In my post about gay parents a few months ago, I plotted the outcomes of children raised by homosexuals vs heterosexual marries couples vs heterosexual cohabiting couples based on the Sarakantos 1996 study (which has been largely been ignored by the ASA and the APA on the issue of gay parenting). In that post StraightGrandmother (I presume that is her online title) responded to the post claiming the differences in found in the is because of bullying and not family structure etc. I obtained the study (thanks Dr. Schumm) and read it myself (not relying on the data from Marks 2012).
Why so different? Sarakantos actually did not mention bullying once as the main factor for the differences. On page 7 of the PDF, he said, "differences between the three groups of children might be easy to establish, the explanation of these differences is not." Unlike StraightGrandmother, who assumes it is bullying and claims a consensus (source?) says the differences found in the study was due to bullying, I actually agree with Sarakantos that we really don't know. But since children also got less help on homework and had worse home lives (the study talked in length about this), it is more likely that the home life and not bullying was the cause.
On pg 3, where StraightGrandmother got her bullying quote, the study mentions how children were able to form cliques with other children raised by homosexual couples. Although this increased the amount of bullying, the study noted this made the children happier. With my experience with bullying (albeit it was short lived and stopped in 7th grade, for the most part) having a small group of friends (which I still have) was superior to having a large amount of tormenters (or, better described as people who dislike me). So it is very possible there was an overall net-gain when it came to happiness levels, at least when it came to the issue of bullying.
Sarakantos did mention a few theoretical reasons for the differences. He mentions socio-economic status, but he felt the parental characteristics (not influenced by bullies) was one of the larger factors in the differences found. On pg 8 the study reads, "educational achievement of children may be associated with personal characteristics of the parents." Sarakantos also mentions family environment and family structure. Note the Regnerus study also mentions family structure as the main reason for differences in his study. Sarakantos actually says on pg 8, "this factor [divorce] is found to have the strongest impact on a child's behavior." and on pg 9, "the majority of children of cohabiting homosexual and heterosexual couples have experienced parental divorce". Note in my original post I noted how *usually* cohabiting heterosexuals still did better than homosexuals. So divorce may have brought the two down equally, with some other factor explaining the results. Although bullying could be a factor, and probably is, the fact homosexuals helped children with their homework least indicates the parents are the largest factor. It is also worthy of note children raised by homosexuals do best in social studies which means bullying does not harm them universally.
StraightGrandmother argues teachers are biased. This may also affect the results. But the fact homosexuals did better in history shows teacher bias is likely overstated.
There are many factors of importance to children raised by homosexuals, but bullying is likely not the main issue. Nor is teacher bias.
Why so different? Sarakantos actually did not mention bullying once as the main factor for the differences. On page 7 of the PDF, he said, "differences between the three groups of children might be easy to establish, the explanation of these differences is not." Unlike StraightGrandmother, who assumes it is bullying and claims a consensus (source?) says the differences found in the study was due to bullying, I actually agree with Sarakantos that we really don't know. But since children also got less help on homework and had worse home lives (the study talked in length about this), it is more likely that the home life and not bullying was the cause.
On pg 3, where StraightGrandmother got her bullying quote, the study mentions how children were able to form cliques with other children raised by homosexual couples. Although this increased the amount of bullying, the study noted this made the children happier. With my experience with bullying (albeit it was short lived and stopped in 7th grade, for the most part) having a small group of friends (which I still have) was superior to having a large amount of tormenters (or, better described as people who dislike me). So it is very possible there was an overall net-gain when it came to happiness levels, at least when it came to the issue of bullying.
Sarakantos did mention a few theoretical reasons for the differences. He mentions socio-economic status, but he felt the parental characteristics (not influenced by bullies) was one of the larger factors in the differences found. On pg 8 the study reads, "educational achievement of children may be associated with personal characteristics of the parents." Sarakantos also mentions family environment and family structure. Note the Regnerus study also mentions family structure as the main reason for differences in his study. Sarakantos actually says on pg 8, "this factor [divorce] is found to have the strongest impact on a child's behavior." and on pg 9, "the majority of children of cohabiting homosexual and heterosexual couples have experienced parental divorce". Note in my original post I noted how *usually* cohabiting heterosexuals still did better than homosexuals. So divorce may have brought the two down equally, with some other factor explaining the results. Although bullying could be a factor, and probably is, the fact homosexuals helped children with their homework least indicates the parents are the largest factor. It is also worthy of note children raised by homosexuals do best in social studies which means bullying does not harm them universally.
StraightGrandmother argues teachers are biased. This may also affect the results. But the fact homosexuals did better in history shows teacher bias is likely overstated.
There are many factors of importance to children raised by homosexuals, but bullying is likely not the main issue. Nor is teacher bias.
