WASHINGTON -- The commonly held assumption that children brought up by lesbian mothers will themselves grow up to be gay or lesbian does not stand up to scientific scrutiny. That is the conclusion of a new study appearing in the January issue of Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

The authors, psychologists Susan Golombok, Ph.D., and Fiona Tasker, Ph.D., of City University, London, England, note that previously existing research on the relation between parental behavior and children's sexual orientation "failed to produce empirical evidence to demonstrate that parents' behavior influences the development of their children's sexual orientation." In addition, all previous studies had involved heterosexual families.

Their study followed 27 lesbian mothers and their 39 children and a control group of group of 27 heterosexual single mothers and their 39 children from the time the children were around age 10 (1976-77) to when they were around age 24 (1992-93). Sixty-two percent of the original sample of children took part in the follow- up study. There was no significant difference between adults raised in lesbian families and their peers from single-mother heterosexual households in the proportion who reported sexual attraction to someone of the same gender.

While six children from lesbian families (one son and five daughters) had experienced a same-gender sexual relationship (none of the children of heterosexual single mothers did), only two young adults with lesbian mothers identified as lesbians themselves. However, although there were no significant differences in sexual orientation between the two groups, there were some differences in sexual interest and behavior. "Significantly more of the young adults from lesbian family backgrounds stated that they had previously considered, or thought it a future possibility, that they might experience same-gender attraction or have a same- gender sexual relationship or both."

Daughters of lesbian mothers were significantly more likely to consider that idea than the daughters of heterosexual mothers, but there was no significant difference between sons from the two family types on that issue. The authors found that the young adults whose mothers were more open and accepting of lesbian and gay relationships were more likely to report same-gender sexual interest themselves.

However, they found no significant associations between same-gender sexual interest in adulthood and:

• the number of years the child had been raised in a heterosexual household,
• the mother's warmth to the child,
• the child's contact with the father,
• the child's gender role behavior,
• the quality of the child's peer relationships,
• the quality of the mother's relationship with her female partner,
• the mother's contentment with her sexual identity,
• the mother's political involvement,
• the mother's attitude toward men.

Similarly, data obtained from the heterosexual mothers at the beginning of the study on warmth to the child, the child's contact with the father, the child's gender role behavior and the quality of the child's peer relationships showed no significant association with the young adults' same-gender sexual interest. The authors point out that the young adults in this study were born at a time when there was less social acceptance of lesbian women and gay men than there is now. And while it remains to be seen how changes in the social climate will influence same- gender relationships, "it is conceivable that children born in the present time to heterosexual parents who are accepting of lesbian and gay relationships will be just as open to same-sex exploration in adulthood as their counterparts from lesbian families today."

Reference:
"Do Parents Influence the Sexual Orientation of Their Children? Findings from a Longitudinal Study of Lesbian Families" by Susan Golombok, Ph.D., and Fiona Tasker, Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, Vol.32, No. 1, pp 3-11.

3/18/99

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 159,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 50 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 58 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.