Family Characteristics, Custody Arrangements, and Adolescent Psychological Well‐being After Lesbian Mothers Break Up

Abstract

As part of the largest, longest running prospective American study of same‐sex parent families, the present investigation examined relationship dissolution in planned lesbian families. Data were collected from 40 separated couples and their 17‐year‐old adolescent offspring—19 girls and 21 boys. Nearly all breakups occurred before the former couples could have obtained the legal equivalent of same‐sex marriage in their state of residence. A majority of the mothers rated the communication with their ex‐partners as cordial. Seventy‐one percent of separated mothers were sharing custody, and they were more likely to do so if the comother had legally adopted the index offspring. There were no differences in adolescent psychological well‐being associated with coparent adoption or shared custody. The percentage of adolescents who reported closeness to both mothers was significantly higher in families with coparent adoption.

Socioemotional Development in Changing Families

“…For example, Gartrell, Bos, Peyser, Deck, and Rodas (2011) found that the rate of partnership dissolution in the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study was higher than the divorce rate among age-matched heterosexual parents in the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth. However, separation rates are likely to be higher than divorce rates, and it is worth bearing in mind that few of the lesbian couples had access to same-sex marriage or civil union status.…”

Law and LGBQ-Parent Families

“…We know that legal inequality, namely the inability for both parents when coupled to be legally recognized as parents, has negative consequences in terms of the non-legal parent having less power; but does that translate into the relationship quality among (nonlegally recognized) parents and their children? A study by Gartrell et al (2011) suggests yes insofar as children reported higher levels of closeness with both parents in families who had done a second-parent adoption. Future research should continue to explore whether and how the law can affect parent-child relationship quality.…”

Parentalidade em casais homossexuais: Uma revisão sistemática

“…Respondendo a estes questionamentos, os estudos concluem que a sexualidade dos pais e das mães não é fator determinante no bem-estar e ajustamento psicológico dos seus filhos (Bos, 2010;Erich, Kanenberg, Case, Allen, & Bogdanos, 2009;Gartrell & Bos, 2010;Oliva, Arranz, Parra, & Olabarrieta, 2014;Perlesz & McNair, 2004;Wainright, Russell, & Patterson, 2004). Nestes casais, há flexibilidade no desempenho de funções parentais (Perlesz & McNair, 2004;Rodriguez & Paiva, 2009), a relação parental tende a ser próxima, privilegiando o respeito e a aceitação das diferenças (Gartrell, Bos, Peyser, Deck & Rodas, 2011;Goldberg & Allen, 2013 …”

“…Nestes casais, há flexibilidade no desempenho de funções parentais (Perlesz & McNair, 2004;Rodriguez & Paiva, 2009), a relação parental tende a ser próxima, privilegiando o respeito e a aceitação das diferenças (Gartrell, Bos, Peyser, Deck & Rodas, 2011;Goldberg & Allen, 2013 …”

“…Estudos que avaliaram a relação entre mães e filhos quando os casais se separaram concluíram que houve um esforço dos pares para manter um relacionamento amigável, com guarda compartilhada (Gartrell et al, 2011) e buscando o contato igualitário com o filho (Goldberg & Allen, 2013). Quando a guarda não foi compartilhada, a preferência foi dada à mãe biológica e o distanciamento da residência das duas mães resultou no prejuízo da relação entre a outra mãe e o filho (Goldberg & Allen, 2013).…”