Peer Review Model

Younger children usually have an easier time adjusting to a gay and lesbian parented home. They haven’t learned the social biases against gays and lesbians yet.” (Nighlad).

The gay personality may be determined during a child’s early years of development or throughout the individual’s life. A lesbian or gay individual like heterosexual individuals are influenced by family, peers, and society. Family structure, social factors, and cognition and conditioning help the development of sexual identity (Kwiatkowski, 2010). The child while living with the parents, adopt many of the customs and values the parents emphasize. The parents may stress the importance of gender roles in the household which the child may learn to

Ryan, Caitlin Ryan; Russell, Stephen, T.; Huebner, David; Diaz, Rafael; Sanchez, Jorge, 2010, Family Acceptance in Adolescence and the Health of LGBT young Adults, Journal of Child and Adolescence Psychiatric Nursing, Volume 23, pp. 205-213

These results are meant to spark an interest in their audience and give way to even more in-depth study of the experiences of LGBTQ youth. The information is not just for those in education but it very important for them. There must be methods of intervention and procedures to prevent negative outcomes when a child does decide to confine in his parents about his/her sexuality. There have been studies done in order to identify the adolscents who idenfiy as LGBTQ. One example of a specific study conducted was by Casey Field Office Mental Health (CFOMH). This organization set out with a few questions for a group of foster youth. The study interviewed 188 adolescents ages 14 to 17 who were receiving foster care services from Casey Family Programs in 2006. About 10 children of the group of 188 youths identified as LGBQ. This study includes both the experiences of the LGBTQ youth groups as well as their non-LGBTQ counterparts. The results of this study concluded that out of the 10 students who identify as LGBTQ all felt as though they were not being given the help they needed. They felt marginalized. Another more recent study, the Los Angeles Foster Youth Study (LAFYS), was also conducted by the Los Angeles

Arguments for gay and lesbian families is a concern for the sanctity of marriage is often accompanied by a discomfort with the idea of gay and lesbian families, based on misinformation about the quality of those relationships and their impact on children (Kimmel 184). Arguments that support gay and lesbian families are mainly focused on having the same equal rights as heterosexuals. Many gay and lesbian couples want to get married because of the benefits they acquire such as the right to inherit from a spouse who dies without a will, the right to consult with doctors and make crucial decisions (Kimmel 184). A meta analysis of social studies of gay and lesbian parenting suggests that children are more accepting of homosexuality and maybe more likely to indicate a willingness to consider homosexual relationships themselves (Kimmel 186). Another great example is daughters of lesbian and gay parents are more assertive, confident, and ambitious, and sons are less conforming to traditional masculine aggression and domination and have a better understanding of their gender identity (Kimmel

There were couple limitations of the study. First, lesbian mothers’ response rate was higher than heterosexual parents’ because lesbian mothers’ curiosity in their parenting styles. Second, lesbian mothers’ had higher educational history compared to heterosexual parents. Finally, this study was conducted in Netherland where showed more tolerant attitude toward homosexuality. Dutch lesbian families’ daily life experiences might be significantly different with lesbian families’ from other countries.

“There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation” (Armesto, 2002; Patterson, 2000; Tasker & Golombok, 1997). Ever since gay and lesbians have been parents people have questioned how the parents’ sexual orientation impacts child and adolescent development. Opponents of same-sex parents argue that sexual orientation has a negative impact on child development, while proponents argue that the relationship between the child and parents is what matters. National, state, and local governments are faced with the controversy surrounding same-sex parenting. People have very strong opinions on both sides of the argument. Children and adolescents who are under lesbian or gay parents have normal child development compared with children under heterosexual parents. These children develop normally socially, mentally, and academically.

It can be very difficult for LGBTQ children to be open about their sexuality or gender orientation, especially if they do not receive support from the ones who are supposed to love them no matter what. Parents positively influence the health of their LGBTQ children by providing support an encouragement. Children should be able to talk to their parents about their issues and receive beneficial advice and support. Parents’ influence on the health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens: What parents and families should know explained that parents who support their LGBTQ children decrease the risk of the children becoming depressed, abusing drugs or alcohol, and committing suicide(Centers for Disease Control). Therefore, I believe that parents of LGBTQ youth can have a significant impact on the health of their children. As a country, we must encourage each other to accept people for who they are. It is imperative that this acceptance beings in the home and at

