Gay parents have 'healthier and less argumentative children'



Five to 17-year-olds with gay parents have 'significantly better' general health and greater family cohesion

May be because they communicate to address problems of discrimination and bullying

Children aged five to 17 who live with gay parents have 'significantly better' general health than those with heterosexual parents

Children with same-sex parents are healthier than those with heterosexual parents, new Australian research suggests.



Children aged five to 17 who live with gay parents have ‘significantly better’ general health than those with heterosexual parents.



There is also greater family cohesion in families led by same-sex parents, the research shows.



Researchers at the University of Melbourne, in Australia, studied 500 children aged between one and 17 as part of The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families.



For general health and family cohesion children aged 5 to 17 years with same-sex parents showed a significantly better score when compared to Australian children from all backgrounds and family contexts.



The children of same-sex couples scored so much higher for general health that researchers said it would only occur by chance less than 1 in 10,000 times.



However, for all other health measures, including self-esteem and emotional behaviour, there were no statistically significant differences.



Currently, the researchers do not know why the children of same-sex parents have better general health and family cohesion.

The lead researcher on the study, Dr Simon Crouch, told The Sydney Morning Herald : ‘Because of the situation that same-sex families find themselves in, they are generally more willing to communicate and approach the issues that any child may face at school, like teasing or bullying.



‘This fosters openness and means children tend to be more resilient. That would be our hypothesis.’



Families led by a same-sex couple tend to have greater family cohesion than those led by a heterosexual couple. This could be because they communicate to address problems of discrimination and bullying

The news comes just days after it was revealed that children adopted by same-sex couples do just as well as those adopted by heterosexual couples.



A study carried out by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Family Research found that children with same-sex parents are not disadvantaged in life and that most do not suffer bullying.



Professor Susan Golombok, director of the Cambridge centre and report co-author, said: ‘What I don't like is when people make assumptions that a certain type of family, such as gay fathers, will be bad for children.

