Children raised in mother-headed families from infancy: a follow-up of children of lesbian and single heterosexual mothers, at early adulthood

Abstract

The findings of this study show that children raised by solo heterosexual mothers or lesbian mothers from infancy continue to function well as they enter adulthood. The findings are of relevance to the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology (2008) Act.

Socioemotional Development in Changing Families

“…Likewise, Gartrell and Bos (2010) found that these adolescents were functioning at least as well, and in some instances better, than expected from adolescent CBCL norms. Similar findings were obtained from the Fatherless Families Study in the United Kingdom when adolescents and young adult offspring parented by lesbian mothers were compared with those parented by heterosexual single mothers or heterosexual married couples (Golombok & Badger, 2010;, with young adults who had grown up in mother-headed families (either single heterosexual mothers or lesbian mothers) showing lower levels of anxiety, depression, hostility, and problematic alcohol use, coupled with higher levels of self-esteem, than did young adults from father-present families.…”

“…The UK follow-up of children raised by lesbian mothers after their mothers and fathers had separated found that, in their mid-20s, offspring continued to report close relationships with their mothers and had closer stepparenting relationships with their mothers' female partners than adults in the heterosexual mother comparison group had with their mothers' male partners . In the Fatherless Families Study, a longitudinal study of planned lesbian families that included comparison groups of families headed by single heterosexual mothers and married heterosexual parents, the children were first interviewed at Age 3 to 9 years (Golombok, Tasker, & Murray, 1997), followed up at Age 12 ) and again at Age 18 (Golombok & Badger, 2010). Mother-child relationships were found to be closer in both types of fatherless families in childhood, and early adolescent children in fatherless families again reported closer relationships with their mothers, although mothers in fatherless families also reported more severe disputes with their adolescent offspring.…”

“…Other studies have found that overall rates of stigmatization experienced by children in planned lesbian families are not higher than rates experienced by comparison groups. For example, in the Fatherless Families Study, no differences in rates of victimization by family type were found when children were studied at elementary school age , in early adolescence or in early adulthood (Golombok & Badger, 2010). Studies in the United States (Ryan & Cash, 2004) and the United Kingdom ) of adopted children placed with lesbian or gay parents have similarly found few reported difficulties in either peer stigmatization or friendship-forming at school.…”

“…Findings from the growing body of research on nontraditional families suggest that family processes such as warmth, communication, and conflict are better predictors of children's socioemotional development than is family structure (Biblarz & Stacey, 2010;Golombok, 2000Golombok, , 2015Lamb, 2012). This can also be concluded from the studies reviewed in this chapter showing, for example, that the differences between children with single parents, cohabiting parents or stepparents and their counterparts in traditional families are largely explained by factors such as economic disadvantage and maternal depression, which are characteristic of these nontraditional family types.…”

Choosing Single Motherhood?

“…A long-term follow up of a small sample of single-parent families in the UK where the child had been raised since the fi rst year of life without a father, or father-fi gure, in a fi nancially stable family home, were found to be similar to traditional families in a range of measures assessing quality of parenting and child psychological adjustment at age six (Golombok et al 1997), twelve (MacCallum andGolombok 2004) and eighteen (Golombok and Badger 2010). In early adulthood those from solo mother households showed lower levels of anxiety, depression, hostility and problematic alcohol use than their counterparts from traditional families and the same levels as those raised in lesbian couple families, indicating that this family form may actually be 'better' for children than the nuclear family held as ideal.…”