Gender should not be intertwined with the term sex, which refers to the physical differences in individuals. Instead, gender is the idea of being male or female, and it is well understood by the time children reach the preschool years. Differences in gender become more pronounced as children age, and societal expectations are reinforced by parents and peers. Behavioral differences may be evident since parents may treat their child differently according to gender. A big example of this is how parents may react to a child’s first

However, the researcher added that hypotheses are still under revision and further research must be done to solidify their claims. This research was conducted over an extended period of time with the same participants. The researchers purpose was to determine whether there is a difference in behavior of children raised by lesbian parents and if there is, what the cause of the difference may be. At the end of the article, the researcher claimed that children raised by lesbian parents have higher self-esteem, confidence, grades, and less behavioral problems than children of heterosexual families because of greater parental investment by lesbian mothers (Park,

Results indicated that heterosexual and non-attracted youths had higher scores than sexual-minority youths in several but not all areas of positive youth development. Heterosexuals had higher competence, confidence, and connection than sexual-minority youths. In part I believe that these higher scores in the heterosexual and non-attracted youths like in competence is true because they don’t want to feel behind other competitors and are constantly working to feel accepted in a way. As to the sexual-minority youth, I think they are more reserved and in a way afraid to the perspective of the “what would other say”.

There is much debate that homosexuality is a developmental problem caused by a weak bond between a father and son during one’s childhood. A failed relationship with one’s father can lead the boy to not fully internalize male gender identity and develop homosexually (Baird & Baird, 1995). Consider the gender development of identity. Infants indentify with their mother who is the first and primary source of nurturance and care. As girls age, they continue to identify mostly with their mother and boys shift towards their father. Through a father-son relationship, masculine identification is attained which is necessary if the boy is to develop a normally masculine personality (i.e. heterosexuality). This development task helps explain why boys have more difficulty than girls in developing gender identity and may also explain the higher ratio of male to female homosexuality (Baird & Baird, 1995). It is important that

The findings for insecure gender identity demonstrated strong support related to the tendency to harass gender-atypical individuals (Pauletti et al., 2014). Consistent with the hypothesis, children who possessed strong gender biases, demonstrated a lack of self-worth, or viewed themselves as inconsistent with their gender experienced a self-discrepancy that was associated with anxiety and frustration and focused their insecure feelings towards their gender-nonconforming peers (Pauletti et al., 2014). Additionally, children who reported felt pressure for gender differentiation but perceived themselves as gender-atypical displayed aggressive behaviors toward non-conforming peers (Pauletti et al., 2014). Similarly, children who possessed low within-gender identity (experience discontent with their gender) and lacked self-efficacy and self-worth increasingly singled out their

The Thomas, & Blakemore, (2013) study observed approaches about results linked with juvenile gender noncompliant; therefore, there were 518 college students at a Midwestern campus in the United States. Respondents were presented with one of ten articles re-counting the objective (Thomas, & Blakemore, 2013). Therefore, the juvenile, and the adolescent was diverse in gender-specific characteristics, well-being, and actions (Thomas, & Blakemore, 2013). The child in the vignette was: firmly male, discreetly male, neutral, discreetly female or firmly female, and the participant finished a fifty-item survey (Thomas, & Blakemore, 2013). They projected results for the objective (manhood and femaleness in maturity, stress to transform, mental regulation during the infantile and maturity, and sexual preference), and the Attitudes toward Women Scale (Spence et al, 1973) (Thomas, & Blakemore, 2013). The Thomas, & Blakemore, (2013) project presumed female objectives, children of different sexes, were thought to be probable to conquer anxiety, depression (Thomas, & Blakemore, 2013). Males were expected to demonstrate violence, conduct disorders, occurring maladaptive behaviors equally during their juvenile and maturity stages (Thomas, & Blakemore, 2013).

Over the years there has been many studies conducted on the well being of children with same sex parents. These studies often debate on whether same sex parents carry disadvantages to the child. Researchers who object to same sex parent often believes that children raised in these types of families suffer more emotional problems (McAllister 2016). These studies often tend to blame parents sexual orientation as the main cause of children’s emotional problems rather than looking at outside aspects that contributes to emotional imbalances. The basis of this selected literature is to give an overview of studies that demonstrated that children’s of same sex couples have good relationship with their parents at home. However, both parents and children have concerns about peer reaction in regards to potential being chosen to be bullied.