University upholds study finding children do better with straight parents than homosexuals
A Texas university has determined that “no formal investigation is warranted” against a professor who published a rigorous study this summer finding that children of heterosexual parents fare better in many respects than children of homosexual parents.
The University of Texas at Austin announced this week it would not pursue allegations against associate sociology professor Mark Regnerus an article published in the journal Social Science Research in July.
The announcement came in response to LGBT activist and blog author Scott Rosensweig, who had accused Regnerus of crafting a study “designed so as to be guaranteed to make gay people look bad, through means plainly fraudulent and defamatory,” and of “harbor[ing] anti-gay prejudices” because he is Catholic.
The study unearthed alarming disparities between the two family models, from suicide attempts and unemployment rates to sexual abuse.
One statistic found children of lesbian mothers are nearly 12 times as likely to say they were sexually touched by a parent or adult as those raised in intact biological families.
Asked if they had ever been raped, 31 percent of those raised by lesbian mothers and 25 percent of children raised by gay fathers answered yes, compared to eight percent of those from intact biological homes.
Regnerus had noted that previous studies on the issue suffer from considerable sample bias, including the widely noted National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, which drew its information from volunteers responding to advertisements targeting lesbians.
Regnerus based his study on a large random sample of American young adults from the data collection project New Family Structures Study, and unlike most others, uses the responses of children rather than parents.
The study also found a correlation between a young person’s upbringing and his or her later sexual orientation. While 90 percent of respondents from normative households identified as “entirely heterosexual,” only 61 percent of those raised by a lesbian mother and 71 percent of those raised by a homosexual father reported the same.
In a press release Wednesday, university officials said an advisory panel’s report concluded there was insufficient evidence to pursue Rosensweig’s allegations, noting that it sought the counsel of Dr. Alan Price, former associate director of the Office of Research Integrity in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who independently agreed the investigation was conducted properly.
“As with much university research, Regnerus’ New Family Structures Study touches on a controversial and highly personal issue that is currently being debated by society at large,” said officials. “The university expects the scholarly community will continue to evaluate and report on the findings of the Regnerus article and supports such discussion.”
Regnerus had noted that previous studies on the issue suffer from considerable sample bias, including the widely noted National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, which drew its information from volunteers responding to advertisements targeting lesbians.
Regnerus based his study on a large random sample of American young adults from the data collection project New Family Structures Study, and unlike most others, uses the responses of children rather than parents.
The study also found a correlation between a young person’s upbringing and his or her later sexual orientation. While 90 percent of respondents from normative households identified as “entirely heterosexual,” only 61 percent of those raised by a lesbian mother and 71 percent of those raised by a homosexual father reported the same.
In a press release Wednesday, university officials said an advisory panel’s report concluded there was insufficient evidence to pursue Rosensweig’s allegations, noting that it sought the counsel of Dr. Alan Price, former associate director of the Office of Research Integrity in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who independently agreed the investigation was conducted properly.
“As with much university research, Regnerus’ New Family Structures Study touches on a controversial and highly personal issue that is currently being debated by society at large,” said officials. “The university expects the scholarly community will continue to evaluate and report on the findings of the Regnerus article and supports such discussion.”
