Reply #10: Two recent articles disputing that GL parenting is harmful

[bluedawg12]

Gays may have to endure lousy parenting- but make good parents themselves.
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Hum Reprod Update. 2001 Jan-Feb;7(1):38-46. Related Articles, Links

Review: parent-child relationships and child development in donor insemination families.
Brewaeys A.
Netherlands Institute of Social Sexological Research, Utrecht. [email protected]

The present article reviews the empirical research regarding the parent-child relationships and the development of children in donor insemination (DI) families. Over the years, follow-up studies have appeared sporadically and, despite the varying quality of the research methods, preliminary findings have emerged. Heterosexual DI parents were psychologically well adjusted and had stable marital relationships. DI parents showed a similar or higher quality of parent-child interaction and a greater emotional involvement with their children compared with naturally conceived families. The majority of studies which investigated several aspects of child development found that, overall, DI children were doing well. Findings with regard to emotional/behavioural development, however, were divergent in that some studies identified an increase of such problems while others did not. A steadily growing group within the DI population is lesbian mother families. More recently, follow-up studies have been carried out among DI children who were raised from birth by two mothers. Despite many concerns about the well-being of these children, no adverse effects of this alternative family structure on child development could be identified. As the DI children in all investigations were still young, our knowledge about the long-term effects of DI remains incomplete.
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Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2000 Oct;70(4):542-8. Related Articles, Links


The National Lesbian Family Study: 3. Interviews with mothers of five-year-olds.

Gartrell N, Banks A, Reed N, Hamilton J, Rodas C, Deck A.

Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, USA.

This third report from a longitudinal study of lesbian families presents data obtained from interviews with mothers of five-year-old children conceived by donor insemination. Results indicated that 87% of the children related well to peers, 18% had experienced homophobia from peers or teachers, and 63% had grandparents who frankly acknowledged their grandchild's lesbian family. Of the original couples, 31% had divorced. Of the remainder, 68% felt that their child was equally bonded to both mothers. Concerns of lesbian families are discussed.