Kids with single parent, lesbian parents and heterosexual parents

Again,  just another quick post from this weekends search for new articles. This is only the abstract. But it has one interesting conclusion, highlighted below in blue. Bottom line: Kids who grow up with moms, one mom or two moms, turn out just fine.

Human Reproduction. 2010 Jan;25(1):150-7. Epub 2009 Oct 19.

Children raised in mother-headed families from infancy: a follow-up of children of lesbian and single heterosexual mothers, at early adulthood.

Golombok S, Badger S.

Centre for Family Research, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RF, UK. seg42@cam.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: The present investigation constituted the third phase of a longitudinal study of the quality of parent-child relationships and the psychological adjustment of children in female-headed families with no father present from infancy.

METHODS: In this study, 27 families headed by single heterosexual mothers (solo mothers) and 20 families headed by lesbian mothers were compared with 36 two-parent heterosexual families as the child entered adulthood. Data were obtained from mothers and their young adult children by standardized interviews and questionnaires.

RESULTS: The female-headed families were found to be similar to the traditional families on a range of measures of quality of parenting and young adults’ psychological adjustment. Where differences were identified between family types, these pointed to more positive family relationships and greater psychological wellbeing among young adults raised in female-headed homes.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study show that children raised by solo heterosexual mothers or lesbian mothers from infancy continue to function well as they enter adulthood. The findings are of relevance to the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology (2008) Act.