The Role Of Parental Sexual Orientation On Children 's Gender Development

The aim of the investigation is to determine whether same sex parents have a significant impact on a child’s social and emotional wellbeing. Therefore the hypothesis is, Same sex parents have a significant impact on a child’s social and emotional wellbeing. This study is divided into three focus questions:

Children being raised by same-sex couples is not uncommon and not different compared to different-sex couples. The only difference between childhood development with same-sex parents, as opposed to different-sex parents, is that more same-sex households have to deal with the biological parents of the child (“Same-Sex” 1). The child’s development is not altered by the gender of the parents but by society shaming their family and the biological parents metaling in the child’s

Is it more traumatizing for a parent to find out his children are homosexual or for a child to find out his parents are homosexual? The answer to this question is never easy, but is increasingly important as homosexuals assert their rights to come out of the closet and to raise families more and more. Karen Peterson's article, "Looking Straight at Gay Parents" assesses varying aspects of the latter situation. Michael LaSala's article, "What to do When Your Child Says "I'm Gay!" explores significant ramifications of the former situation. A comparison between these articles indicates that it is more difficult for children to grow up with homosexual parents than for parents to find out their children are gay.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (APA) states, “Empirical evidence reveals that gay fathers have substantial evidence of nurturance and investment in their paternal role and no differences from heterosexual fathers in providing for or dealing with general problems of parenting.” Gay fathers tend to be more involved with their children’s activities, have stricter disciplinary rules, and place emphasis on guidance and cognitive skills (Perrin 3). As the children come of age in same sex families there is no evidence to support the claim that children’s masculine or feminine tendencies were affected by having gay or lesbian parents, nor were the quality of their family relationships different (Pawelski et. al 18). According to the APA report there was no significant difference in sexuality between intact parents children and those who were raised by same sex parents. The study concluded that the

The development of children raised by homosexual couples is not significantly different from that raised by heterosexual couples. “Children whose parents are gay or lesbian have no more problems with self-esteem, psychological adjustment, intellectual capacity,

Parents push their boys and little girls to take an interest in sex-typed exercises, including doll playing and taking part in housekeeping exercises for young ladies and playing with trucks and taking part in sports activities for young men (Eccles, Jacobs, & Harold, 1990). Children’s' toy inclinations have been observed to be altogether identified with parental sex-typing (Etaugh & Liss, 1992; Henshaw, Kelly, & Gratton, 1992; Paretti & Sydney, 1984), with parents giving gender-differentiated toys and remunerating play conduct that is gender stereotyped (Carter, 1987). While both moms and fathers add to the gender stereotyping of their children, fathers have been found to fortify gender stereotypes more regularly than moms (Ruble,

The next article is title “How Lesbian and Heterosexual Parents Convey Attitudes about Gender to their Children: The Role of Gendered Environments,” and this study was

There are many people who believe that gender is little more than a social construct. One of the most convincing arguments for this stance is the issue of homosexuality, especially male homosexuality. When boys are born, there is no doubt that they share the same gender. Yet as they grow up and diverge to become homosexuals and heterosexuals, they begin to demonstrate a host of different characteristics that makes one clearly distinct from the other. A close examination of typical homosexual and heterosexual behavior confirms this fact. Although males are born with the same sex, homosexual and straight males differ in how they dress, talk and behave.

There are many important facts about a family’s parental sexual orientation that affect a child’s growth. One of those revolves around the gender-typed play behaviors of children in the early stages of life. One study conducted in 2012 by Goldberg A., Kashy D., and Smith J. researched and examined questions relating to this subject to further knowledge of children’s cognitive growth and development in early years of life. This study focused on two main hypotheses that follow ideas from social constructionist and social learning theories respectively; “Children in same-gender parent families will be less gender-typed in their play than children in heterosexual-parent families,” and “boys in lesbian-mother families… will demonstrate less gender-stereotyped play behavior… than boys in gay-father families and boys in heterosexual-parent families… and girls in gay-father families… will demonstrate less gender-stereotyped play behavior… than girls in lesbian-mother families and girls in heterosexual-parent families” (Goldberg, A. a., Kashy, D. k., & Smith, J. j. 2012).

