And I really did hate having to type "gays." I'd much rather type "homosexuals" but that won't fit within the allowed number of characters either.
Here is the study:
http://www.scribd.com/kdial40/d/96719068-Regnerus-Study" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Full disclosure: I was tipped off to it because I get e mails from Focus on the Family. One e mail I got directed me to this interpretation:
http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/06/11/s ... ter-risks/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But the study is not a "Focus on the Family" study as far as I can tell.
The answer to the title questions I might have used is "no" because it's an observational study. They didn't randomly assign family structure treatments to children. So the most the study can do is kind of suggest. But there are some interesting results. One, from the "Results" section on page 761 (see page numbers at top right of each page, first page of paper is 752), reads as follows:
"IBF" is defined at the bottom of page 757 as:At a glance, the number of statistically-significant differences between respondents from IBFs and respondents from the other seven types of family structures/experiences is considerable, and in the vast majority of cases the optimal outcome—where one can be readily discerned—favors IBFs.
A statement on how children raised by homosexual (mostly lesbian) couples appears at the beginning of the "Discussion" section on page 764:Lived in intact biological family (with mother and father) from 0 to 18, and parents are still married at present.
Finally as far as this initial title question in this post is concerned, the following statement as to the "no difference" idea appears near the beginning of the "Conclusions" section on page 766:Just how different are the adult children of men and women who pursue same-sex romantic (i.e., gay and lesbian)relationships, when evaluated using population-based estimates from a random sample? The answer, as might be expected, depends on to whom you compare them. When compared with children who grew up in biologically (still) intact, mother–father families, the children of women who reported a same-sex relationship look markedly different on numerous out-comes, including many that are obviously suboptimal
I haven't read the whole thing yet. It's a long one. Could be I could nit pick some methods as I often do. Also this study will be perceived by many as sending a "politically incorrect" message so I'm sure it's going to be subject to some pretty aggressive attacks. I'm guessing there will be some pretty ferocious ad hominem attacks on the author.Although the findings reported herein may be explicable in part by a variety of forces uniquely problematic for child development in lesbian and gay families—including a lack of social support for parents, stress exposure resulting from per-sistent stigma, and modest or absent legal security for their parental and romantic relationship statuses—the empirical claim that no notable differences exist must go.
But it doesn't matter. From here forward those in the "Focus on the Family" camp have a pretty serious observational study to refer to while making their arguments. I expect to see a lot of Fox News and MSNBC segments on this. What'll be interesting is to see if it's widely reported by the big broadcast networks (CBS, ABC, and NBC).
