PEDIATRICS Vol. 118 No. 5 November 2006, pp. 2259-2260 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2155)
LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children
Mark McConnell, MD, FAAP, FCCPPediatric Intensive Care
St Luke's Children's Hospital
Boise, ID 83712
To the Editor.—
I read with great concern the article entitled "The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children."1 This article seemed to be published more for political expediency than for its scientific contribution to the practice of pediatrics. I believe that this article is pseudoscientific because it does not share any original research and its review of the medical literature regarding the impact of homosexuality on children, families, and society is significantly biased. This article would have been better suited for the commentary section of Pediatrics.
Although the first part of the article is presented as an unbiased review of marriage laws, the reader is certainly left with the impression that such laws are unfair or discriminatory toward homosexual couples, although these laws were passed by a majority of the legislators or voting public. The second half of the article is a biased review of the literature regarding the outcomes of children raised in homosexual relationships. Even a cursory review of the literature on homosexuality would demonstrate the significant negative health consequences of the homosexual lifestyle with its resulting burdens on the family. The authors do not give a balanced review, nor do they highlight the significant methodologic problems in the studies they do present.2–4
Previous research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) people has demonstrated that LGBT people as a whole (1) have a much higher incidence of drug addiction to methamphetamines and cocaine than heterosexuals,5,6 (2) were more likely to be victims of domestic violence,5,6 (3) were twice as likely to be on psychotropic medications,5,7 (4) have higher incidence of non-HIV sexually transmitted diseases,8 and (5) have a significantly increased risk of suicidal ideation and suicide completion.7,9 In addition, homosexual men have a life expectancy that is 8 to 20 years less than heterosexual men10,11 and are much less likely to be involved in monogamous relationships.12 Also, legal homosexual marriages in Norway and Sweden were more likely to end in divorce than heterosexual marriages.13 The Pawelski et al study fails to address the implications of these facts on the well-being of children.
In addition, the article fails to acknowledge multiple studies that date back to the work of Erik Eriksen that demonstrate that the input of both a mother and father are important for the normal psychosocial development of children.13–15 Research has also demonstrated that children raised in homes with intact heterosexual marriages do better psychosocially and educationally than children raised in other settings, including single-parent homes, step-family homes, or in homes with homosexual relationships.16,17
REFERENCES
1. Pawelski JG, Perrin EC, Foy JM, et al. The effects of marriage, civil union, and domestic partnership laws on the health and well-being of children.
Pediatrics. 2006;118
:349
–364
2. Schumm WR. What was really learned from Tasker and Golombok's (1995) study of lesbian and single parent mothers? Psychol Rep. 2004;94 :422 –424[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
3. Lerner R, Nagai AK. No Basis: What the Studies Don't Tell Us About Same-Sex Parenting. Washington, DC: Marriage Law Project; 2001
4. Rekers G, Kilgus M. Studies of homosexual parenting: a critical review. Regent Univ Law Rev. 2001–2002;14 :343 –382
5. Cochran BN, Cauce AM. Characteristics of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals entering substance abuse treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2006;30 :135 –146[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
6. Pitts M, Smith A, Mitchell A, Patel S. Private Lives: A Report on the Health and Wellbeing of GLBTI Australians. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Australian Research Center in Sex, Health & Society; 2006
7. Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Beautrais AL. Is sexual orientation related to mental health problems and suicidality in young people?
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56
:876
–880
8. Mosher WD, Chandra A, Jones J. Sexual behavior and selected health measures: men and women 15–44 years of age, United States, 2002. Adv Data. 2005;(362) :1 –55[Medline]
9. Herrell R, Goldberg J, True WR, et al. Sexual orientation and suicidality.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999;56
:867
–874
10. Hogg RS, Strathdee SA, Craib KJ, O'Shaughnessy MV, Montaner JS, Schechter MT. Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men.
Int J Epidemiol. 1997;26
:657
–661
11. Van de Ven P, Rodden P, Crawford J, Kippax S. A comparative demographic and sexual profile of older homosexually active men. J Sex Res. 1997;34 :354
12. Andersson G, Noack T, Weedon-Fekjar H. Divorce risk patterns in same-sex marriages in Norway and Sweden. Presented at: annual meeting of the Population Association of America. April 1–3, 2004; Boston, Massachusetts
13. Byrd AD. Gender complementarity and child-rearing: where tradition and science agree. Available at: www.narth.com/docs/gendercomplementarity.html. Accessed September 11, 2006
14. Pruett KD. The paternal presence. Fam Soc. 1993;74 :46 –54[Web of Science]
15. Cabrera NJ, Tamis-LeMonda CS, Bradley RH, Hofferth S, Lamb ME. Fatherhood in the twenty-first century. Child Dev. 2000;71 :127 –136[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
16. Sarantakos S. Children in three contexts: family, education and social development. Child Aust. 1996;21 :23 –31
17. Manning WD, Lamb KA. Adolescent well-being in cohabitating, married, and single-parent families. J Marriage Fam. 2003;65 :876 –893[CrossRef][Web of Science]
PEDIATRICS (ISSN 1098-4275). ©2006 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Facebook 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
