Adolescent Children of Same-Sex Couples
Excerpt from November/December issue of "Child Development"

Adolescents who grow up in the care of same-sex couples are as well adjusted as their peers in households with opposite-sex parents, according to a study by Charlotte J. Patterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia; Stephen T. Russell, a professor of human development at the University of Arizona; and Jennifer Wainright, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Virginia.

"Across a diverse array of assessments," they write, "we found that the personal, family, and school adjustment of adolescents living with same-sex parents did not differ from that of adolescents living with opposite-sex parents."

The study has important implications for public policy, the authors say, particularly regarding the debate over the fitness of lesbian and gay couples to be adoptive or foster parents.

What matters is not the genders of parents but the quality of the relationship between parents and children, the authors say.

"Regardless of whether they lived with same-sex or opposite-sex couples," they write, "adolescents whose parents reported having close and satisfying relationships with them were more likely to have made positive adjustments at school, as well as at home."

The article, "Psychosocial Adjustment, School Outcomes, and Romantic Relationships of Adolescents With Same-Sex Parents," is not online. Information about the journal is available at
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0009-3920