New study finds that lesbian parents raise superior children

[apples and oranges]

A new 24-year study published in the journal Pediatrics, found that the children of lesbian parents have fewer behavioral problems and higher intelligence than their peers.

Researchers followed 78 children conceived through artificial insemination between 1986 and 1992 to lesbian mothers. The data was collected through a series of interviews and questionnaires completed when the children were 10 and 17-years-old. The study also incorporated a standard psychological test, the Child Behavior Checklists, completed by the mothers at corresponding intervals. The results were measured against the average scores of children from the greater population.

The 17-year-old offspring of lesbian parents rated significantly higher in social, school/academic, and total competence and significantly lower in social problems, rule-breaking, and aggressive behavior than their peers.

http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2010/06/08/new-study-finds-that-lesbian-parents-raise-superior-children/

I found out about this study while reading the article "Are Fathers Necessary?" by Pamela Paul

[slackmaster]

1. Funny that a contributor called "apples and oranges" would post this

...The real factor contributing to the success of these children may not be the sexual orientation of their parents, but their parents’ conscious choice to have children. These kids did not result from accidental pregnancies. Their mothers planned for these children. These parents also tended to be older and at a point in their life where they were ready for children. As a result, these mature mothers may have been more involved and active than non-willing parents. To control for this discrepancy, these children should have been measured against the children of heterosexual parents who used artificial insemination....

Welcome to DU, apples and oranges!

:hi:

[Oregone]

4. That was my first thought when seeing the headlines

While I will not discount the effects of having two females involved, this seems like a more obvious factor: they actually wanted to have the children. That makes all the difference in the world.

Are Fathers Necessary? No. Are mothers? No. Are good parents? Yes.

[slackmaster]

8. Simply controlling the study for the age of the parents would make it a lot stronger

Personal experience has told me that single parents, gay or lesbian couples, and heterosexual couples are all capable of raising good children; but immature people tend not to do as good a job as do people with more perspective.

[Oregone]

11. And to add, only study heterosexual couples who need artificial insemination

:)

Then the comparison would have far less variables, focusing on parents who all jumped through some hoops to conceive a child they planned for and wanted.

[slackmaster]

14. But what about gay male couples, for whom artificial insemination is not an option

WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE STAND UP FOR THE TWO-DAD FAMILIES?

:grouphug:

[Oregone]

2. Some children are superior to others?

[Barack_America]

7. My thought as well nt.

[slackmaster]

9. I have to question the measures the researchers chose

Good grades are all well and good, but is lower aggression always best?

Would the results have been different if they had included whether or not the children can use hand tools, or change a tire? (I'm not trying to say that lesbians or women in general can't teach those things, but I believe more of us learned those skills from male parents than from female ones.)

[Oregone]

12. Its always going to be arbitrary

Maybe the real measurement has to be happiness with their lives, and how they adjusted post high-school. Its not easy to measure all this, so some leaps have to be taken.

[RainDog]

3. So the issue is that parents who make the choice, who have the choice

to become parents tend to be better parents.

Yet another reason to support safe, easy and affordable access to birth control.

[Oregone]

5. Agree

[RainDog]

6. and yet, our govt accommodates abstinence only appointees

and funds stupid, idiotic and HARMFUL abstinence-only educational programs to this day in states. States who insist on abstinence-only programs, imo, should be denied federal educational funds.

that would make them pay attention to something other than their own religious idiocy.

[Brickbat]

10. In addition to people who make a conscious effort to have wanted children, they also have the money

to do so. Spermz ain't cheap.

[tranche]

13. Bell Curves are back?

[Honeycombe8]

15. I would not call any child "superior" to another child. nt

[Gormy Cuss]

16. The study simply reports the outcomes for this set of children.

It's not designed to provide the answers to why this panel of children rated higher than peers. The authors point to some possible reasons for it but they don't have enough data to conclude why there was this difference.

What the study does show very clearly is that children raised with lesbian parents aren't doomed, psychologically-damaged individuals. That's a smack in the face to the people who trot out the line about studies showing that children raised by a father and mother do best. The problem with ALL such studies is that they were comparing only heterosexual families.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. The "superior" children bugs me. That said, there is a slipperly slope re artificial

insemination. Were the sperm donors friends or selected from a sperm bank based on their IQ and other attractive attributes in the profiles? Designer kids partially superior due to genetics.

[struggle4progress]

18. " ... results were based on data collected through self reporting ... "

[Llewlladdwr]

19. Indeed.

"Lesbian parents report that their children are superior to the children of non-lesbians" is hardly shocking. I'm fairly sure that almost ALL parents will self-report that their children are better, smarter and faster than the offspring of others.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Lesbian superchildren are our superiors.

[formernaderite]

21. Not surprising

You've got TWO mothers on the job!!!