Sexual Attraction, Sexual Identity, and Same-Sex Sexual Experiences of Adult Offspring in the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study

Abstract

The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study has followed offspring with sexual minority parents from conception into adulthood. It was initiated in 1986, and it has a 92% retention rate to date. In the current investigation, the 25-year-old offspring answered questions about sexual attraction, sexual identity, and sexual experiences; their responses were compared with those of same-age adults from a population-based survey. The analytic samples consisted of 76 offspring of lesbian parents and 76 demographically matched participants from the National Survey of Family Growth. All 152 respondents were 25 years old, 48.7% were female, 90.8% identified as White, 9.2% were people of color, and all had attended at least some college. Although most respondents in each sample identified as "heterosexual or straight," compared to their matched counterparts in the population-based survey, the female and male offspring of lesbian parents were significantly more to likely to report samesex attraction, sexual minority identity, and same-sex experience. These findings suggest that adult offspring from planned lesbian families may be more likely than their peers to demonstrate diversity in sexual attraction, identity, and expression.

“We Were Among the First Non-traditional Families”: Thematic Perceptions of Lesbian Parenting After 25 Years

“…After informed consent was obtained and the survey was completed, each participant received a $60 gift card. Data were collected between 2012 (when the oldest offspring reached the age of 25) until 2017 (when the youngest turned 25; Gartrell et al, 2019).…”

The Perceptions of New Zealand Lawyers and Social Workers About Children Being Adopted by Gay Couples and Lesbian Couples

“…In the matter of children's gender development, and fears that growing up with lesbian or gay parents will result in gender identity confusion, studies repeatedly refute this myth (e.g., Carone et al, 2020), finding instead that a child's own gender, as opposed to parental sexual orientation, is a stronger influence on whether or not children engage in gender-conforming behaviors (Farr et al, 2018a). On the other hand, Gartrell et al (2019), reporting on findings from their US longitudinal study spanning more than 20 years, did find a greater likelihood of samesex attraction and sexual minority identity in the offspring of lesbian parents, suggesting that being raised by same-gender parents can lead to more diverse sexual expression. Importantly, it has also been suggested by other researchers that if the offspring of same-gender parents do turn out to be homosexual, the likelihood is extremely high that they will grow up in more accepting environments, than did many lesbian and gay individuals who grew up in heterosexual homes (Carastathis et al, 2017;VanderWaal et al, 2017).…”

Can Social Desirability Be Detected Statistically at the Macro-Sociological Level?

“…Our appendix includes 60 studies, but three studies did not include a measure of 2GenV (Barrett & Tasker, 2001;Gartrell et al, 2012;Lewis, 1980), and Regnerus's (2012a, b) study was not included in our analyses, reducing the number of studies to 56. However, three studies had two parts (Gartrell et al, 2011(Gartrell et al, , 2019; split on gender of children, all with lesbian mothers; Lick et al, 2012; split into two separate studies, one study with 69 offspring of lesbian mothers (73%) and gay fathers (28%); a second study with 83 offspring of gay fathers) and those three extra samples raised the sample size to 59. We did not include studies that measured data with respect to 2GenV but did not report percentages (e.g., Bos et al, 2006;Bos & Sandfort, 2010;Sarantakos, 2000;Wainright, Russell, & Patterson, 2004).…”