Same Sex Parents (moms) - 0% Child Abuse

[Faded]

75% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

[jennvan]

Sounds like they do want to have people model themselves after lesbian couples.

the authors of the study said. “To the extent that our findings are replicated by other researchers, these reports from adolescents with lesbian mothers have implications for healthcare professionals, policymakers, social service agencies, and child protection experts who seek family models in which violence does not occur."

And it only looked a abuse by a parent or caregiver.

The study finds none of the 78 teens in the study report having ever been physically or sexually abused by a parent or other caregiver.

[PrincessMe]

JAG: I would hope the study isn't used to "prove" that gay parents are better than straight parents, etc, but I can see why it would be used to suggest that gay parents aren't WORSE than straight parents, LESS virtuous, etc. I think the problems with such claims are also equally obvious.

But it is silly to compare pearls to swine (I hate seeing the "perfect gay couple" compared to the "abusive straight couple" or the "sinful gay couple" compared to the "righteous mormon couple"). Let's compare good gay couples to good straight couples, and admit that the children in both are likely to experience a loving, accepting, home with parents who teach them values and morals (although it would be fair to admit that some of those values and morals may differ slightly, just as they would with a child raised in a good catholic home verses a good christian home).

If this thread is to say that sexual orientation doesn't affect whether a parent is going to be a good one or a bad one, I agree. I disagree with the statistic though. I know a lesbian mother who was abusive to her son both physically and emotionally. It just didn't get reported. Her wife, however wasn't abusive at all.

P.S. Catholics are Christians.

[Soulsearcher]

Sounds like they do want to have people model themselves after lesbian couples.

And it only looked a abuse by a parent or caregiver.

I think they are trying to have people model families after models that show low rates of abuse in the family. Physical and emotional abuse do seem to be usually done by the parent or caregiver in a lot of cases. Also a lot of the people against gay marriage and adoption have made it seem that gay people are out to prey on and harm children or are unable to offer anything good to children, so while not an amazing study, it strives to show that some of the misinformation out there is exactly that.

[PrincessMe]

I think they are trying to have people model families after models that show low rates of abuse in the family. Physical and emotional abuse do seem to be usually done by the parent or caregiver in a lot of cases. Also a lot of the people against gay marriage and adoption have made it seem that gay people are out to prey on and harm children or are unable to offer anything good to children, so while not an amazing study, it strives to show that some of the misinformation out there is exactly that.

The argument that I hear most commonly is that a child needs both a mother and a father, completely disregarding the fact that we leave children with single moms and dads without protest.

As far as who is more likely to abuse, I find it is heterosexual men. I have no actual stats to prove that. It is just in my experience based on what I have seen and heard from my peers and children I have babysat for.

[MarginOfError]

If this thread is to say that sexual orientation doesn't affect whether a parent is going to be a good one or a bad one, I agree. I disagree with the statistic though. I know a lesbian mother who was abusive to her son both physically and emotionally. It just didn't get reported. Her wife, however wasn't abusive at all.

P.S. Catholics are Christians.

0% in a statistical sample never translates to a promise of 0% in the population. Variation is implied. As it so happens, with a proportion of 0, it is impossible to calculate variance, and the point estimate is of little value other than to say that the population parameter is probably pretty low. You can't ever treat sample statistics as the literal truth.

[GaySaint]

P.S. Catholics are Christians.

I meant christians as the christians define themselves: as members of the Christian Coalition (of which the Catholic church is not a part). By this definition, many religious organizations that claim christian ideals are not "Christians," including the LDS church.

So for the purpose of my last post, that was the definition by which I was going, since that is the definition those in the Christian Coalition impose upon themselves. Maybe I should have used a different example

If this thread is to say that sexual orientation doesn't affect whether a parent is going to be a good one or a bad one, I agree.

That was my point. I don't think the study was trying to claim that 0% of lesbian mothers anytime anywhere throughout the known universe would abuse a child, just that in this particularly study, none had.

[Wingnut]

P.S. Catholics are Christians.

In that they believe in Christ, yes. But Catholics don't identify themselves as Christians. Any Catholic I've ever asked, "Are you Christian?" has always answered, "No, I'm Catholic."

The argument that I hear most commonly is that a child needs both a mother and a father, completely disregarding the fact that we leave children with single moms and dads without protest.

Without protest? In what universe?

[PrincessMe]

In that they believe in Christ, yes. But Catholics don't identify themselves as Christians. Any Catholic I've ever asked, "Are you Christian?" has always answered, "No, I'm Catholic."

When I was Catholic I was taught at school to identify as Christian. When I grew up I only learnt that one definition.

[PrincessMe]

Without protest? In what universe?

I am talking about an actual protest. Picket signs... so this one.

[Blackmarch]

This new study says there is 0% child abuse when kids are raised by two gay moms.

0% of Kids Raised by Lesbians Abused

LOS ANGELES - There is a virtually zero-percent rate of physical or sexual abuse of children raised by lesbians, according to a 24-year study of American lesbian families at UCLA.

In the study 78 teens were asked about abuse. They all said there was no abuse at all.

The study finds none of the 78 teens in the study report having ever been physically or sexually abused by a parent or other caregiver. That zero percent rate compares to a 26 percent rate of reported physical abuse and 8.3 percent rate of sexual abuse in American adolescents altogether.

hmmm 78 is a really small number... my immediate family is larger than that, were they the ones that were polled for the heterosexual side of it, it would have been much lower to say the least.

it would also be interesting to see a study of single parents as well (one that kept seperate stats for Male vs female single parents).

I'd say it has too little data to be applied to a large scale. It might be good for a population of a small town maybe....

[PrincessMe]

I still say in single parent families, the males are more physically abusive than the females.

As far as emotional and psychological abuse goes, I have no idea.

[bytor2112]

I still say in single parent families, the males are more physically abusive than the females.

As far as emotional and psychological abuse goes, I have no idea.

A national survey of six thousand households found single parents to be more likely to use abusive forms of violence toward their children than are parents in dual-caretaker households. Abusive violence appears to be a function of poverty in mother-only homes but unrelated to income among single fathers.-CHILD ABUSE AND VIOLENCE IN SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES: Parent Absence and Economic Deprivation-Richard J. Gelles Ph.D.

[PrincessMe]

I didn't know that. I faced the worst part of my abuse when my parents were still married.

[MarginOfError]

I didn't know that. I faced the worst part of my abuse when my parents were still married.

That's probably the key. Your abuse was probably strongly tied to the negative emotions being expressed by your parents in an unhappy relationship. End the relationship, some of those emotions go away, and there's less need to take it out on you.

It could also just be separation and lack of opportunity, but I don't know enough about your situation to really make a judgment.

In any case, how often do you see a person abuse a child just because he or she is in a good mood? Abuse tends to happen along with bad moods and stress. So it really shouldn't be that surprising that parents that are under more stress would be prone to committing more abuse.

[PrincessMe]

My dad always said my mom told him too. Based on some of his behaviors afterward that lead to my younger sister filing a police report against him, I don't believe that.

As far as it being a negative effect of the marriage, no clue. Maybe, maybe not. It doesn't really matter at this point. :)