In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that children of same-sex parents performed on average 6% better than the rest of the population when it comes to "general health and family cohesion." On most other metrics, there was no different when comparing children of same-sex couples and others.
However the study did find that stigma due to their parents' sexual orientation "is a common problem" with around two thirds of children experiencing it in some form. While the researchers said that this stigma does have an impact on childrens' mental and emotional well-being, results indicated that "on most other metrics, including emotional behaviour and physical functioning, there was no difference when compared with children from the general population."
The study, conducted at the University of Melbourne, evaluated 315 same-sex parents and 500 children up to seventeen years old all across Australia. A large majority (80%) of the parents were female while just 18% were male.
Even more interesting, the researchers found evidence suggesting that "the structure of same-sex parent families, particularly in relation to work and home duties, plays an important part in how well families get along. Same-sex parents, for instance, are more likely to share child care and work responsibilities more equitably than heterosexual-parent families."
The researchers postulated that "it is liberating for parents to take on roles that suit their skills rather than defaulting to gender stereotypes, where mum is the primary care giver and dad the primary breadwinner. Our research suggests that abandoning such gender stereotypes might be beneficial to child health."
For more on the results, see the link below.
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