Gay parents raise emotionally sound kids, says Australian study

A new Australian study about the children of same-sex marriages was released last week just as the government was anticipated to vote on a bill to legalized same-sex marriage.

Melbourne University PhD student Simon Crouch and his team conducted one of the world's largest studies on gay parents and the well-being of their children.

After collecting data from 500 Australian children up to age 18 they found that kids growing up in gay and straight families matched equally when it came to self-esteem, emotional well-being and the amount of time they spent with parents, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

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However, children of same-sex couples scored higher than the national average for overall health and family cohesion. Crouch hypothesized this is because gay parents are more likely to have experienced being teased, and therefore are better able to talk about similar issues with their children.

“Because of the situation that same-sex families find themselves in, they are generally more willing to communicate and approach the issues that any child may face at school, like teasing or bullying,” says Crouch.

It's worth noting that the vast majority of the same-sex parents involved in the study were women, 80 per cent exactly.

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Crouch's findings are consistent with previous American research from 2005 that shows the children of gay parents grow up with normal self-esteem.

"The vast consensus of all the studies shows that children of same-sex parents do as well as children whose parents are heterosexual in every way," lead researcher and pediatric doctor, Ellen C. Perrin, told WebMD at the time. "In some ways children of same-sex parents actually may have advantages over other family structures."