FROM AN APA PRESS RELEASE
Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle is the first book-length review and analysis of research on parenting by gay and lesbians and suggests that the outcomes well-being of their children are no different than those raised by heterosexual parents
WHAT: Last week the American Psychological Association published Dr. Abbie E. Goldberg's Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the research on gay and lesbian parents and their families to date. Goldberg's new book is the first full-length analysis of the research on gay parenting, summarizing research data on the subject from the 1970's to the present day. The research is consistent in suggesting that the outcomes and well-being of children raised by gay and lesbian parents are no different than those of children raised by heterosexual parents.
According to Dr. Goldberg, Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle is a response to the increased public awareness and debate about both marriage equality and lesbian/gay parenting, and the corresponding growth in research on this topic. While a number of journal articles and book chapters summarize much of the research in this area, no in-depth book-length synthesis and analysis has existed to date.
Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle provides a comprehensive review of recent research in a way that engages the perspectives of both the children and the parents who live in lesbian/gay-parent households. Also included are topics rarely discussed in the research studies to date, such as: divorce/relationship dissolution in lesbian/gay-parent households; the perspectives of non-heterosexual children of lesbian/gay parents. The book provides detailed and nuanced description of the research on lesbian and gay couples, parents, and their children to offer insight and possible implications that can be useful to a broad audience, including policy makers, school officials, therapists, and parents themselves.
WHO: Abbie E. Goldberg, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark University in Worcester, MA. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University ( Connecticut ) ; her Ph.D. in clinical psychology and her M.S. in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Goldberg also completed a clinical psychology internship at Yale Medical School. Her research has examined the transition to parenthood in diverse families, including lesbian-parent families and adoptive-parent families. In particular, her work has focused on how families' relationships and identities change across the transition to parenthood, and how gender and sexual orientation figure into individuals' adjustment and experience of parenthood. In addition, she has also studied the experiences of adults raised by lesbian, gay, and bisexual parents. She has received funding from the American Psychological Association, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Williams Institute, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Dr. Goldberg was just awarded a $152,000 grant by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health to continue her current research on the transition to adoptive parenthood.
Publication information on Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle is available at the APA Books website. books.apa.org/books.cfm More information on Dr. Goldberg is available at http://www.clarku.edu/faculty/goldberg/index.html
