Family relationships and adolescent behavior: A look at families headed by heterosexual, lesbian, and gay parents

Currently, there is heated debate concerning family and child functioning in families by gay or lesbian parents. Previous research has found few differences in the parent-child relationships or the well-being of children with heterosexual and lesbian parents. Yet, little research has focused on families with adolescents or families headed by gay fathers. This project examined differences between families headed by heterosexual, lesbian, or gay parenting couples in their interparental relationships, parent-adolescent relationships, and adolescent behavior problems. Additionally, the links between interparental relationships, parent-adolescent relationships, and adolescent behavior within each type of family were tested. Data for this project were collected as part of a larger study that recruited heterosexual, lesbian, and gay parents of adolescents to complete online surveys about their family relationships. A subsample was selected that included 70 heterosexual mothers, 59 lesbian mothers, 35 heterosexual fathers, and 25 gay fathers. Comparisons of interparental relationships suggest that heterosexual fathers may not be engaging in maintenance behaviors to the same degree as lesbian mothers or gay fathers. Also, results indicated that lesbian mothers more accurately reported adolescent behavior problems than heterosexual mothers; there were no differences between the reports of heterosexual and gay fathers. Within-family analyses revealed that for families headed by lesbian mothers, interparental maintenance behaviors were indirectly related to adolescent behavior problems' more interparental maintenance predicted more positive parent-adolescent relationships, and positive parent-adolescent relationships, in turn, predicted fewer adolescent behavior problems. The within-family analyses also revealed that more positive parent-adolescent relationships predicted fewer adolescent behavior problems for all family types. These results highlight a number of areas for additional research, such as gender and couple-type differences in maintenance behaviors, and family processes that result in different reporting behaviors for heterosexual and lesbian mothers. Research findings illustrating the equality in parent-adolescent relationship quality also provide evidence for equal parenting and adoption rights for same-sex couples. Overall, this project offers a first look at families headed by gay fathers, and adds to the limited evidence about lesbian mothers parenting adolescents. By examining these understudied families, this project increases scientific knowledge about families, while also informing clinical practice and public policy.