Us national longitudinal lesbian family study: psychological adjustment of 17-year-old adolescents

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to document the psychological adjustment of adolescents who were conceived through donor insemination by lesbian mothers who enrolled before these offspring were born in the largest, longest running, prospective, longitudinal study of same-sex–parented families. METHODS: Between 1986 and 1992, 154 prospective lesbian mothers volunteered for a study that was designed to follow planned lesbian families from the index children's conception until they reached adulthood. Data for the current report were gathered through interviews and questionnaires that were completed by 78 index offspring when they were 10 and 17 years old and through interviews and Child Behavior Checklists that were completed by their mothers at corresponding times. The study is ongoing, with a 93% retention rate to date. RESULTS: According to their mothers' reports, the 17-year-old daughters and sons of lesbian mothers were rated significantly higher in social, school/academic, and total competence and significantly lower in social problems, rule-breaking, aggressive, and externalizing problem behavior than their age-matched counterparts in Achenbach's normative sample of American youth. Within the lesbian family sample, no Child Behavior Checklist differences were found among adolescent offspring who were conceived by known, as-yet-unknown, and permanently unknown donors or between offspring whose mothers were still together and offspring whose mothers had separated. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who have been reared in lesbian-mother families since birth demonstrate healthy psychological adjustment. These findings have implications for the clinical care of adolescents and for pediatricians who are consulted on matters that pertain to same-sex parenting.

本研究的目的是记录通过捐精方式由女同性恋母亲所生育的青少年的心理适应情况。这些母亲在其子女出生前就已参与了最大规模、最长时间的前瞻性纵向研究，专门跟踪同性父母家庭的青少年成长。

本研究的方法是在1986年至1992年间，154名女同性恋母亲自愿参与一项研究，旨在追踪计划生育的女同性恋家庭，从这些子女的受孕开始，直到他们成年。当前报告的数据通过访谈和问卷收集，78名子女在10岁和17岁时完成了相关问卷，母亲在相应的时间填写了儿童行为检查表。该研究至今仍在进行中，保持着93%的保留率。

本研究的结果显示，根据母亲的报告，女同性恋母亲的17岁女儿和儿子在社交、学校/学业和总体能力方面的评分显著高于美国青年Achenbach标准样本中同龄的对照组，且在社交问题、违规行为、攻击性和外化问题行为方面显著低于同龄对照组。在女同性恋家庭样本中，无论是由已知、未知或永久未知的捐赠者受孕的青少年，还是母亲仍然在一起或已分开的青少年，其儿童行为检查表的评分没有显著差异。 因此本研究的结论是，自出生起在女同性恋母亲家庭抚养的青少年表现出健康的心理适应。这些发现对临床护理以及为涉及同性父母育儿事务提供咨询的儿科医生具有重要意义。