Williams
Institute has commissioned a new study according to
which teens and adolescents tend to do better when raised by a Lesbian couple
than when raised by a heterosexual pair. Researchers compared 52 adolescents
participating in the Dutch Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study who were matched
with a group of teens in heterosexual parent families drawn from a large school
based survey in the Netherlands. The institute is a think tank at the
University of California, School of Law, Los Angeles. This deals with legal
issues related to sexuality and gender identity. The study was published in The
Journal of Child and Family Studies.
The study found that the quality of
parenting rather than sexual
orientation played a decisive role in adolescent outcomes. A variety of
factors were compared. Although the results were largely similar for lesbian parents and heterosexual ones,
some indicators showed that lesbian
couples had a slight advantage. This LGBT news will be encouraging to proponents of same sex marriage. A number of
psychological indicators showed that adolescents raised by a lesbian couple
tended to have greater self esteem and fewer behavioral problems. The study had
some limitations, such as relying on self reporting by participants. Other
studies will seek inputs from others who know the teenage subjects like their
teachers.
