peers.

Wendy Wright, president of the Concerned Women for America was cited by CNN as saying that studies have already shown that children raised by heterosexual parents do better than those raised by lesbian couples.

Wright said the author can cherry pick subjects for the study and the information they release suggesting that the study may not be free of bias.

Schumm W.R. from Kansas State University in Manhattan Kansas published an article in the April 2010 issue of Psychological Reports saying there may be some pro-homosexual bias in some studies on lesbian parenting.

A health observer suggested that even if the current findings are true and accurate, there is still big concern about the behavior of the lesbian-raisd children in their adulthood.  

One question remains, would these children end up becoming homosexual?

David Liu