Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse just finished reviewing the recent lesbian parenting study published in the journal Pediatrics.

You’ve all seen the headlines by now: “Children of lesbian parents do well.” These headlines are based on a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. I actually read the study, which is my custom before commenting. I also read the letters to the editor on this study.

Here are 8 reasons why this study does not prove anything about the functioning of the children of lesbians.

1. The sample is extremely small: 78 children of lesbian mothers and 93 children in the control group.

2. The sample of lesbian mothers is unlikely to be representative of the general population of lesbians. This is a sample of people who volunteered for the study, not a random sample. The most motivated and high-functioning people are the most likely to volunteer for a politically charged study.

3. The “results” are intrinsically unreliable. The results are nothing but the mothers’ reports of their childrens’ behavior and functioning. There is no cross-checking with objective outcomes, such as actual school achievement or teacher’s reports of behavior problems. . . .

Read the whole thing:

http://www.ruthblog.org/2010/06/11/%e2%80%9cchildren-of-lesbians-do-well-8-reasons-why-the-latest-study-doesnt-prove-anything/