Реферат: Gay Parenting Essay Research Paper Lesbian and

study. As is true in any area of research, questions have been raised with regard to sampling issues, statistical power, and other

technical matters (e.g., Belcastro, Gramlich, Nicholson, Price, & Wilson, 1993); no individual study is entirely invincible to such

criticism.

One criticism of this body of research (Belcastro et al., 1993) has been that the research lacks external validity because it may

not be representative of the larger population of lesbian and gay parents. This criticism is not justified, because nobody knows

the actual composition of the entire population of lesbian mothers, gay fathers, or their children (many of whom choose to

remain hidden) and hence researchers cannot possible evaluate the degree to which particular samples do or do not represent

the population. In the long run, it is not the results obtained from any one specific sample, but the accumulation of findings from

many different samples that will be most meaningful.

Research in this area has also been criticized for using poorly matched or no control groups in designs that call for such

controls. Particularly notable in this category has been the tendency in some studies to compare development among children of

a group of divorced lesbian mothers, many of whom are living with lesbian partners, to that among children of a group of

divorced heterosexual mothers who are not currently living with heterosexual partners. It will be important for future research to

disentangle maternal sexual orientation from maternal status as partnered or unpartnered.

Other criticisms have been that most studies have involved relatively small samples, that there have been inadequacies in

assessment procedures employed in some studies, and that the classification of parents as lesbian, gay, or heterosexual has

sometimes been problematic (e.g., some women classified by researchers as lesbian might be regarded as bisexual by other

observers). It is significant, however, that even with all the questions and/or limitations that may characterize research in the

area, none of the published research suggests conclusions different from those that will be summarized below.

This summary consists of four sections. In the first, results of research on lesbian and gay adults (and parents) are summarized.

In the second section, a summary of results from research comparing children of lesbian and gay parents with those of

heterosexual parents or with established norms is presented. The third section summarizes research on heterogeneity among

lesbian and gay families with children. The fourth section provides a brief conclusion.

A. Lesbian and Gay Parents

One belief that often underlies both judicial decision-making in custody litigation and public policies governing foster care and

adoption has been the belief that lesbians and gay men are not fit to be parents. In particular, courts have sometimes assumed

that gay men and lesbians are mentally ill, that lesbians are less maternal than heterosexual women, and that lesbians’ and gay

men’s relationships with sexual partners leave little time for ongoing parent-child interactions (Editors of the Harvard Law

Review, 1990). Results of research to date have failed to confirm any of these beliefs (Falk, 1989, 1994; Patterson, 1994b,