471). The children were not told which sex to choose for the doll that represented the second parent, so that they could depict their own family structure (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 471). Once this process was complete, the experimenter would tell the children a story and then ask them to tell them what happens next (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 471). Based on the findings, narrative play techniques tell us that children from lesbian-mother families represented their mothers as equally positive parents to heterosexual families (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 474). They also showed their mothers to have similar levels of discipline (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 474). Also through the use of play narratives, children from lesbian-mother families showed no more negative emotion themes as children from heterosexual families (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 474). The more negative emotion within a family, the higher amount of behavior problems exists within the child (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 476). Based on the data from the study, children from lesbian mother families did not have more negative emotion themes in their stories compared to heterosexual parents (Perry et al., 2004, pg. 476). This suggests that children being raised in a lesbian-mother family do not experience negative psychological or emotional consequences. They also do not suffer in terms of the quality of the relationship between the mother and the child.

Children of gay and lesbian parents have the same potential as other children despite living in a nontraditional household, a growing trend in America. Same-sex parented families face many struggles such as discrimination based on sexual orientation of the parents. Individuals who do not support same-sex marriage or same-sex parenting believe that the child will not be raised in a stable household. Multiple studies have confirmed that a parent’s sexual orientation does not heavily influence a child’s performance in school or their social behavior. While some individuals believe a male “father” and female “mother” are needed in the household to provide the best environment to raise a child, there is no empirical evidence that shows children with same-sex parents are raised in an unhealthy environment. Stereotypical, traditional households are not the standard anymore, so individuals must accept that children can develop in nontraditional households normally. The children of same-sex couples, although raised in different households from their heterosexual counterparts, excel just as easily in the social and academic spheres of life.

Recently, in most countries globally, rights that support homosexuality have been passed. Due to this current situation, many researchers decided to find out if it is true or not, whether parents who are gays influence the way their children grow up in relation to their sexuality (Patterson, Charlotte and Rachel, p.121). This subject has been a sensitive topic for quite a while and many people avoid in many cases to discuss about it. Some researchers concluded that children who are under the care of homosexual parents end up being gay in the future, while others in their studies said that gay parents raise their kids normally as other heterosexual parents. This argumentative paper debates on whether parents influence their kids’ sexuality. It analyzes extensively both sides that is, the ones that agree that indeed it is affirmative that gay parents raise gay children and those that refute that notion.

Though it is undeniable that parents’ attitude, care and support are exclusively essential to a child’s development, it is unjustified to assure that homosexual parents are as good as heterosexual ones because men and women indeed process distinctive traits which are solely beneficial to upbringing a child. Men is more masculine thus fathers are generally less tolerant to wrongs due to pride and a sense of justice and children will suffer if they are nurtured only by men. On the other hand, women are generally more emotional and serene due to their inborn motherly

When a child is born into this world, the traditional thing to have straight out the womb, is a mom. This mom would then have a spouse which would help parent that child through adolescence and beyond. Parents’ are given the job of raising their son or daughter so that they can live on their own and make choices by themselves. Parents in today’s society aren’t the typical household piece you tend to see in movies and read in books. Before, it was always a mom and dad who were female and male. Today, a child doesn’t always have that, they can have two moms or two dads, and sometimes one or the other. Homosexuality and single parents are becoming a common picture you see in households. Each situation has its benefits, with problems forming

According to data from the 2000 U.S. Census, 960,000 children younger than the age of 18 years were being raised by lesbian or gay parents. Despite the significant presence of many households headed by same sex parents in the United States, major concerns about LGBT parenting are still voiced. Categories of concern include but are not limited to children’s disturbance in gender identity, lack of personal development (i.e. behavior problems, vulnerability, psychological impairment) and difficulty with social relationships. To evaluate these concerns, we reviewed the growing body of literature. Although social stigma does exist, studies have shown that parents of the same sex have the same capacities for sustaining long-term committed relationships and in demonstrating proper parenting.