Children who grow up in same-sex parented households may face a significantly higher risk of depression later in life.
That’s the conclusion of a study published a few weeks ago, without
fanfare, in the open-access journal Depression Research and Treatment.
The study found that young adults who had grown up with same-sex parents
were more than twice as likely to be depressed as those raised by a
mother and a father.
The findings add to a growing body of research examining the effects of
homosexual family structures. Gay parenting is a relatively recent
phenomenon, and the available data on such families has been sparse.
The new study, “Invisible Victims: Delayed Onset Depression among
Adults with Same-Sex Parents,” claims to be the first to “examine
children raised by same-sex parents into early adulthood.” It uses
survey data that followed adolescents over a period of 13 years.
“We know that a lot of distressing experiences that children have
growing up don’t really begin to manifest until they enter their 20s and
start to form their own families,” said D. Paul Sullins, a sociologist
at The Catholic University of America and the author of the study. (The
Catholic University of America also funded the research.)
Sullins’ study found that although only 18 percent of children in
same-sex households reported feeling symptoms of depression as
adolescents (about the same rate as children with opposite-sex parents),
about half of same-sex-parented children had become depressed after
reaching the age of about 28. By comparison, only about one-fifth of
children of opposite-sex parents were depressed in adulthood.
The high rate of depression was linked to corresponding higher rates of
obesity, feelings of stigma, and a sense of emotional distance from
parents among children in same-sex-parented households.
For example, the study found that 72 percent of children from
households parented by same-sex couples were obese as adults, compared
to just 37 percent of adults from traditional households.
Adults who grew up in same-sex-parented households were also more
likely to report having recently thought seriously about committing
suicide (30 percent, compared to 7 percent of adults with opposite-sex
parents), and more likely to have experienced verbal, physical, or
sexual abuse by a parent or caregiver.
The study analyzed data from a large U.S. survey, the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, which questioned more
than 15,000 adolescent Americans between 1995 and 2008, following them
from the average age of 15 to 28. Sometimes called “Add Health,” the
survey is considered a reliable dataset for researchers because it
provides a representative sample of the U.S. population.
Same-sex parenting remains a controversial field of study, given the
recent political battles waged in the West over same-sex marriage and
other rights for homosexuals. Advocates of gay family structures point
to dozens of previous studies that have concluded children of same-sex
couples do not face special disadvantages.
But critics say many of those studies have relied on “convenience
samples” made up of survey participants recruited through websites, gay
advocacy events, sperm banks, parent forums, word of mouth, or other
nonrandom methods. Such recruiting methods can be prone to bias because
families who are already faring well may be the most likely to volunteer
as participants.
By using the Add Health survey data, Sullins study shows the risk of
depression, obesity, and suicidal ideation increased or decreased as
adolescents grew older.
For example, children in same-sex-parented households became less
likely to experience suicidal thoughts as they grew older: 44 percent
experienced suicidal ideation as adolescents, while 30 percent had such
thoughts as adults. (Among opposite-sex-parented children, the
prevalence of suicidal thoughts fell from 14 percent in adolescence to 7
percent in adulthood.)
Similarly, participants were less likely as they grew older to say they
felt distant from one or both parents. Among same-sex-parented
children, 93 percent of adolescents said they felt distant from a
parent, and 73 percent said so as adults. (In traditional mother-father
families, 36 percent of adolescents and 44 percent of adults said they
felt distant from a parent.)
Adults who had grown up in same-sex-parented households were more
likely to report feeling socially stigmatized (37 percent, compared to 7
percent of children from traditional households). But it’s unclear why
they felt stigmatized. Sullins speculates the stigma could be linked to
body image and the high rate of obesity.
Sullins’ study benefited from using a representative sample, although
that sample turned out to be very small: It consisted of just 20
same-sex-parented households (17 lesbian couples, three gay male
couples).
“I agree that it’s a small sample, and the results should be
interpreted with caution,” said Sullins on Monday. But he noted that it
was striking to see such stark differences (in rates of depression,
obesity, etc.) show up in even in a small sample of participants. Also,
because the Add Health dataset is weighted to represent the entire
population, the 20 same-sex couples who participated in the study are
statistically representative of hundreds of others. “This sample is the
single most celebrated sample of children of same-sex parents in this
whole stream of research,” Sullins said, referring to other researchers
who have used the same data.
Mark Regnerus, a University of Texas sociologist who has also studied
same-sex-parented households, said the small sample size was an
understandable problem and did not undermine the results of Sullins’
research. “Part of the reason for the small sample has to do with the
era in which the data collection first began. Same-sex households were
very unusual,” wrote Regnerus last week at The Witherspoon Institute’s
Public Discourse website.
But the scarcity of data on long-term outcomes from same-sex parenting
is partly what makes the research so significant. Some recent studies
suggest that same-sex and opposite-sex parenting situations may not
produce equal outcomes overall, despite some claims to the contrary.
In anecdotal accounts previously reported by WORLD, some adults who
grew up in same-sex households have said the lack of both biological
parents—a mother and a father—in their home later made it difficult for
them to develop healthy emotional and sexual relationships.
In a separate study published last year, Sullins found that children
raised by same-sex parents are twice as likely to suffer emotional and
behavioral problems as children with a mother and father. Those problems
include depression, anxiety, defiance, and inattention.
Sullins emphasizes that nothing in his research suggests that
homosexuals are less wise or loving parents than heterosexuals. Rather,
the problems could stem from children lacking access to one or both of
their biological parents: “As loving and caring as two mothers are,
neither of them is a man.”
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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