Abstract
Findings are presented on a U.K. study of 41 gay father families, 40 lesbian mother families, and 49 heterosexual parent families with an adopted child aged 3–9 years. Standardized interview and observational and questionnaire measures of parental well-being, quality of parent–child relationships, child adjustment, and child sex-typed behavior were administered to parents, children, and teachers. The findings indicated more positive parental well-being and parenting in gay father families compared to heterosexual parent families. Child externalizing problems were greater among children in heterosexual families. Family process variables, particularly parenting stress, rather than family type were found to be predictive of child externalizing problems. The findings contribute to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender and parental sexual orientation in child development.
Highlights
The Preschool Activities Inventory (PSAI) was administered to one parent, and a MANCOVA was conducted with family type and gender of the child as between-subjects factors, and the child’s age at adoption and length of placement with the adoptive family entered as covariates
Where differences were identified between the gay father adoptive families and the heterosexual parent adoptive families, these reflected more positive functioning in the gay father families
Regarding the psychological well-being of the parents, the gay fathers showed lower levels of depression and stress associated with parenting than the heterosexual parents
Summary
Forty-one two-parent gay adoptive families, 40 two-parent lesbian adoptive families, and 49 two-parent heterosexual adoptive families participated in the study. Regarding contact with the birth family, 59.5%, 52.9%, and 50.0% of children in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual parent families, respectively, had no contact, with no significant difference between family types, and the large majority of those with contact exchanged letters only, once or twice per year. The family types did not differ with respect to parental occupation, with the majority of parents employed in professional or managerial positions. There was a difference in relationship status between family types, v2(2) = 7.49, p = .02, reflecting a lower proportion of gay and lesbian parents in civil partnerships than of heterosexual parents who were married
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