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.
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ReplyDeleteFrom the American Academy of Pediatrics (March 213; about the Sarantakos study):
“The study was based on a comparison of teachers’ reports about 58 children in each of 3 groups of parents: married, heterosexual cohabiting, and gay or lesbian cohabiting. A primary goal of the study was to understand possible disadvantages to children’s school and social performance on the basis of the marriage versus cohabitation of their parents.
It is critical to note that:
• At the time of the research, marriage was
available only to heterosexual parents, and
therefore, all gay or lesbian couples were, by
definition, cohabiting.
• There is strong evidence provided in the article
that the children with gay or lesbian parents were
severely stigmatized in their schools
and communities.
• Most of the children with gay or lesbian parents
had experienced the divorce of their heterosexual
birth parents, in many cases shortly before the
time of study, thus potentially adding to the
children’s stress.
The study’s findings included considerable variation in the ratings given by teachers with regard to the children’s school behavior and performance. For example, children with gay or lesbian parents were rated as performing less well in language and math but better in social studies and as having a better attitude toward learning, compared with the children being raised by cohabiting or married heterosexual parents.
The deleterious effects of divorce and of stigmatization on children’s development are described by the author as likely contributors to the areas of poorer performance of the children with gay or lesbian parents.
Overall, the author’s conclusions emphasized the benefits of marriage:
‘married couples seem to offer the best
environment for a child’s social and
educational development.’”
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/03/18/peds.2013-0377.full.pdf
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The findings of this study were not confirmed by subsequent works.
For example, in the much more comprehensive “Same-Sex Parent Families and Children’s Academic Achievement” (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2012) Daniel Potter concludes that
“results indicated that children in same-sex
parent families scored lower than their peers in
married, 2-biological parent households, but the
difference was nonsignificant net of
family transitions.”
☞ *nonsignificant net of family transitions*
1. I addressed many of these criticisms in my post. Further, I by no means think this study is perfect. However, this study is much better than anything pre 2000, and thats a fact.
DeleteI also think it is a fact that children do worse with homosexual parents. However, now we need research as to why this is the case. Indeed, the article you cited proves my point. Nearly all research indicates that homosexuals have shorter relation ships, and that lesbians have higher divorce rates than heterosexuals. Walter Schumm did a literature review where he looks at lesbian couples, where he finds the lesbian break up rate extremely high. So, the cause needs to be studied. That is the hard thing. And as to that, we agree.
2. Some research does support Sarakantos. Regnerus 2012 and Allen et al, 2013, Allen 2013 all provide support for Sarakantos. Further, upon reading the Potter study, the reason the children preform worse is in fact because of family transitions. But he also notes that not all homosexual families experience such a transition--and again, to prove a point, the fact homosexuals have higher dissolution rates (even in ones where they do not have the straight to gay family transition), could also lead to a performance gap. If homosexuals do harm children through dissolution rates, it actually lends support to my side of the argument.
Furhet from Potter, "The results presented herein also reveal
important similarities between same-sex and
opposite-sex parent nontraditional families;
specifically, there was evidence of score gaps for
children from each type of nontraditional family
relative to their peers from traditional families."
In other words, other non-traditional families (i.e. divorce, single parents, etc.) all score worse than traditional families. This, at least in part, controls for the transition argument he has been pushing and does mean that, on balance, children of homosexual couples do worse.